OFF SEASON BEGINS IN EARNEST
Sports by Mazvita
The Seattle Seahawks offseason began with a quickness. Like all NFL teams what you do during the offseason dramatically impacts your performance. I get it that you get it but no one in Seahawks Nation could have seen the firing of Offensive Coordinator Brian Schottenheimer Well it happened last week. The Seahawks parted ways with Schotty. Why you ask ?Well let me try to decipher the tea leaves.
The Seahawks offensive performance was complicated. The Seahawks had the best offense in the league for the first nine games of the season. Wilson led the league with 28 touchdown passes and team led the league in scoring with 34 points per page in that stretch. The offense literally flipped the script during the remaining eight games. Wilson threw just 12 touchdown passes and the scoring numbers dipped to 22.6 points a game. Add the Seahawks dismal offensive showing in the Wildcard loss to the Los Angele Rams, one can see Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll had multiple alarm bells ringing regarding the state of his offense.
During his post season call with media Carroll expressed that the team needed to run the ball more efficiently in 2021 Carroll met Schottenheimer two days after the Rams game and decided it was time to part ways with Schottenheimer during their end of season meeting. Carroll’s intent to run increase the rush attempts was no doubt a point of emphasis during the meeting with Schottenheimer. Deductive reasoning leads one to believe Schottenheimer was not fully on board with the philosophical shift. And as everyone knows this is Pete’s ship. You know shape up or ship out. So if you ask what’s next for the Seahawks regarding the run game?
The issue for the Seahawks was not that they did not run the ball, it was more a case of an inability to run when you as a team wanted and needed too. The Seahawks finished the season with the eight ranked offense. Wilson finished the season with 40 touchdowns tied for tops in the league with Bills quarterback Josh Allen. The Seahawks attempted 563 passes which was 17th in the league. In contrast the teams still in the playoffs Green Bay ( 526), New Orleans (522), Cleveland (501) and Baltimore (406) had less pass attempts. . So if you ask what’s next for the Seahawks? An offensive coordinator who is innovative and creative when it comes to running the ball.
