Hours after extending the contract of General Manager John Schneider the Seahawks announced the parting of ways with Offensive Coordinator Brian Schottenheimer Tuesday afternoon. The move to part ways with Schottenheimer was unexpected by makes sense.
The Seahawks had the best offense in football the first nine weeks of the season with quarterback Russell Wilson leading the race for league MVP.
A BLAZING START
In those first nine weeks the Seahawks offense led the league in points scored per game at 34 and yard per game at 415.0. Wilson’s r quarterback rating was 81.5. All three numbers took a dramatic dive the rest of the way including Saturday’s shock loss to the LA Rams. Points per game dropped to 23.1, YPG dipped to 324, and Wilson’s QB rating plummeted to 62.5.
INCONSISTENCY
While the offensive line incurred some injuries down the stretch the playing calling was somewhat suspicious. There never seemed to be any rhythm or consistency from one offensive series to another. In one series the offense looked committed to the run by running on consecutive plays and on the next offensive series the team would pass on the first two downs. Sure time, distance, and field position play a role in the play calling it never seemed consistent
COMMITTED TO THE RUN
The noncommittal looked to have been a thing of the past on Monday when Pete Carroll met with local media during his season end zoom call.
“I want to see if we can run the ball more effectively to focus the play of the opponents and see if we can force them to do things like we’d like them to do more like we have been able to do that in the past,” Carroll said. “That doesn’t mean we’re going to run the ball 50 times a game. It means we need to run the ball with direction and focus and style that allows us to dictate the game.
I mean I just, frankly, I’d like to not play against two-deep looks all season long next year. And so we have to be able to get that done. It’s not just the running game. It is the style of passes that will help us some, but we have to get after it a little bit differently.
As it unfolded in the end of the season, it became really obvious. In the last four or five games, it became really obvious.”
It appears that Schottenheimer was not fully on board with the run first philosophy for the upcoming season.
It was time for OC and Seahawks to part ways…good break up but I just heard they interviewed Gase?
Yes your intell is correct. Seahawks chatting with Adam Gase. Doubt it will go anywhere though. Gotta figure Jamal Adams is not a fan of Gase. But is the NFL you never know.