Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson spoke with the media yesterday with the majority of the discussion centering around the firing of former offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer. Wilson made it clear that the decision to let Schottenheimer was not his and that he had lost both a friend and coach.
PHILOSOPHICAL DIFFERENCES
The Seahawk’s 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 the 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 the 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.
WILSON INPUT
While he had no part in the Schottenheimer decision Wilson was clear that he would have input in the hiring process of the teams next offensive coordinator.
When asked want went wrong with the Seahawks offense during the second half of the season and the postseason Wilson gave a simple answer
PERPLEXING NUMBERS
A deeper dive into the Seahawks offensive numbers brings more questions than answers.
The Seahawks had 15 rushing touchdowns against the league average of 18. That places the Seahawks offense at no.19. If you plug in total yards rushing the Seahawks had 1,971 yards which placed them 12th. If you look at attempted rushes the Seahawks had 411 for the season which landed them in a three-way tie for 17th-19th with the Buffalo Bills, and the Cincinnati Bengals. The Seahawks finished with more yards than either of those teams.
One more had scratches is the Seahawk’s yards gained per rush attempt. The Seahawks average 4.8 yards per rushing attempt. Only Tennessee ( 5.2), Baltimore (5.5), and Minnesota (4.9) had better yards gained per rush numbers. The Seahawks 4.8 yards per rush tied them with Green Bay and Cleveland.
WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN
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 were 17th in the league. In contrast, the teams still in the playoffs Green Bay ( 526), New Orleans (522), Cleveland (501), and Baltimore (406) had fewer pass attempts.
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