Last year, the Seahawks designed their offense to let Russ cook. Eventually, the food went bad.
With Shane Waldron running the offense, the Seahawks will try again to put together the kind of offense that will start fast and, after opposing defenses have enough film to search for tendencies and tells, stay that way.
Quarterback Russell Wilson likes what he’s seen so far.
“I think it’s super complex,” Wilson told reporters on Thursday, via Curtis Crabtree of KJR and PFT. “I think that we have a lot of great things about it. We’re going to be able to mix a lot of personnels, a lot of different people around, using the whole field. I think we’re going to be able to do everything that we want to. I think that the thing about Shane is he’s got, like I said earlier, I mean he’s got a great understanding of the game, you know, and for us to be together, it’s going to be super exciting.
“I had a great conversation with him, several conversations along the way with him during the process. And just I really believe in him. You know, I believe in this football team, I believe in the guys that are in the huddle with me and he makes it really smooth, a great transition. Obviously, we’ve been here for four days now or whatever it is. It is seamless out here. I think, you guys are obviously out here today, just how efficient, how sharp, how clear, how the ball’s coming out, how we’re making all our throws, catches, running the ball well, do all the things we want to do. And that takes a lot of time. I mean, hours upon hours on Zoom calls and us talking extra, me and the guys and the players, spending a few hours a day extra, you know, guys coming down to San Diego, California to get the work in together and us doing all that. All of that has shown up in the three, four days we’ve been out here, and it’s been spectacular to see. So I’m excited. I’m excited. I know Shane’s excited, too, so it’s gonna ask me a lot of fun.”
This meshes with receiver D.K. Metcalf’s recent comment that the new offense is “more intricate.”
It needs to be. As Simms has said on PFT Live, the prior offense lacked creativity of formations, allowing defenses to figure out what’s coming based on the way players are aligned.
If any team should be sensitive to that, it’s the Seahawks. After all, they’d have two Super Bowl championships but for the goal-line, shotgun look they gave the Patriots at the end of Super Bowl XLIX, allowing the Patriots to spot what was coming, which in turn enabled cornerback Brandon Browner to prevent a planned pick of teammate Malcolm Butler, who then made the championship-sealing interception.
The Seahawks -- and every team -- need to constantly be scouting themselves for the kind of clues that smart defensive coaches inevitably will find. This year, the Seahawks may be doing more of that.