New Offensive Coordinator Must Fix Seahawks' YAC Problem
While four teams prepared to battle for a place in Super Bowl LV on Sunday's championship weekend, the Seahawks continued their pursuit of a new offensive coordinator, as reports surfaced in regard to the team's apparent interest in interviewing Bills quarterback coach Ken Dorsey and Rams passing game coordinator Shane Waldron.
Dorsey and Waldron became just the latest names linked to Seattle's vacancy, though it remains unclear if interest is mutual from either coach. To this point, there's been far more speculation than actual reported interviews for a potential successor, and a number of candidates linked to the team such as former Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn have already landed other jobs in recent days.
With that in mind, the Seahawks don't seem any closer to determining who will replace Brian Schottenheimer than they did when the two sides parted ways earlier this month. But regardless of who winds up taking the position, regardless of the offensive scheme they bring to the Pacific Northwest with them, one of the biggest issues that must be corrected revolves around the team's perpetual YAC problem.
If anything could be gleaned from Sunday's championship games won by the Buccaneers and Chiefs, it's that to win in today's modern NFL, teams have to be able to manufacture and scheme explosive plays. To achieve these means, it doesn't hurt to have elite play makers such as the Chiefs do with Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce or the Buccaneers do with Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.
While Tom Brady hooked up with Evans and Godwin for conventional downfield strikes to help upset the Packers at Lambeau Field, however, the Chiefs were able to torch the Bills in a 38-24 victory using a far different method. Patrick Mahomes finished with 325 passing yards on 29 completions, but he didn't complete a single pass of 20-plus air yards and only had two completions that went for more than 17 yards on the night.
What was the difference? Aided by outstanding play calling by coach Andy Reid and offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, Mahomes torched the Bills with the short-to-intermediate passing game, picking apart soft coverage designed to erase vertical throws to the tune of 19 first down conversions. And eventually, the damn broke by simply getting the football into the electric Hill's hands.
With under six minutes to play in the second quarter, Reid dialed up a fake toss to the running back out of shotgun and Mahomes was under immediate pressure. But the quarterback found a way to escape the grasps of defensive end A.J. Epenesa and bought enough time to find Hill open just past the marker. From there, the speedy receiver turned a 13-yard pitch-and-catch into a 33-yard play and Kansas City scored a touchdown two plays later to extend its lead to 21-9.
Then midway through the third quarter, with the Chiefs still up 24-15, Mahomes faked the handoff and connected with Hill on a quick slant. The receiver did the rest, juking out cornerback Taron Johnson and slipping through a pair of missed tackles as he raced 71 yards all the way down to the Bills' four-yard line. More than 60 of those yards came after the catch.
Herein lies one of the biggest issues the Seahawks struggled with throughout Schottenheimer's three seasons calling plays. Despite having elite playmakers in DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett as well as athletic complementary receivers such as David Moore, Freddie Swain, and Penny Hart, the team couldn't manufacture or scheme yards after the catch.
In each of the past three seasons with Schottenheimer on the sidelines (or in the sky box in 2020), Seattle did make minor improvements in this area statistically. After finishing a dreadful 31st overall in yards after the catch in 2018, they jumped to 24th in 2019 and then 19th last season.
But with the quarterback and receivers that the Seahawks have, that's simply not good enough. And those numbers don't paint a full picture illustrating how poorly the team has fared when it comes to creating big plays in the underneath passing game when the deep ball is taken away by opponents.
Over the past three seasons, the Seahawks haven't surpassed five yards per reception after the catch. Two of those seasons, the team ranked 24th or worse in that category. Some of that is by design, of course, as the team has always prioritized downfield shot plays during the Pete Carroll era regardless of who the offensive coordinator is.
More surprisingly, Seattle's receivers have been chronically poor at breaking tackles after the catch. In 2018, they ranked third-to-last in the NFL with 15 broken tackles. In 2019, they ranked sixth-to-last with 18 of them. Then in 2020, they finished with the third fewest once again, managing only 16 broken tackles as a team.
This revelation would suggest that the Seahawks need to invest in a receiver who is more capable of breaking tackles. But while that may be partially true - adding someone similar to Deebo Samuel of the 49ers would be helpful - scheming helps create those opportunities by getting receivers into ideal one-on-one situations with space to operate where they can slip through a tackle and pick up big chunks of yardage after the catch.
Looking at Seattle's receiving corps as constructed, there's no excuse for the team's inability to show greater improvement in this regard. At 230 pounds, Metcalf is a nightmare for opposing cornerbacks, safeties, and even linebackers to tackle. Lockett's quickness and route running savvy should make him a prime candidate to create YAC yardage if he's schemed into space with advantageous matchups, particularly through pre-snap motion. Yet, neither of them has finished better than 32nd in the NFL in this category over the past three years.
Behind those two, a strong argument can be made Moore has never been properly utilized in the short passing game. With his powerful lower body, shiftiness, and ability to break arm tackles, he should have been a far more effective weapon on screens, slants, and crossing routes. Yet, he never surpassed 200 yards after the catch in any of the past three seasons.
Moving towards 2021 and beyond, the Seahawks need to find a play caller who can remedy this long-term issue. The good news is that Carroll finally appears to be understanding this, at least based on the majority of the candidates who have been linked to the coordinator opening up to this point, but they will need to act fast to land the right successor with options dwindling by day.
The Chiefs, who unsurprisingly finished first in the NFL in yards after the catch, may lose Bieniemy to the Texans. Quarterback coach Mike Kafka was on Seattle's radar, but he would be the obvious choice to replace Bieniemy and thus was quickly ruled out for any other team.
The Chargers, who were breaking in a rookie quarterback in Justin Herbert, finished second in the league in yards after the catch. Three coaches from that staff, including Lynn, offensive coordinator Shane Steichen, and quarterback coach Pep Hamilton, all were reported as candidates. Only Hamilton remains available.
With Waldron serving as passing game coordinator each of the past three seasons along with coaching quarterbacks, the Rams have never finished lower than seventh in yards after the catch. Most notably, they led the league in that category during the 2019 season, which makes him a desirable candidate.
The same could be said for Dorsey in Buffalo, as the Bills were a respectable 14th in yards after the catch in 2020 after finishing 28th the season before. Under coordinator Brian Daboll, they have proven themselves more than capable of manufacturing explosive plays with Josh Allen developing rapidly under center.
Assuming Seattle hasn't zeroed in on a favorite just yet, they would be wise to consider a few options in Green Bay. The Packers finished in the top 10 for yards after the catch each of the past two years and both offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett and quarterback coach/passing game coordinator Luke Getsy would be intriguing candidates if interested.
Regardless, with the Senior Bowl kicking off this week and coaches getting plucked up by other teams rapidly, there needs to be some urgency from the Seahawks to get this position filled. After failing to right the ship offensively in the second half of the 2020 season, finding a coordinator who can help cure their YAC problems will be essential for the team's chances at making a deep playoff run in 2021.
