Seahawks Must Hit on New Coordinator Hire to Bridge Gap Between Russell Wilson, Pete Carroll
Only two days after the Seahawks announced offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer would not return for the 2021 season, while taking a brief break from his vacation in Mexico to speak with reporters, Russell Wilson insisted he trusts coach Pete Carroll's decision to make a change. Multiple times, using a similar positive tone and different verbiage, he put it on record that he and Carroll were on the same page moving forward.
But digging deeper into Wilson's remarks during an hour-long post season press conference, the disconnect between Carroll's philosophical ambitions and the star quarterback's thoughts on how Seattle's offense should operate could not be more evident.
Prodded incessantly about the offensive struggles that derailed the Seahawks over the past two months during his final media availability on Monday, Carroll kept coming back to the idea the team needed to run the football more and do so more effectively. His rationale? He believes an improved run game could provide extra flexibility and force opponents out of the two-deep safety Cover 2 and Cover 4 looks that seemed to give Wilson and his teammates trouble throughout the second half.
"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."
From a flexibility standpoint, Wilson appears to be in agreement. Over and over on Thursday, he reiterated his desire to be great at everything. Seattle must be able to beat opponents with explosive plays, the quick passing game, the run game, and screens. He wants to be able to do it all out of a plethora of formations to counter whatever defenses throw at them.
But in terms of where Wilson and Carroll seem to be aligned, that's where the line gets drawn in the sand. When asked about Carroll's comments on the need for the run game to help get opponents out of certain defensive looks, the seven-time Pro Bowler's response was a telling one.
"I don't think we necessarily need to get teams out of it," Wilson stated. "We've gotta be able to throw it and run it in those situations. Philosophically, in terms of generalized football, when teams are in two-high, the generalized rule is to run it and all that stuff. But you can also throw it obviously, be able to do all that stuff."
Such commentary may not seem like a big deal and Carroll did reference the passing game as part of the solution on Monday. But this was just the tip of the iceberg when assessing the gap between Carroll and Wilson's offensive visions.
Since early November, Carroll has consistently opined for the Seahawks to get back to running the football. That never came to fruition in the fashion he anticipated, as Schottenheimer continued to dial up the passing game to a tune of 33 pass attempts per game despite diminishing returns. For the season, the team only eclipsed 30 carries four times in a game after doing so seven times in 2019.
As Wilson battled interception issues midway through the season, Carroll also admitted to tightening the screws a bit with a more conservative approach down the stretch against better defenses to limit turnovers. The Seahawks won six of their final seven regular season games and indeed cleaned up turnover issues, but the offense scored 20 or fewer points in three of those contests.
On Thursday, Wilson made several interesting remarks that seemed to contradict several of Carroll's core philosophies, including scoffing at the notion that he plays better in a run-oriented offense rather than the "Let Russ Cook" approach that was deployed last season.
"No, I think obviously we've been able to spin it," Wilson smiled. "We were throwing it a lot early in the year. I think that's probably been the most effective we've ever been, right? When you think of all the years we've been here, done some amazing things over the years, but that's probably been the most explosive obviously, the first five games ever by anybody in NFL history. We were able to do that."
Throughout the press conference, Wilson kept circling the wagons back to how important it was for Seattle to mix up tempo offensively, seemingly squeezing the topic into every single answer to every single question. If a reporter would have asked about why he chose to go on vacation during a pandemic, he probably would have found a way to incorporate changing tempos into his response.
Given Carroll's inclination to control the football, win the field position battle, and rely on stellar defensive play, adopting a more up-tempo approach would seem to counter those preferences. But conversely, as has been the case for some time, Wilson continues to be enthralled by the idea of quickening the pace to keep defenses on their heels.
Exhibiting the exuberance of a salesman trying to persuade customers to buy a new product, Wilson said, "We want to be up-tempo, to change the pace. I know you guys love that and I love that. We get to go in those two-minute situations when the game is on the line. We're able to do all of these things."
Additionally, Wilson believes Seattle's persistent issue with slow starts needs to be on the top of the agenda in offseason discussions, which again to an extent counteracts many of the coach's staple principles. Just this season alone, the team scored two offensive touchdowns in the first half of its final four games combined, including a 30-20 Wild Card round defeat to the Los Angeles Rams.
While games can be won in the fourth quarter as Carroll loves to preach and few teams have been better at finishing close games late, Wilson would like to see the Seahawks find ways to put opponents away earlier. Looking back at several late games late in the season, including a loss to the Giants in Week 13, he knows the inability to sustain drives early wound up costing them.
"We gotta put our foot down on the gas and go get 'em," Wilson explained. "My belief system in general no matter how we do it is, I think we should go score 24 points before the half. That should be like 'boom, let's get out ahead,' especially with how great our defense has been playing late in the season. And we can do that. No matter how we do it, I don't care. Let's go win it... Let's start early."
When asked about his relationship with Carroll, Wilson downplayed the idea there's been any contention between the coach and player. Since the season ended last weekend, the two have already held multiple conversations about getting Seattle's offense back on track, including discussing what they will be looking for in a new offensive coordinator.
Regardless of what Wilson and Carroll said this week, however, Schottenheimer's replacement may be caught in the middle of a game of tug of war as the Seahawks try to figure out their next step offensively. On one hand, Carroll clearly wants to get back to the ground-and-pound style of earlier years. On the other, Wilson believes he showed early in the season he can carry a fast-paced, pass-heavy attack as a master chef.
Ultimately, the success of whoever winds up earning the title of offensive coordinator, whether that be a former NFL head coach such as Anthony Lynn or a college play caller such as Clemson's Tony Elliott, will ride on whether or not he can marry those two vastly different approaches to keep both parties happy and put points on the scoreboard in bunches. If he can't, the Seahawks could have an unhappy franchise quarterback on their hands and far bigger problems to address in the future.
