Breaking Down the Playcalling and Formations of the Seahawks’ Offense in Week 1

The Seattle Seahawks had to overcome quite a bit in their season opener offensively, but what did they do specifically in terms of process?

Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Brian Fleury during the first quarter against the New England Patriots. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

It’s rather difficult to really judge much of anything that happened last Wednesday for the Seattle Seahawks offensively. When your quarterback gets hurt on play number five and you end up scrambling for any scrap of production and competency the rest of the night, it’s hard to know what to really trust.

But how did Brian Fleury play the hand he was dealt?

Formation And Personnel

According to Football Insights, the Seahawks were above-average in Week 1 in under center snaps, at 61.1%. Only nine teams were higher, and most of those nine teams played much of their games with a lead, like the Ravens, Bears, and Lions. The Seahawks won their game, but trailed for most of the night, so their rate of UC snaps is notable.

Seattle Seahawks fullback Brady Russell (38) reacts after a play during the second half against the Minnesota Vikings. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

As for the other players, the Seahawks were near the bottom of the league in 11 personnel (three wide receivers). Only the 49ers and Raiders had a lower rate than Seattle’s 27.8%. They were also third in 21 personnel usage (two backs, one tight end) at 36.1%, behind the same two teams. So, despite the loss of Sam Darnold, Fleury stuck to his core principles.

Sticking With Play Action

Another notable statistic is play action rate. Ryan Paganetti, former NFL analytics coach, went over the frequency of teams hitting play action in neutral down, distance, and circumstance. While it’s important to note that we’re talking about a fairly small handful of plays, so we should be careful with any sweeping assumptions, Seattle ranked twelfth before MNF.

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Drew Lock (2) throws during the third quarter against the New England Patriots. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

On fifteen “on schedule” passing plays, which are 1st and 10 or 2nd and 1-6 snaps, Fleury went play action on nine of them. Of the eleven ahead of him, six played a vast majority of their games with a lead, and a seventh (LaFleur in Green Bay) led for most of the game before things got away from him late. So play action is clearly an important part of the plan here.

Final Takeaways

It’s far too early to make any meaningful conclusions about this new offense. However, the circumstances Brian Fleury faced last week are at least somewhat extreme, and yet he still stuck to some of the core tenets of the Kubiak-Shanahan offense. They stuck to under center football and drilled play action despite losing their quarterback and falling behind.

Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Brian Fleury during minicamp at Virginia Mason Athletic Center. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

While the Seahawks were never behind by more than ten points, and even then only had to survive that circumstance for two drives, I still find the lack of panic notable. Besides, if and when this team does find themselves on the bad end of a lopsided score, dropping into shotgun and abandoning play action isn’t an unreasonable course of action. So, so far, so good.

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