Fans demand more power, the Seahawks bring more power

Many fans of the Seattle Seahawks have been complaining about the zone blocking system used by the Seattle Seahawks and how its complexity is hindering the team’s ability to run the ball and remain competitively. Many fans have been clamoring for a man blocking scheme with more power concepts in order to best take advantage of the monsters the team has on its offensive line.

For those fans, the game against the Philadelphia Eagles gave glimpses of what the team might be able to do if Pete Carroll ever decides to move away from zone blocking, or perhaps just sprinkle in some power concepts like they did on Sunday. For example, here is the 22 yard run by Mike Davis.

For those who understand the differences between zone blocking and man/power concepts, what this play represents is extremely easy to understand. For those who may not be as versed in the differences between the two concepts, watch the play again and look for Ethan Pocic and Justin Britt pulling out in front of Mike Davis. Germain Ifedi leads Fletcher Cox out of the play and then walls him off from pursuit, while Pocic and Britt lead Davis out to the right side in search of someone to destroy.

The importance of this is that zone blocking does not traditionally utilize pulling or trapping linemen. Pete and Co. are reaching deep into their bag of tricks, and the opponents they face through the rest of the year will now be forced to review years of film in order to evaluate Seattle for an entirely new dimension within the run game.

I’m not going to dig much deeper into it, as there are others on here far more qualified to evaluate this than myself, however, there is a definite chance that sprinkling some power concepts into the mix could kick start the team’s running game through the final four weeks of the season.