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For seemingly years now, a complaint among Seattle Seahawks fans has been the offensive tempo. Russell Wilson has stated his desire for more tempo. The hope is that new offensive coordinator Shane Waldron will fit the bill for both what Wilson wants and what Pete Carroll prefers.
Through OTAs and training camp, there’s been pretty consistent messaging across the board from Seahawks players concerning what to expect from Waldron’s system. And while you normally take offseason optimism lightly, I’m personally finding it harder not to be hyped up by what Waldron figures to provide.
Tempo
“We’re picking up the tempo on offense,’’ DK Metcalf said (via Seattle Times). “I think it’s going to help us in the long run where teams really can’t get a handle on what we’re doing.’’
Gerald Everett on Seahawks' offensive tempo: "Everybody being in shape and just not knowing how fast the gameplan or the game flow will be. It's definitely going to keep defense on their toes and not knowing really who to gameplan or what to gameplan for."
— Matty F. Brown (@mattyfbrown) August 2, 2021
Unpredictability
“I think Shane does a great job with making everything balanced. It’s not just relying on the run, it’s mixing up different schemes and making everything kind of look the same versus a run play or a pass play,” Chris Carson said (via Seahawk Maven). “The defense can’t tell the difference between which one.”
“It definitely makes us unpredictable,’’ Gerald Everett said (via Seattle Times). “That’s something Seattle struggled with last year, the offense. Teams started to be able to key in on DK and Tyler (Lockett) and kind of double those guys and there’s just nothing for the offense to gain.”
Pre-snap motion
“For sure,” Penny Hart said when asked if this offense will have more motion. “Shane does an amazing job of that just seeing how he did things with the Rams. All of those guys — tight ends, receivers, running backs — they almost played all the same positions being able to do a lot of different things on the field. I definitely anticipate being able to be in position to do different things, whether that’s blocking, playing running back, being on the outside, being in the slot, it really doesn’t matter. I really think Shane understands that.”
Also from Bob Condotta:
[In addition to emphasizing getting the ball out more quickly from Russell Wilson’s hands] So, too, players say, is the emphasis on presnap motion, a tactic teams use to try to confuse defenders by putting running backs/receivers into motion as the snap nears. According to ESPN, the Rams were second in the NFL last year in motion at the snap at 27% while the Seahawks were 14th at 12.8%.
Well doesn’t that tick most of the boxes for what many have cried out for? Everett, a former Ram, said the mixture of the old Seahawks offense and the new installments is about “50-50” which is not a surprise at all. There was never a chance we’d see Waldron C&P the entire Rams offense and apply it to the Seahawks, but what the players have indicated is reason to believe there are genuine, desired changes coming.
Preseason may give us some tells but not too many, especially when the first-team offense may scarcely appear in at least two of those three exhibitions. I just want time to hurry up and we can get to Week 1 already.