Russell Wilson, Geno Smith and using the middle of the field

The first two weeks of the 2022 NFL season are in the books, and for the Seattle Seahawks that means the first two games in the post-Russell Wilson era. There was no shortage of fans and observers who came into the season believing that this change would mean a significant increase in how often the Hawks would attack the middle of the field through the air. However, so far the 2022 Seahawks offense has yet to truly attack much of any portion of the field, at least since halftime of the season opening win over the Wilson-led Denver Broncos in Week 1.

On the flip side, the expectation was, of course, that Wilson would continue the trends set in recent years of throwing more often outside the numbers and deep, though through the first two games under Nate Hackett, that hasn’t quite been the case.

The question, of course, then becomes what the driving factor behind Wilson starting to use an area of the field he basically ignored during his time with the Seahawks, and that perhaps the answer is that it may not have been Wilson driving the design of the offense in recent years.

As for how Seattle, with Geno Smith at quarterback, is attacking defenses, well, there is a whole lot outside the numbers, a lot behind the line of scrimmage and a tick above average over the middle past five yards. That said, it is more than the team has thrown to this portion of the field in recent seasons, but less than Wilson is targeting the same area so far this year.

Obviously, two games is a very small sample size from which to draw any conclusions, however, this is something that is worth watching in order to see if perhaps a quarterback who measures in under six foot does indeed have trouble seeing this are of the field. Or, if perhaps, the coaching staff of such a quarterback simply believes that such a quarterback cannot see that area of the field.