Tag Archives: Brian Schottenheimer

Wilson’s guys drive anti-Carroll crusade

March 1, 2021 cc 2 Comments

“Pete Carroll has too much power.”

It’s a ridiculous sentiment that has gotten a lot of traction this month in the wake of reports that Russell Wilson is upset that Carroll won’t include him in personnel and scheme decisions as much as the quarterback wants.

Colin Cowherd, a radio mouthpiece for Wilson and his agent, is the most visible peddler of this stupid abuse-of-power theory. All of the pass-happy data dorks who despise Carroll’s philosophy agree, of course. And fans who have been brainwashed into believing Wilson is a victim certainly believe it.

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The roster, X's & O's

A third of Wilson’s sacks were on him — most in his career

February 12, 2021 cc Leave a comment

Russell Wilson picked a strange year to call out the Seahawks for not protecting him, considering the 2020 line was one of the best he has had and he was responsible for a career-high 14 sacks – nearly a third of the 47 times he was dropped.

Counting playoffs, he was to blame for 16 of 51 sacks (31%), per Pro Football Focus, and we tallied the same via a cut-up video posted by Parker Lewis on Twitter.

So it’s fairly disingenuous of him to put the blame on the line and John Schneider — this year anyway — when he bears a third of the responsibility. Yeah, he mentioned he needs to get better, too, but you know he is not going to change certain aspects of his game at this stage of his career. He is always going to be a double-edged sword, and 2020 was the ultimate example of that.

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Coaches, State of the team

Wilson’s future in Seattle may depend largely on Waldron

February 10, 2021 cc Leave a comment

“I’m frustrated with getting hit too much.” – Russell Wilson

Did Shane Waldron know what he was getting into when he hired on with the Seahawks?

We already knew he was key to the Seahawks’ Super Bowl hopes – the offense needing some good innovation to beat stellar defenses and advance beyond the first two rounds of the playoffs. But Russell Wilson’s callout of John Schneider and Pete Carroll this week really puts the heat on Waldron, a first-time playcaller who suddenly appears to hold Wilson’s future in his game plans (assuming the relationship between Wilson and Carroll is salvageable).

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Coaches, On the air, X's & O's

Holmgren explains how to fix the offense

January 26, 2021 cc 3 Comments

As Pete Carroll looks for Russell Wilson’s third offensive coordinator in 10 years, DK Metcalf has given his two cents about what happened to Seattle’s offense and Mike Holmgren has told us what the new coordinator needs to do to help Wilson.

Metcalf confirmed what we all saw: “Teams just started to figure us out. We’ve been running deep pass ever since Pete got there. Play-action. Run the ball, run the ball, run the ball, go deep. Teams just said, ‘We’re just not gonna let you all go deep.’”

Of course, a good OC would have worked around the Cover 2 schemes that oddly stymied Wilson and Brian Schottenheimer for the final two months of 2020. Holmgren, a first-generation West Coast offense disciple, said it is on the OC to adjust.

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Coaches, X's & O's

More thoughts on the offensive conundrum

January 15, 2021 cc Leave a comment

There’s still a lot of analysis going on about what went wrong with Seattle’s offense, which bottomed out against the Rams’ stellar defense in the playoffs.

The bottom line is Russell Wilson’s effectiveness faded in the second half of the season, and Brian Schottenheimer was not creative enough as they faced a number of good defenses. Some don’t think Schotty should have been fired, but he could not right the ship in the second half and his unit ended up costing Seattle a playoff win in the first round for the second time in three years.

One of the big keys to an OC is feeling his QB’s performance and adjusting to help him when things are off kilter. Schotty was not very good at making adjustments during games, had too many predictable play-calling patterns (e.g., running on every second-and-10) and simply did not use his personnel to best effect. So, yeah, Pete Carroll was justified in firing him.

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Coaches, State of the team

Wilson: ‘It’s a critical time’

January 14, 2021 cc Leave a comment

Russell Wilson did not agree with Pete Carroll’s decision to fire Brian Schottenheimer and he wants input into the hiring of the next offensive coordinator because “it’s imperative to my career.”

In his season wrap from Mexico, Wilson told reporters, “Going into the 10th year in my career, it’s a critical time. The next 10 years are super critical for everybody involved, the whole organization, including myself as a player and the legacy that I want to leave. It’s vital, it’s critical, it’s super significant that I’m a part of that process. Coach and I have definitely been talking about it.”

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Coaches

Just like 2017, Carroll needed to replace his offensive coordinator

January 13, 2021 cc Leave a comment

It was not a huge surprise that Pete Carroll fired Brian Schottenheimer on Tuesday. If you had parsed the coach’s words Monday, you heard him say he was going to meet with Schotty and evaluate what went wrong with Seattle’s dead-on-playoff-arrival offense. It sure sounded like there was a chance Carroll might decide to make a switch.

The Seahawks cited “philosophical differences,” which basically means Carroll didn’t think Schotty could fix an offense that melted down the stretch and hit its nadir with a pathetic effort in the 30-20 playoff loss to the beat-up Rams.

This was the best move for Carroll after Schotty helped cost the team two quick playoff outs in three years and the offense deteriorated in 2020 like it did in 2017, when Carroll fired Darrell Bevell and Tom Cable after missing the playoffs.

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Coaches, Contracts

Offseason prios: Changes at the top before new deals?

January 11, 2021 cc 1 Comment

It came earlier than expected, thanks to an inexcusably bad offense, but the Seahawks’ offseason is here. And it could – perhaps should – be a transformative one, with significant change at the top possibly trumping any personnel moves they make.

The frustration we’ve had with the Seahawks the past couple of years has been over John Schneider’s inability to solve defensive personnel issues (mainly pass rush, which he finally fixed with the trades for Jamal Adams and Carlos Dunlap). As they enter this offseason earlier than expected, the concern has switched to Pete Carroll’s side after coaching cost them yet another playoff game.

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Coaches, Playoffs: L.A. Rams

After offense ‘flatlined,’ Carroll has a decision to make

January 10, 2021 cc 1 Comment

“We kind of flatlined” — Russell Wilson

The Seahawks have all the talent they need on offense, which is why it is so confounding that they went into the tank for the final two months of the season and then put down one of their worst playoff performances in the Pete Carroll era, in a dismal 30-20 loss to the Rams.

It was the nadir of an inexplicable nine-game skid by Brian Schottenheimer, Russell Wilson and company. And the question Carroll absolutely has to ask is whether Schottenheimer deserves another chance or whether Carroll needs to move on to the third OC of Wilson’s career.

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Playoffs: L.A. Rams

Are Hawks finally good enough to get back to NFC title game?

January 7, 2021 cc Leave a comment

The Seahawks have not reached the NFC title game since 2014, when the Legion of Boom was in its prime and Pete Carroll’s team seemed poised to create the NFL’s first dynasty since the 2000s Patriots.

After Carroll’s coaching gaffe gave the Patriots the win in Super Bowl XLIX and set New England off on another dynastic run, the Hawks slid back to the playoff pack. They lost in the divisional round the next two years, missed the playoffs in 2017, lost in the wild-card round in 2018 and again were dismissed in the divisional playoffs last season. That’s a 3-4 record in the playoffs since the XLIX loss.

As the Hawks prepare to host the Rams on Saturday, the big question: Are they any better than they have been the past five years? Can they finally get back to the NFC title game, at least?

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