Whatever the schism was between the Seahawks and Russell Wilson this offseason — and Wilson did his level best to minimize the issues in a minicamp press conference this week — things appear to be back on track for the franchise and its franchise quarterback.
Wilson has long wanted to have more of a hand in play-calling and personnel, and based on his body of work, one could say that he’s earned it. Whether that has actually happened or not, Wilson seemed especially happy with the schemes installed by new offensive coordinator Shane Waldron.
“It’s super complex,” Wilson said Thursday, per Gregg Bell of the Tacoma News Tribune.
“We are going to be able to move people around. We are going to do everything that we want to… I really believe in him.”
What are the new wrinkles? Apparently, the Seahawks’ new passing game is less static and more expansive.
“We have some nuances across the board that really challenge the defense, using the whole field and really expanding the offense,” Wilson said. “Just using everybody as much as possible, in all different formations and different looks and different tempos.”
Up-tempo is something Wilson has wanted his team to implement more often, as he intimated after the 30-20 wild-card playoff loss to the Rams that ended Seattle’s 2020 season.
“I think that we started running it really well for a little bit there, and so I think that was part of it,” Wilson said back then. “And the games just — I think for us we were able to — early in the season we were able to get the deep shots and stuff like that early on. I think that as well as — I think our tempo, our pace and stuff, getting in and out and all that, we kind of lost that a little bit I think along the way.
“I think that’s something that we do really, really well, and so to keep that tempo and pace I think is something that’s — I’m going to really try to study a lot this offseason and see how do we continue to put our foot on the gas and everything else along the way. I think that’ll help us a little bit.”
Waldron, who was the passing game coordinator for Sean McVay’s Rams last season, could be ready to give Wilson more no-huddle and more pre-snap motion. Last season, per Sports Info Solutions, only Daniel Jones of the Giants and Kyler Murray of the Cardinals had more no-huddle dropbacks than Los Angeles’ Jared Goff (148), and while Goff didn’t do too well with it (94 completions in 144 attempts for 1,092 yards, 507 air yards, three touchdowns, and four interceptions), that’s more an indictment of Goff than anything about a more hurried passing game. Wilson had just 39 no-huddle dropbacks last season, but he completed 20 of 32 passes for 247 yards, 175 air yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions.
As for the benefit of pre-snap motion, Wilson did have a lot of that to work with under former offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer in 2020, and he was pretty good with it, completing 206 passes on 298 attempts in 355 dropbacks for 2,310 yards, 1,219 air yards, 17 touchdowns, and five interceptions. And the shot plays off of pre-snap motion were certainly in evidence. On throws of 20 or more air yards with motion last season, Wilson completed 16 of 36 passes for 593 yards, 529 air yards, six touchdowns, and two interceptions.
Bell also points out in his piece that Wilson was particularly good against single-high coverage when defenses couldn’t just hang two safeties back and defend the run, and the numbers bear that out — against Cover-1 and Cover-3 last season, Wilson completed 193 of 284 passes for 2,356 yards, 1,444 air yards, 23 touchdowns, and four interceptions. Against Cover-2, 2-Man, Cover-4, and Cover-6, Wilson completed 135 of 211 passes for 1,550 yards, 1,007 air yards, 11 touchdowns, and four interceptions. So, as Wilson has been saying for a while, a varied approach to the offense would provide greater dividends.
Seahawks fans have long wanted Pete Carroll and his staff to “Let Russ Cook,” and perhaps Waldron is the ideal guy to make that happen.