Two weeks after the Seahawks announced the firing of offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, the search for his replacement continues.
And maybe it’s that void in news that had Seahawks Twitter — and wherever else Seahawks fans gather on social media — aflutter over a comment made this week by receiver DK Metcalf.
Appearing on the “I Am Athlete” podcast with former NFL players Brandon Marshall and Chad Ochocinco, Metcalf was asked what happened to the Seahawks’ offense the second half of this season.
“Teams just started to figure us out,” Metcalf said. “We’ve been running deep the past — ever since (Seahawks coach) Pete (Carroll) got there. It’s play-action, run the ball, run the ball, run the ball, go deep. Teams just said we’re not gonna let you go deep.”
That comment wasn’t necessarily all that different from Carroll’s at the end of the year saying that he wanted to get opponents from not playing so much two-deep zone in 2021 as they did at the end of the 2020 season — a defense designed to take away the deep pass.
“It’s not just the running game,” Carroll said. “It is the style of passes that will help us some. But we have to get after it a little bit differently. As it unfolded in the end of the season, it became really obvious. In the last four or five games, it became really obvious.
“… I want to see if we can run the ball more effectively to focus the play of the opponents and see if we can force them to do things like we’d like them to do more.’’
Essentially, Carroll agrees with Metcalf — teams figured out what the Seahawks were good at in the first half of the season and devised schemes to take it away in the second half.
Of course, the focus on scheme doesn’t take into account that Seattle incurred some personnel issues as the year wore on — the starting offensive line playing together only twice in the final 13 games, including playoffs, due to injury; injuries also held out backs Chris Carson and Carlos Hyde for a while.
That focus can also obscure that Seattle played what were statistically better defenses in the second half of the season than in the first, including the top-rated Rams three times. (Any scheme with Jalen Ramsey and a healthy Aaron Donald is better than one without them.)
There’s also the idea that Seattle simply was not throwing deep because opponents were playing them to throw deep is giving in a little bit and voluntarily taking away what Seattle does best — Russell Wilson annually ranks at the top of the most accurate deep passers in the NFL, and Metcalf and Tyler Lockett are obviously well-suited to the deep-passing game, as well.
But the comments only fuel the interest in who Seattle will hire — and inevitably will inflame the debate of whether that hire can indeed put together a scheme that will give the Seahawks some better answers in 2021.
While there was nothing Tuesday to indicate when the search will end, one factor could be pushing it to a finishing point — that Seattle this week was reported to have asked for permission to talk to Buffalo quarterbacks coach Ken Dorsey.
Until Sunday, when the Bills lost to Kansas City in the AFC title game, he was still busy coaching.
Miami has also been reported in pursuit of Dorsey, and that could hold some allure since Dorsey played there as quarterback of the Miami Hurricanes when they won the college football national title in 2002.
Dorsey has become considered a rising star in coaching due to his work as QB coach with Cam Newton in Carolina and then Josh Allen in Buffalo the last two years.
Others reported to be targets of Seattle’s who remain available are Los Angeles Rams passing-game coordinator Shane Waldron, Raiders running backs coach Kirby Wilson (who has worked with Carroll previously at USC and New England) and former Jets and Dolphins head coach Adam Gase. Seattle also had reported interest in former Eagles coach and Ferndale native Doug Pederson. But a report last week stated he is leaning toward taking the year off.
Seattle could also consider in-house candidate Dave Canales, who is currently the team’s passing-game coordinator.
But as Tuesday closed, no decision had reportedly yet been made, the Seahawks appearing to be doing the same “due diligence’’ they often cite in trying to be in on every player who becomes available.
It’s in some contrast to when they hired Schottenheimer, whose hiring was announced on Jan. 15, 2018, after Darrell Bevell was reported to have been fired six days earlier. Though it’s worth noting, Seattle played its last game on Dec. 31, and the decision to move on from Bevell may have been made privately a little earlier than was reported/announced.
Regardless, the perception last time was that Carroll homed in on Schottenheimer pretty quickly, hoping then to hire an OC who would revive Seattle’s running game after a 2017 season when the Seahawks had just one rushing touchdown from someone other than Wilson and just four overall.
Carroll’s statement after this season about wanting to run the ball more and better led to the idea that maybe he again had his eye on someone specific.
The length of the search, though, indicates he’s exploring a lot of options.
Metcalf’s comment — and the reaction that greeted it — shows it’s a coaching decision that may be as scrutinized as any Carroll will ever make as Seahawks coach.
