The Seahawks appear to have found their new offensive coordinator, and it’s game on for the running game. Pete Carroll wants to get back to running more often and more effectively, and that’s the direction Seattle is headed.
Shane Waldron, an assistant with the Rams last year, is the hire, according to a report in The Seattle Times. He’s been with Los Angeles for all four years of the Sean McVay administration and is thought of highly enough that he was interviewed by the Bengals for their head-coaching job the year they hired Zac Taylor. Waldron has been a “passing game coordinator” the last three years but has never been a coordinator.
The thinking is that Carroll wants to juice up Seattle’s running game, and the Rams have been pretty reliable in that regard for most of the last four years. They got good games last year out of Cam Akers and Darrell Henderson.
Los Angeles last year got solid rushing production despite having immobile Jared Goff under center. If we set aside quarterbacks, the Rams finished with the 8th-best rushing numbers in the league (using 6 points for touchdowns and 1 for every 10 rushing yards).
| RUSHING PRODUCTION (2020) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Att | Yards | TD | Points |
| Tennessee | 471 | 2,414 | 19 | 355.4 |
| Cleveland | 441 | 2,209 | 20 | 340.9 |
| Minnesota | 436 | 2,127 | 19 | 326.7 |
| New Orleans | 381 | 1,816 | 20 | 301.6 |
| Indianapolis | 424 | 1,985 | 17 | 300.5 |
| Baltimore | 369 | 1,957 | 17 | 297.7 |
| San Francisco | 412 | 1,828 | 19 | 296.8 |
| LA Rams | 416 | 1,863 | 15 | 276.3 |
| Green Bay | 389 | 1,972 | 13 | 275.2 |
| Las Vegas | 408 | 1,679 | 16 | 263.9 |
| Washington | 360 | 1,514 | 16 | 247.4 |
| Detroit | 335 | 1,353 | 17 | 237.3 |
| Denver | 387 | 1,735 | 10 | 233.5 |
| Tampa Bay | 330 | 1,497 | 13 | 227.7 |
| Carolina | 345 | 1,403 | 14 | 224.3 |
| • Seattle | 326 | 1,460 | 13 | 224.0 |
| New England | 357 | 1,739 | 8 | 221.9 |
| Dallas | 375 | 1,531 | 11 | 219.1 |
| Atlanta | 377 | 1,444 | 11 | 210.4 |
| Kansas City | 334 | 1,493 | 10 | 209.3 |
| Arizona | 342 | 1,403 | 11 | 206.3 |
| NY Giants | 325 | 1,333 | 12 | 205.3 |
| Chicago | 344 | 1,451 | 10 | 205.1 |
| Pittsburgh | 339 | 1,326 | 12 | 204.6 |
| Miami | 362 | 1,428 | 10 | 202.8 |
| Cincinnati | 350 | 1,433 | 9 | 197.3 |
| LA Chargers | 404 | 1,545 | 7 | 196.5 |
| Philadelphia | 286 | 1,385 | 8 | 186.5 |
| NY Jets | 363 | 1,444 | 7 | 186.4 |
| Buffalo | 303 | 1,308 | 8 | 178.8 |
| Jacksonville | 301 | 1,336 | 7 | 175.6 |
| Houston | 254 | 1,022 | 7 | 144.2 |
At the same time, if the Seahawks are cranking up their ground game, it could come at the expense of what they’re doing through the air. Last year they put up wild passing stats in the first half of the season, but those dried up when teams started playing more Cover-2 defenses, with an emphasis on not allowing deep strikes to DK Metcalf.
"Teams just started to figure us out," said Metcalf on a podcast with Brandon Marshall earlier this week. "We've been running deep pass, ever since (coach) Pete (Carroll) 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.'"
Waldron had a big role in the Rams’ passing game last year, and it was one of the worst at successfully getting the ball deep. Los Angeles, in fact, was the only team in the league that didn’t have a player who averaged 12 yards per catch (that’s among players with at least 10 receptions).
Russell Wilson might be the best quarterback in the league at throwing deep passes, with an unusual ability to accurately drop the ball in on those plays. But there could be some issues with getting those uncorked – they’ve got some work to do.
They’ve also got to figure out who’s carrying the ball. Both Chris Carson (pictured) and Carlos Hyde are free agents. The team has some interest in bringing both of them back, back money will play a big role in those decisions. They’ve got some other capable players at that position, including Rashaad Penny, Alex Collins and Deejay Dallas.
If Waldron can’t get this offense fixed, he probably won’t last long. Carroll has been with Seattle since 2010, and he’s fired his three previous offensive coordinators – Jeremy Bates, Darrell Bevell and Brian Schottenheimer.
—Ian Allan