What does new Seahawks OC Brian Schottenheimer resume show us?

Schottenheimer was reportedly the Seahawks first choice as their new offensive coordinator. What does his past work show he’ll do in Seattle?

The speculation on who might be the new Seahawks offensive coordinator began after that ill-fated pass in the Super Bowl. Many 12s fired Darrell Bevell that day, at least in their hearts. The guessing game really heated up once Pete Carroll granted those fervent wishes. That game ended when Seattle hired Brian Schottenheimer today.

But that only kicks off a new game. What will the Seahawks offense look like under their new coordinator? For the first clues, let’s start at the beginning. Brian Schottenheimer was born a poor – sorry, wrong story. And we aren’t going back nearly that far. Schottenheimer is the son of Marty Schottenheimer, who had a pretty good career himself with as a head coach in the NFL for 21 years.

Brian played quarterback under Steve Spurrier at the University of Florida, backing up Danny Wuerfel and winning a national title. Nice work if you can get it. Schottenheimer was hired as an assistant coach by the St. Louis Rams right out of college, then joined dad next year with the Kansas City Chiefs. After a couple years in college coaching tight ends and wide receivers, he came back to the NFL. He joined the Washington Redskins as their quarterbacks coach in 2001. I’m guessing the staff meeting started with, “Hey Dad, long time no see.” He spent one year coaching Tony Banks. Clearly it was time to move on.

Schottenheimer builds his resume with a couple of great QBs

Brian Schottenheimer spent the next four years as the San Diego Chargers quarterbacks coach. He had his work cut out for him here, as he inherited a short second-year quarterback who’d only appeared in one game in his rookie season. But Drew Brees turned out to have some talent after all. It probably didn’t hurt that Brian was working for his dad again, either.

Brees really didn’t break through until Schottenheimer’s third year on the job. Brees basically didn’t become Brees until he arrived in New Orleans. That’s due more to Marty’s conservative style than Brian’s coaching.  When Brees left for greener pastures after the 2005 season, Brian Schottenheimer followed suit.

The former quarterbacks coach became the New York Jets offensive coordinator in 2006. He held the job for six years. Under Schottenheimer, the Jets offense jumped from 29th in points scored the year before to 18th. It could be that Chad Pennington was simply better than Brooks Bollinger and a 42 year old Vinnie Testaverde, too. Because he was, you know.

The Jets offense dropped back to 25th in scoring the next year, but in 2008 it jumped all the way to ninth in the league. That would be the Year of the Hired Gun, the 39 year old Brett Favre. With Mark Sanchez under center in 2009 and 2010, the offense declined somewhat, but was still a respectable 13th in the league. That was certainly good enough when backed by that ferocious defense. But the defense went south in 2011, and LaDainian Tomlinson got old. Yeah, he played for the Jets. I didn’t remember that either. Schottenheimer’s middle of the pack offense wasn’t good enough, and it was time to leave again.

Brian Schottenheimer works for yet another conservative coach

For his next gig, Brian headed west, and landed with the offensive genius Jeff Fisher. You may have noticed a pattern by now. Brian Schottenheimer was now with the third head coach that emphasized tough defense and controlling the clock with a strong running game.

The Rams had finished 2011 with the NFL’s least potent offense, scoring only 193 points. No, I am not kidding. By the way, their offensive coordinator was Josh McDaniels that year. Funny how it helps to have talent, isn’t it?

Anyway, Schottenheimer managed to get the Rams to score 299 points. Probably helped that Sam Bradford started all 16 games. He really did. It was the second and last time he achieved this miracle, but he did it. Okay, back to Brian. In 2012 the Rams climbed to 21st in scoring, despite Kellen Clemens starting nine games. In 2014, the Rams held on to that 21st ranking, despite having Shaun Hill and Austin Davis splitting time under center. Davis – hey, I know that guy!

That sub-par offense wasn’t good enough for Jeff Fisher, and Brian Schottenheimer took the fall. The defense was a bigger problem than the offense, as the Rams allowed 364 and 354 points in Schottenheimer’s last two years. Pretty sure that’s on defensive “genius” Gregg Williams and Jeff Fisher, not the offensive coordinator. The Rams offense dropped from 20.25 points per game in Schottenheimer’s last season to 17.5 points per game after he left. Seems the Rams finally figured out that maybe Jeff Fisher was the problem after all, right?

Brian Schottenheimer’s post OC career – let’s talk about Georgia, shall we?

After getting tagged for not producing with front-line quarterbacks like Hill and Davis, Schottenheimer decided to give it the old college try again. To hear it from Georgia fans, this was an abominable decision. Just curious: when Nick Chubb only plays six games, are you really going to be the best team in the country? I mean, quarterback Greyson Lambert isn’t going to be immortalized between the hedges in Athens.

But under Schottenheimer, Lambert’s passer rating was 141.5. When Mark Richt was let go after their 10-3 season, Schottenheimer was gone too. Lambert’s rating dropped to 97.5, and his replacement, Jacob Eason, was at 120.2. So was Schottenheimer really the problem?

Doesn’t seem that way to me. Of course hiring Kirby Smart was a great move for Georgia, as they just played for the national championship. But 2017’s success doesn’t invalidate 2015. The Bulldog’s scoring dropped another two points per game after Schottenheimer left, before bouncing back this past year. I’m not going to hold him responsible for Nick Chubb’s injury, or that Jake Fromm was still in high school.

Then it’s on to Indianapolis for Schottenheimer

Brian Schottenheimer returned to the quarterback coach job with the Indianapolis Colts. For the first time since his stint with Brett Favre, he could coach a top tier talent. Andrew Luck was coming off the worst season of his career. He played in only seven games in 2015 and posted a career high in interception rate, along with career lows in both passer rating and QBR.

With Schottenheimer on the staff, Luck bounced back with career highs in completion percentage, yards per attempt and QBR. 2017 wasn’t going to be as easy for the Colts as Luck never played a single down. It’s hard to say if Schottenheimer got the most out of Jacoby Brissett, or the least. It’s more likely he’s the next Chad Pennington instead of the next Drew Brees, but only time will tell.

So what does this all mean for the Seahawks?

There’s a reason that Pete Carroll said Schottenheimer was the Seahawks first choice. Think back to that offensive style employed by the Jets and Rams. Run the ball to set up the pass. Dictate the pace of the game, and help your defense by controlling the clock. Sound familiar, 12s? Not in the past two years, no, but that’s the whole point.

I mean, they call that style of play Marty Ball, after all. When the style you coach is named for your dad, it’s no wonder Pete Carroll wanted Schottenheimer in the fold. Is he the right choice, though? It certainly hasn’t been a home run on social media.

From what I’ve seen, that’s a fairly accurate representation, too. To clarify an earlier statement, when Schottenheimer worked with great quarterbacks like Brees and Favre, they weren’t at their best. Favre was in his 18th year in the league. Brees certainly became better once he arrived in New Orleans. Maybe Schottenheimer held him back. But with LaDainian Tomlinson averaging over 1,500 yards per season, you probably wouldn’t throw too often, either. The question remains, which Schottenheimer held Brees back? I think it was dad, myself.

Not a home run – but did the Seahawks need one?

Brian got decent production out of some pretty mediocre quarterbacks. There aren’t too many great offenses without great quarterbacks. I don’t recall anyone turning Kellen Clemens or Shaun Hill into All Pros, do you? His offenses ranked higher in points scored than yards gained in seven of his nine campaigns. Seems efficient to me, maximizing the points scored.

On the flip side, his offenses only ranked higher than 17th in Red Zone scoring once. That was in 2011, when the Jets somehow were the best in the league in the Red Zone. Yes, that was the year of the Sanchize. And if Brian Schottenheimer can get that kind of performance out of Mark Sanchez, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt with Russell Wilson under center.

As mentioned elsewhere, Schottenheimer was hired to fix the running game. His track record shows he can do that. Was this hire a home run? Hardly. I’d say it’s more of a ground rule double, at best. But Pete Carroll knows what he wants, a ground game. I imagine there was just one question in the interview. “You’re at the one yard line with the Super Bowl on the line. Do you throw, or run?” I think Pete got the answer he wanted.