Grading the Seattle Seahawks’ new coaching hires
By Lee Vowell
Offensive coordinator
Out: Darrell Bevell
In: Brian Schottenheimer
Again, Bevell was not extremely popular with 12s. And he was an easy target to blame. While the Seahawks defense was mostly great until 2017, Bevell’s offenses were much more inconsistent. But they were also still productive.
Under Bevell, Seattle set franchise records for total yards in a season (2015), passing yards in a season (2016) and rushing yards in a year (2014). And those numbers are part of the problem, as strange as that may seem.
Pete Carroll always wanted a run-heavy team that played great defense. From 2012-2014, that is basically what he got. Maybe that was due to Marshawn Lynch? But the offense began to change in 2015 with Russell Wilson doing most of the work. And in 2017 it just got to a ridiculous level of Wilson nearly being the entire offense.
Bevell did not appear to have a fix during this past season for the offense. As the year ended, Wilson was simply tired and the offense terrible.
Enter Schottenheimer. It is true that Schottenheimer has not had a quarterback with the specific talents of Wilson, but the new coordinator also likes to run the ball. Schottenheimer has never had an offense rank higher than 11th in overall production. Twice, though, he has had an rushing offense that ranked in the top five of the NFL. You can bet that is what Carroll noticed.
Carroll has two years left on his Seahawks contract at the end of which he will be 68 years old. Maybe Carroll just wants to end his career his way. And he has earned that.
With Schottenheimer, 12s will see a 2018 Seattle offense that gets the ball to Chris Carson and Mike Davis a lot. Hopefully with some improved coaching, the Seahawks will eat some clock and get the defense off the field more.
If Seattle wants to make the playoffs next season, that better work.
Grade from Bevell to Schottenheimer: C+