12s should not get overly excited about Seahawks offense in training camp
By Lee Vowell
Lots of good things will happen in Seahawks training camp and one of them is the offense will look great! But expectations should be tempered. Otherwise, we risk going into Jazz Ferguson syndrome. This means watching what we think is real in training camp and preseason and expecting that to translate into real games.
The problem with the beginning of the 2020 season is what we saw from most teams in the first four or five games was basically what we would have seen in preseason, only the games counted. This isn’t the only reason the Seahawks offense was so great early and relatively bad later but it is a reason and there is no doubt about it.
Once defensive coordinators figured out what Seattle wanted to do offensively when those same DCs didn’t have any chance of seeing what was going on in preseason, Russell Wilson and company were definitely not the same. That includes both total yards per game, passing yards, and, more importantly, points per game.
Seahawks offense should be good but hold back expectations some
Sure, teams don’t show their entire offense in the preseason but there is a glimpse of an idea of what the scheme might be. DCs last season just had a guess at how important Wilson would be to start the season and how pass-heavy the Seahawks would be. Then they figured it out.
This isn’t to say that defensive coordinators will so easily figure out Seahawks new offensive coordinator Shane Waldron. Waldron appears to have the capacity to be a much more imaginative OC than Brian Schottenheimer. This very likely will help the Seahawks long-term and deeper in the season which is great.
Next. Jamal Adams proving to be a great teammate. dark
But it is going to be so easy to get swept away by watching non-heavy contact practices (or heck, even preseason games) and watching the speed and ease of the Seahawks and thinking that will translate into real games when DCs have had a chance to prepare. Seattle’s offense, led by the greatness of Russell Wilson, Chris Carson, D.K> Metcalf, Tyler Lockett and others, will likely succeed. But not with the ease of what practice and preseason might show. 2021 is going to be tough but Pete Carroll knows that and that is a good thing.