Getty Russell Wilson was not in favor of the Seahawks firing Brian Schottenheimer.
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson revealed he was not in favor of the team firing offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer. The Seahawks quarterback shared his first public thoughts on the Seahawks’ coaching change during his end-of-the-year press conference. Wilson revealed that he learned about the news after receiving calls from both Carroll and Schottenheimer hours before the decision was announced.
“If you ask me if I’m in favor of it? No,” Wilson said, per The Seattle Times. “… Coach Carroll decided that it is the time to make a change. He’s been doing this a lot longer than I have, so you’ve got to trust his decision.”
Wilson added that his ultimate goal is to win Super Bowls, and indicated he is in favor of anything that will help the team accomplish more victories. The Seahawks quarterback praised Schottenheimer noting he believes his former coordinator will eventually be an NFL head coach.
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Wilson Wants to be Involved in Hiring the Next Offensive Coordinator
Wilson admitted he wants to be involved in the hiring process for the next offensive coordinator. He added that he has already been in talks with both Carroll and general manager John Schneider about what is next for the offense.
“I think what’s really, really important is making sure that moving forward that we’re all on the same page with me and coach,” Wilson noted, via The Seattle Times. “We’ve had great conversations about what’s the next step of this organization in terms of who the next person [will be]. I think also, too, what’s really important is also for my career to go as far as I can possibly go.”
Carroll & Schottenheimer Did Not Agree on the Seahawks’ Offensive Philosophy
Carroll and Schottenheimer clearly did not see eye-to-eye on the team’s offensive philosophy moving forward. It was a bad sign when Carroll admitted to intervening during a critical fourth-and-one play call in the team’s playoff matchup against the Rams which ultimately led to a delay of game penalty. Carroll gave what seemed to be a state-of-the-union address on the Seahawks’ offense just a day before parting ways with Schottenheimer.
“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, like we have been able to do that in the past,” Carroll said, per Seattle 950 KJR. “That doesn’t mean we’re going to run the ball 50 times a game. It means we need to run the ball with direction and focus and style that allows us to dictate the game. I mean I just, frankly, I’d like to not play against two-deep looks all season long next year. And so we have to be able to get that done.
Wilson Wants the Next O.C. to Help Make the Seahawks ‘One of the Most Explosive Offenses in Football’
Wilson spoke at length about what qualities he wants to see in the team’s next offensive coordinator. The Seahawks quarterback identified utilizing a more uptempo pace as a goal for the offense moving forward.
“What’s really important is somebody who, one, is a tremendous teacher of the game, like Schotty was,” Wilson explained, via Seahawks.com. “Somebody who is a tremendous leader of men, somebody who is extremely passionate about the game and creative, and knows how to find every guy’s strength. …What’s really important is for us to be one of the most explosive offenses in football, for us to be able to throw it extremely well, for us to be able to also run it well, for us to have that up-tempo game, fast pace, slow it down, do all the mixture of things we want to be able to do. I think there’s nothing that we can’t do.”
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Russell Wilson Sends Strong Message on Seahawks’ Coaching Change