Getty Russell Wilson indicated the Seahawks are off to a good start to the offseason.
The big question after the Seattle Seahawks fired offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer is how Russell Wilson would respond to the surprising news. Shortly after the Seahawks announced the change, Wilson took to Twitter to send Schottenheimer a word of encouragement noting “the best days are ahead for you.”
“Schotty… I’m grateful for how much you meant to me over the past three years,” Wilson noted. “God blessed me with you, we won a lot of games, threw a lot of touchdowns and had a blast in meetings and our bible studies. The best days are ahead for you. Go be Great. God first. Love. 3.”
There is no doubt something needed to change with the Seahawks offense heading into 2021, but the question is whether Schottenheimer deserves the majority of the blame for the way the unit closed the season. All signs point to Schottenheimer being limited in how he could run the offense based on the philosophy Pete Carroll wants the team to employ.
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Wilson Wants to See the Seahawks Offense Use More Tempo
Wilson was open about some of the offensive changes he wants to see moving forward. The Seahawks quarterback noted the team moved away from using tempo which he believes was a mistake. Whether this was Schottenheimer’s doing or an adjustment made by Carroll in an attempt to limit turnovers remains to be seen.
“I think that, yeah, I think that teams know that we throw it down the field well and stuff like that,” Wilson noted, per Seahawks.com. “Also too what they fear is our pace, the tempo, and all that. I think that I feel when the game is on the line, two minutes in the game or whatever, teams obviously fear that because of the feeling of me going and all that stuff. I think that is something I think along the way that kind of lose track of a little bit. I think we kind of lost track of that maybe along the way. I think that could have helped.”
Carroll Indicated the Seahawks Will Re-Emphasize the Run Game in 2021
Wilson’s tweet shows he had a close relationship with Schottenheimer, but the Seahawks quarterback stopped short of revealing his true feelings on the firing. It would be surprising if Wilson pushed for this move given how he has publicly campaigned for a more aggressive offense, something Schottenheimer helped orchestrate early in the season.
Carroll indicated there will be a change in the offensive philosophy moving forward. The Seahawks coach noted he wants to see a re-emphasis on Seattle’s rushing attack heading into next season.
“We have to run the ball better, not even better, we have to run it more,” Carroll said, via NBC Sports Northwest. “We have to dictate what’s going on with the people that we’re playing, and that’s one of the ways to do that. …I know the fans aren’t real jacked on hearing that, but Russ knows it, too. We need to be able to knock those guys into the scheme that we want to throw at.”
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