DANNY ONEIL

Hawk Talk: On Bevell’s play-calling, Seahawks standing pat with O-line

Nov 3, 2016, 6:00 AM

Seattle will stick with George Fant or Bradley Sowell at left tackle after not making any trades at...

Seattle will stick with George Fant or Bradley Sowell at left tackle after not making any trades at the deadline. (AP)

(AP)

Danny O’Neil hosted another edition of “Hawk Talk” on Tuesday, as he does each week during the Seahawks season. The complete transcript can be found here. Highlights are below.

Dani said it seems that offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell is trying to fit a square peg into a round hole by not changing anything schematically to account for quarterback Russell Wilson’s injuries, Seattle’s inexperienced offensive line and its “mediocre” running game.

O’Neil: I think Bevell has adjusted his play-calling more to accentuate Wilson’s traits. But it’s not that the playbook has been modified to the point that it’s now hampered because Wilson can’t run. I think it’s more a matter that Wilson’s tendency (outside of the last six games of last season) has always been to hold the ball longer, trust his scrambling and let things develop. His injuries, in my mind, have unquestionably messed with that balance. And we’re seeing an offense that isn’t nearly as effective as it has been.

Dani followed up by asking if Wilson’s limitations influence Bevell’s play-calling and contended that while Wilson looked comfortable in the pocket against the Jets, he’s been “very jittery” the past three games.

O’Neil: Agree with you on the jittery part. I especially think back to a play in Arizona where he dropped back into the end zone and got very, very rattled despite having time. I also think the whole idea that Wilson needs his legs to be effective was undermined by what happened the last six games of last season when he was a surgeon from the pocket. But Wilson isn’t as comfortable right now, not as decisive. I chalk that up primarily to the injury, but there was no guarantee he was going to pick up right where he left off last year.

Ktown asked how coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider could “not acknowledge” how weak the team’s offensive line is and said an upgrade at left tackle is key to capitalizing on a championship window that won’t be open forever.

O’Neil: Well, I don’t think they’re like the hear-no-evil, see-no-evil monkeys. They acknowledge what’s going on, the shortcomings and challenges. They don’t believe the best path to getting better is to throw money at veterans. They’ve concluded that for two reasons: a) That would require them taking that money from other parts of the team where it has been spent; b) Those veterans who would have money thrown at them wouldn’t be as good as the young players they currently have can become by the end of the year.

RegisHawk said “people are too hung up on the dollar amounts” when it comes to the offensive line.

O’Neil: See, I think people are too hung up on names. There’s an offensive lineman you’ve heard of, who’s made a Pro Bowl and he’s assumed to be an immediate upgrade. I saw a Yahoo! column complaining that Seattle’s decision not to sign Josh Sitton will come back to haunt the Seahawks. In fact, there was an anonymous source inside the Seahawks’ locker room complaining about that. What absolute crap. The 1-6 Bears didn’t even need Sitton when they beat the Minnesota defense that is considered the league’s best.

Bend, Oregon asked if the Seahawks have been playing Russian Roulette with Wilson.

O’Neil: How so? Gambling that Wilson won’t get hurt? Because people who correlate his injuries to the O-line play should recognize that the quarterback who plays behind what is considered to be the best offensive line in football has suffered a broken back and fractured his collarbone (twice) in the past 15 months.

SeaHokie joked about Panthers quarterback Cam Newton saying this week he no longer feels safe on the field.

O’Neil: There’s part of me that understands what he’s saying. That he has to take hits that other quarterbacks aren’t having to deal with it. The other part of it is that did Joe Montana feel safe? Or Terry Bradshaw? The idea that a quarterback shouldn’t get hit in the head is a relatively recent phenomenon. For a long, long time defenses have been trying to hit opposing quarterbacks really hard in their heads.

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