Baldinger: The biggest jump new Seahawks OC Grubb will face in NFL

New Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb and new offensive line coach Scott Huff are both embarking on their first seasons at the NFL level.

NFL Network’s Baldinger: Why Seahawks’ new offense can have ‘great success’

Both made the journey across town after a success-filled run on Montlake, where they helped the UW Huskies reach the College Football Playoff national championship game this past season. Grubb was the offensive coordinator of UW’s high-flying attack, while Huff was the offensive line coach for a unit that won the Joe Moore Award as the best O-line in the nation.

For Grubb and Huff, what will be the biggest jump they face in transitioning to the NFL game? NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger was posed that question Wednesday during an appearance on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk.

“I think a lot of guys can coach schemes and techniques, but I feel like the biggest jump is in-game adjustments,” Baldinger said. “There’s just some days where you just can’t get to (San Francisco 49ers three-time All-Pro linebacker) Fred Warner – like, how are we gonna block this guy? If you don’t block him, he’s gonna make every tackle in the run game.

“So you’ve gotta figure things out gameday that were different than the walkthroughs on Wednesday or the inside drills on Thursday. You’ve gotta be able to adjust gameday. … And you can’t wait till halftime. If you wait till halftime against the 49ers, you might be down 21-3. You’ve gotta do it by the second series of the game.”

‘Three kinds of play-callers’

During Thursday’s Blue 88 segment, former Seahawks quarterback Brock Huard expanded on what Baldinger said. Huard recalled a conversation he once had with longtime college football defensive coordinator and defensive position coach Kevin Steele, who separated offensive play-callers into three categories.

“He said to me, ‘Listen, there’s three kinds of play-callers,'” Huard recalls. “‘There’s the Sunday play-caller, the halftime play-caller and the series play-caller.

“‘The Sunday play-caller doesn’t figure out what I did to him until watching the tape on Sunday, and I love facing those guys. The halftime play-caller, he doesn’t figure out what I’m doing to him until halftime when the rest of the scouts and coaches from the booth all run in and they make their adjustments. I don’t mind those guys at all. But the series-to-series adjusters and play-callers? Those are the best of them.’ And that is what Baldy is talking about.”

Huard believes making in-game adjustments is one of Grubb’s greatest strengths, given what he showed at UW.

“Making those in-game adjustments, Grubb is really good,” Huard said. “He’s been pretty terrific at it. Save for the (Arizona State) game last year, I would say one of his great strengths is he constantly adapts and puts his guys in position for success.”

Listen to the full conversation with NFL Network’s Brian Baldinger at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Listen to the full Blue 88 segment on Brock and Salk at this link or in the audio player near the middle of this story.

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