What Seahawks OC Grubb’s offense is doing more than others

Aug 22, 2024, 9:17 AM

Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb on June 3, 2024. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

(Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

BY ZAC HERETH

Seattle Sports

The upcoming campaign brings plenty of intrigue for the Seattle Seahawks.

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With an array of new faces filling out the coaching staff of first-year leader Mike Macdonald, the Seahawks are set to have quite a new look after over a decade under Pete Carroll. One of the most notable changes comes at offensive coordinator, where former UW Huskies play-caller Ryan Grubb has taken the reins.

Grubb was known for his innovative, high-flying offense with the Huskies, which was put on full display with future first-round NFL Draft pick Michael Penix Jr. leading one of the nation’s premier attacks for two seasons.

One of the staples of Grubb’s offense is the bevy of pre-snap motions used to try and confuse defenses, which has carried over through two preseason games with the Seahawks. According to Hayden Winks of Underdog Fantasy, the Seahawks have used pre-snap motions on 70% of plays during the preseason, which trials only the 80% registered by Mike McDaniel’s high-octane offense in Miami.

“I like what Grubb is doing,” former NFL quarterback Brock Huard said during Blue 88 on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk. “He’s not showing everything, but he also is getting enough quality work in with personnel groups, formations, motions, shifts, pre-snap movements.”

UW coaching legend weighs in

Huard and co-host Mike Salk later spoke with former Huskies coach and Fox Sports football analyst Chris Petersen, who was known for his innovative play calling between his time at Boise State and UW, for his opinion on the effectiveness of using as much motion as Grubb does.

“That was my roots growing up in Boise. That’s all we did. We shifted and motioned almost every single play,” Petersen explained. “… Miami seems to be doing pretty darn good with that (the Dolphins led the NFL with 401.3 yards per game and were second in scoring at 29.3 points last season). So I am a complete believer.”

Petersen described how a simple motion of a tight end from one side of the offensive line to the other forces the defensive to communicate with one another, and that can then be compounded with an additional motion by a wide receiver.

“For the most part, when you’re shifting in motion, it creates so much stress communication-wise on the defense,” Petersen said.

He then explained how the pre-snap motion can help the offense read what is coming defensively.

“Sometimes you’re trying to get man (or) zone (coverage) indicators – if it’s going to be a man defense or they’re gonna play zone defense,” Petersen said. “You’ll see that when they put the running back out wide. Who goes out to cover him? Is that a linebacker? Oh, man coverage. Is that the (defensive back) just kicking over? (It’s) zone coverage protection.”

So why isn’t everybody running pre-snap motions all of the time?

“One thing it can cloud – and this is why everybody’s not doing it – when you line up in a station or static picture, the quarterback can get a better beat on what’s going on,” Petersen said. “When you’re changing the picture for the defense, you’re also changing that picture for the offense (and) the quarterback, as well. So sometimes that can hurt you in like, ‘Oh, I didn’t see that coming.’

“But overall, I love the shift and motion, because the defense is so good these days. They’re so good at disguising coverages of what they’re doing anyways. So if that’s their whole thing and we’re going to shift and motion and it doesn’t give the quarterback a clear picture, he probably doesn’t have a clear picture anyways.”

Listen to the full Blue 88 segment at this link or the interview with Chris Petersen at this link. Tune in to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.