Bump: The play-calling change for Seahawks OC Grubb to make

The Seattle Seahawks have a lot of positive things to point to from their season-opening 26-20 win over the Denver Broncos, but not everything went as planned in the game.

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You know what we’re talking about. The Seahawks’ offense had not just one but two safeties in the first half, which added up to the difference when Seattle went into halftime trailing 13-9.

How does that even happen? Seattle Sports’ Michael Bumpus, a former NFL wide receiver and current Seahawks Radio Network host and analyst, pointed to Seattle’s decision to work out of a shotgun formation when backed up near its own end zone rather than having quarterback Geno Smith operate closer to the line of scrimmage. That’s something Bumpus wonders if first-year offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, who spent the past two years as OC for a UW Huskies team that had a dominant offensive line, will re-think after seeing the Hawks’ O-line in action in Week 1.

“When you are backed up the way that they were, there were two plays, two safeties,” Bumpus said. “One was a sprint left. You’re in shotgun, you’re running a sprint play in the end zone. To me, that is a no-no. You want to get the ball out of your hands as quickly as possible. Then you run a power play, so you’re bringing your left guard all the way across to the right, you’re kicking out the end, and it just takes so long for that play to develop – and you’re in shotgun.

“When you are back there, I think that’s when you want to get downhill right now. Get under center and just give yourself two, three, four yards.”

Those two safeties looked like they could have been Grubb’s “welcome to the NFL” moment.

“Speculation on my end, he might be thinking, well, at UW we did this because we had the most dominant line and we could do things like that,” Bumpus said. “So I’m looking to see how he’s going to adjust his game plan when it comes to that. Will he get under center? Then also, this is where not having a fullback rostered I think kind of hurts you a little bit.

“He might not change anything. He might just be like, this is what we do, this is who I am. But in those situations right there, you gave up four points. You were backed up. … He’ll be in that situation again. I want to see how he handles it.”

Hear Michael Bumpus answer football questions daily at 11:15 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. during the Four-Down Territory segment of Bump and Stacy, which airs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays on Seattle Sports.

More Seattle Seahawks coverage

• How did Macdonald react to being surprised by Marshawn on the sideline?
• Brock Huard: An unsung hero from Seahawks’ Week 1 victory
• ‘We didn’t flinch’: Seahawks’ defense makes big opening statement
• Seahawks RBs key second-half surge in win over Broncos
• Seattle Seahawks already have O-line injury trouble after Week 1 win

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