Seahawks TE Will Dissly: New offense started strong but ‘there’s a ton left in the tank’

The Shane Waldron era got off to a great start with the Seahawks beating the Indianapolis Colts 28-16 in Week 1, which was Waldron’s first game as Seattle’s offensive coordinator.

Heaps: Seahawks’ Week 1 a sign Waldron’s offense can live up to the hype

A big question with Seattle entering the year was not just whether or not Waldron would improve the offense, but how that offense would look and which players would be more involved, including the tight ends.

In 2020, the Seahawks had what many thought was one of the best tight end rooms in football, but that unit didn’t make too much of an impact in the passing game.

So far in Waldron’s offense, though, it appears that Seattle’s tight ends will play a key part in the team’s plans week to week.

The Seahawks’ two top tight ends – Gerald Everett and Will Dissly – combined for five catches for 57 yards and a touchdown in Week 1, with four of those receptions coming on a touchdown drive that was capped off by Everett finding the end zone in his first game with the Seahawks.

Dissly paced the two when it came to catches (three) and yards (37), and he had one of the highlights of the game when he delivered a vicious stiff arm to Colts linebacker Bobby Okereke.

GET OFF ME! 😤@Will_Diss | @Seahawks pic.twitter.com/gMxrLKL8Q7

— NFL UK (@NFLUK) September 13, 2021

Dissly joined Jake Heaps, Stacy Rost and Dave Wyman on 710 ESPN Seattle’s The Huddle on Thursday and talked about the stiff arm, Waldron’s offense and more.

“It was a good checkdown when we were trying to roll there in the second half. I made a play and got a first down and kept the drive going,” Dissly said of the stiff arm. “Really, it was a fun day. A lot of highlights from everybody on the offense and we’re just ready to go this week now … It’s good to be back. Game 1, you’re just kind of going through the week and you envision those plays and for that to happen, it was kind of fun, not going to lie to you guys.”

Seattle’s offense was clicking against the Colts, from the receivers to the running backs to the quarterback to Dissly and the tight ends. Yet Dissly said there’s still work to do, which should scare opposing defenses.

“All in all, the offense kind of executed like we wanted to,” he said. “We can still get better, no doubt about it. There’s definitely some plays we can clean up and be a better offense, which is the scary part. Everyone made plays and was explosive and we’re excited to go do it again on Sunday.”

Dissly also shared some insight into how Waldron’s offense looks and feels.

“Shane brought a lot of newness. A lot of the old stuff that we’ve done really well for a long time stays in the playbook, obviously, but Shane just brings a new twist and a new coaching style and he brought (run game coordinator Andy Dickerson) along and him and (offensive line coach) Mike Solari are doing a great job with the running game and everything kind of marries itself,” Dissly said. “We were really excited to get a hold of the playbook and get rolling. In camp I think there were some ebbs and flows with the newness and whatnot but we were really excited. Game 1 on the road against a really tough defense that took the ball away a lot last year, so to go out and compete like we did was a really great start. We’re not satisfied, we’re going to keep going and keep going for sure.”

We saw a lot of that “newness” against the Colts. Could we see even more going forward, such as Sunday against the Tennessee Titans?

“There’s a ton left in the tank, which is the cool part about it. Obviously I can’t tell you over the radio what we have in store for those teams down the line, but there’s a lot of explosiveness coming,” he said. “A lot of guys are going to have the opportunity to have breakout games. It’s kind of the beauty of our offense is we can just take what the defense gives us with the playmakers that we have. Week to week it’s going to predicated on what the defense allows us to do and not do.”

Listen to Dissly’s full interview in the podcast of the first hour of The Huddle at this link or in the player above in this story.

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