Seahawks need to re-establish the run; Mark Schlereth explains how
Jan 12, 2018, 11:44 AM | Updated: 12:21 pm
Pete Carroll was disappointed the Seahawks couldn't change the narrative of their season. (AP)
(AP)
The Seahawks offense has found itself in a state of flux following the firing of offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell and offensive line coach Tom Cable. The dissaray though, may not have started with Wednesday’s coaching announcement: head coach Pete Carroll lamented weeks ago that the Seahawks needed to regain their offensive identity as a run-first team.
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And for Carroll and general manager Schneider, that effort to re-establish the Seahawks’ identity begins now.
NFL analyst Mark Schlereth personally finds the approach refreshing, and spoke about the importance of offensive identity during a segment with Brock and Salk on 710 ESPN Seattle Friday.
“I think you have to take some pressure off of Russell Wilson, and the guy is phenomenal running around and doing all those things, but that’s not a sustainable form of offense,” Schlereth said.
“I really believe you’ve got to find somebody who’s actually committed to running the football. And it’s easy to say that but this league, a lot of the time, doesn’t feel like it rewards it. I call games on FOX and I see it all the time; you see the way that you get rewarded in this league for throwing the football, and all the rules are bent towards throwing the football. And let’s face it, offensive coordinators get jobs because they call plays that, to me, often times are vanity play calls.”
Schlereth said running the ball takes commitment, and a streamlined coordinator position can be a boost.
“I’m a believer in being able to (run the ball), I’m a believer that that is a skill like any other skill, it has to be worked on, it has to be developed. And you’ve got to be committed to it as a coaching staff. Unfortunately in our game, not a lot of people are.”
Nine of the top 10 rushing teams in the league made the playoffs this year. Interestingly, Schlereth noted that if there is a shared philosophy between most of those squads, it isn’t the power running of the 1980s.
“What I see is teams that have great quarterbacks that are throwing it around, essentially they’re running single-back, two-man side, power and draw concepts. It’s not power run concepts. They are teams that have exceptional quarterbacks … there’s a lot of nickel run concepts.”
Listen to Schlereth’s entire interview with Brock and Salk here for some great X’s and O’s conversation about developing a strong run game.
