Darrell Bevell on the Seahawks’ up-tempo offense, Russell Wilson’s miscues and more

RENTON – Some highlights of and thoughts on what Seahawks offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell had to say Wednesday during his weekly media appearance:

Up-tempo. One of the benefits of pushing the pace and going no-huddle on offense is that it makes it difficult for the defense to substitute personnel in between plays. That can allow an offense to create favorable matchups while also wearing down defensive linemen who would otherwise come off the field for breathers. Bevell mentioned another benefit when asked what goes into the decision to go up-tempo when the clock isn’t a factor, saying that it can work as a defibrillator, so to speak, when an offense is flat-lining. “It kind of catches a spark and then we can get things going,” Bevell said. “So sometimes if we’re not doing well early, that’s one of the reasons we would jump into it to kind of spark us and try to get into more of a rhythm.” That happened Sunday. Seattle’s offense produced a net of minus-27 yards over its first four drives. The Seahawks went up-tempo on their fifth drive, which gained 80 yards and resulted in a touchdown. Seattle came out at the start of the second half in what Bevell described as a slightly up-tempo mode on its first drive, which produced a field goal. Of course, if going up-tempo was a perfect solution, Seattle would do so with much greater frequency. The flip-side to the benefit of keeping defenses from substituting is that it’s also hard for an offense to do so. Bevell mentioned that as one of the reasons why Marshawn Lynch only finished with eight carries Sunday. “But that’s a big part of what happens when we start going up-tempo is we lose a big part of our run game because we’re staying in the same personnel and we’re trying to move at a faster pace,” he said. “So we don’t get to jump in and out of personnel, we don’t get to change style of runs, and that’s what ends up happening to us sometimes.”

Wilson’s miscues. Seattle’s coaches have seemed more frank this season in their assessments of Russell Wilson when the quarterback makes mistakes. Pete Carroll mentioned a few of them with “Brock and Salk” on Monday. Bevell did the same. He talked about how Wilson has done a nice job overall this season under difficult circumstances while also noting some of his errors against Arizona. Of the incompletion on Seattle’s first two-point try, Bevell said: “You just have to make a better throw on it. He had an opportunity to give Doug (Baldwin) a chance and really didn’t give him a chance. Particularly on that type of situation, you want to make sure you give your guys an opportunity to make a play.” He had a similar response when asked about Wilson’s slightly underthrown fade pass to Jimmy Graham, which resulted in a pass-interference: “I think you’ve got to make sure that you give him a chance.”

Lewis at center. Offensive-line coach Tom Cable said the Seahawks were pleased with the way Patrick Lewis played in his return to the starting lineup at center. Bevell was asked specifically about Lewis’ ability to properly communicate with Wilson and the rest of the offensive line, calling that an area where he may have improved most from last season. “I think he’s doing a really nice job of understanding all the things we’re asking him to do,” Bevell said. “He gets us into the right protection, he works well with Russell. He’s really become more vocal at that position, kind of taken a leadership role in getting us lined up. I think that’s a big improvement from him.”

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