Has Shane Waldron solved Pete Carrolls desired balance between an explosive Seahawks offense and establishing the run?
One striking element of the Seahawks minicamp this past week, and the Organized Team Activities that preceded it, has been the uninterrupted lovefest toward new offensive coordinator Shane Waldron. One offensive player after another has extolled the virtues of Waldron  his ingenuity, his knowledge, his coaching style, the endless possibilities of his magical Xs and Os. Its hard to know whether Pete Carroll hired Waldron, or Walsh reincarnate. Its not unusual for a new coach to be lauded, because everything is still theoretical, and the possibilities of change are always intoxicating. We havent yet seen the offense bog down, followed by the inevitable second-guessing after a tough loss. Remember, we heard a lot of glowing remarks about Brian Schottenheimer after he was hired, too. Its still encouraging to see the outpouring of support for Waldron. Yet we all know that it wont mean much unless one key person buys in totally to Waldrons vision for revitalizing the Seahawks offense: Pete Carroll. You might counter that its actually the other way around: Its Waldron who has to buy in to Carrolls vision of what it takes to win in the NFL. After all, its Carroll who runs the show. Its Carroll who has won a Super Bowl and has the career bona fides, especially when compared to a first-time coordinator. Advertising  Most importantly, its Carroll who decided after dismissing Schottenheimer that Waldron was the one to implement the priorities that he has made crystal clear over the years: First and foremost, that all offensive success is predicated on establishing the run. That doesnt seem to jibe with all the talk weve been hearing this week about the uptempo, varied, explosive offense that Waldron is installing. In fact, it has sounded suspiciously like Waldron is mixing the ingredients to let Russ cook; yet you might remember that Carroll ditched the wide-open offense of the first half of 2020 after a gruesome stretch of turnovers. The first thing he said at the end of the season, while looking ahead to 2021, was: We have to run the ball better. Not even better  we have to run it more.  Lets flash forward to Thursday, and Carrolls comments after the final practice of minicamp, marking the end of offseason workouts. The next time the Seahawks gather will be in late July for training camp and the ramp-up to the season. Asked about Waldron, Carroll added to the deluge of praise and then said something notable: That he has let the new coach have free rein in putting his stamp on the offense. I have not gotten in his way because he has such command of what hes doing, Carroll said. He knows how it fits together, and hes been able to orchestrate the teaching process in a way thats allowed us to do quite a few things for this offseason. You can hear from the players; theyre impressed with him. Hes just left them with a really good impression of his command, his verbiage. These guys are really moved moving far. More likely, it means that the two are in lockstep about what it takes to get the Seahawks offense humming. And, by early indication, Russell Wilson is buying in as well. Russ has just totally embraced it, Carroll said Thursday.  Theres already a chemistry brewing here. Theyre already working together really well.  Its going to be a delicate balance to reconcile Carrolls stated desire to prioritize establishing the run with the concept of a free-wheeling, fast-moving Seattle offense that just about everyone wants to see. But Carroll has always insisted that explosiveness is the result of being able to run at will; the two do not have to be mutually exclusive. You just have to go back to Carrolls end-of-the-season interview session in January following their playoff ouster by the Rams to get broad clues about his mindset. He spoke then of how the Seahawks were hampered by the preponderance of Cover-2 defensive schemes that teams used against them, keeping two safeties deep to eliminate the big plays that had been so successful in the first half. Frankly, Id like to not play against 2-deep looks all season long next year, Carroll said back then. That doesnt mean were going to run the ball 50 times a game. It means we need to run the ball with direction and focus and style that allows us to dictate the game.  Advertising  Thats where Waldrons schemes come in. His task is to not just implement a running game that will make opponents put their safeties closer to the line; its to complement that look with the sort of quick passing game that has been a hallmark of the Rams; and thus make it easier for Wilson to hit the home-run balls to DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. It all works in concert, at least in theory. The Seahawks showed last year where it could go astray. Carroll believes the addition of tight end Gerald Everett from the Rams will be a huge help in their short and intermediate passing game; Wilson had just one completion for 7 yards to a tight end in the season-ending Rams loss. And Carroll said this week that third-down conversions will be a huge priority. The Seahawks ranked just 27th in third-down conversions last year at just over 38 percent. If we can be really good on third downs and stay on the field, be around 50 percent, were going to be really hard to deal with, Carroll said Thursday. Running the ball better. I know every time I mention the running game, everybody goes crazy, Carroll said. Were going to be a balanced football team again, and were going to do the things we need to do to play really good ball. Like always, that means being able to keep the ball away from the other guys, and hang on to it, and not let them have it so that we can go score. Weve got a tremendous quarterback, with a great system, and hes got guys around them  Weve always been explosive when were at our best, and when were at our best, weve been able to run the football and be really explosive. Thats hard to stop.  Yes, that sounds like the Pete Carroll weve known for a decade now. Now well see if a heavy sprinkling of Shane Waldron turns that into a sustainable championship formula.