Seattle Seahawks fire OC Brian Schottenheimer

Brian Schottenheimer
Brian Schottenheimer, Seattle Seahawks.

In the wake of the Seattle Seahawks total offensive collapse, the team fired Offensive Coordinator Brian Schottenheimer.

Bob Dylan wrote “The times they are a changin” in 1964, and the Seattle Seahawks live it in 2021. Tuesday afternoon, Seattle fired Offensive Coordinator Brian Schottenheimer (Schotty). In our recent Duds and Studs article, I speculated that a change at the offensive coordinator position could be on the horizon.

In 2021, the Seahawks will have a new offensive coordinator. This will be Russell Wilson‘s third OC for Russ since Seattle drafted him in 2012. Make no mistake, that kind of consistency is highly valued by players, teams, and organizations. If you don’t think it’s true, look at the Cleveland Browns as an example.

On the heels of a disappointing playoff loss, head coach Pete Carroll and Wilson made statements that the Seattle Seahawks’ offense needs some changes. At the same time, Carroll said that Schotty (Brian Schottenheimer) would be back next year. That was Monday. A day later, Carroll did an about-face and said “philosophical differences.” led to the OC’s dismissal. Pete also made comments recently about needing to run the ball more.

Schotty is more modern in his offensive philosophies, passing more. In other words, a let Russ cook type coach. Pete’s philosophy is more old school; he likes to run the ball. One of these coaches has a Super Bowl ring to back up their coaching style and offensive beliefs. So, with these “philosophical differences” at the forefront, Carroll fired his offensive coordinator.

Day and Night

I don’t know how philosophical differences account for such an abrupt change in production from the first eight games to the last eight games.

Games 1-8 – Points 274 (34.3 average), First Downs 193 (24.1), Total Yards 3320 (415), Passing Yards 2385 (298.1), Rushing Yards 935 (116.9).

Games 9-16 – Points 185 (23.1 average), First Downs 163 (20.4), Total Yards 2592 (324), Passing Yards 1556 (194.5), Rushing Yards 1036 (129.5).

Without the NY Jets, Games 9-16 – Points 145 (20.7 average), First Downs 135 (19.3), Total Yards 2182 (311.7), Passing Yards 1320 (188.6), Rushing Yards 862 (123.1).

Taking out the Jets game in Week 14, the Seattle Seahawks scored two fewer touchdowns and gained 103.3 fewer yards PER GAME from the first half to the second half.

We will see if the offense’s disappointing performance in the second half was because of Schottenheimer’s inability to adapt after defenses that caught up. Or was it because he was getting orders from Pete to be more conservative on offense.

Good Times

The Seahawks accumulated a 33-15 record with Schotty on staff. Under Brian Schottenheimer’s offense this year, Wilson threw for a career-high 40 touchdowns. Chef Russ was also eight yards shy of a personal record in passing yards. Some more career highs for Russ are his number of completions, attempts, and completion percentage. The Seahawks set a franchise record for points scored in a season with 459 in 2020. Even with his past success, it wasn’t enough for Schottenheimer to overcome 2020’s second half collapse and failure in their lone playoff game.

One quick note on Pete and his offensive philosophy. If he really does want to run the ball more and have his defense win games. Then he needs to demand that GM John Schneider go out and acquire offensive and defensive line improvements. Russ’ sack numbers over the past three years are up by six over the three previous years. As Wilson gets older, it will be harder for him to get out of trouble. Whoever comes in to run the Seahawks offense has to better cook with the offense ingredients, which includes an aging quarterback.

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