3 Training Camp Questions for the Seahawks

Do the Seahawks solve their offensive identity crisis?

This topic has been brought up again and again when talking about Seattle. The two different football minds of Pete Carroll and Russell Wilson have been clashing on what type of offense they should run. Wilson has shown time and time again that he is more than capable of leading this team. He goes to work and absolutely tears through defenses with his explosive passing and his moon ball. Pete Carroll however is not a fan of this. His bread and butter are wearing down the defense with the running game, and use Wilson as an “extra” weapon.

During 2020-2021, they started hot at 5-1 with Wilson having an MVP-caliber season. Then Caroll started to transition to the “ground and pound” offense, with Chris Carson at the head of that operation. However, after Carson got injured Seattle was scrambling to find a new RB1. Russell Wilson also doesn’t play well under this system, making apparent mistakes left and right. This led to an early exit in the playoffs.

Due to these “philosophical differences” Seattle parted ways with offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, a few days after the wild card loss. Now the spotlight rests on Shane Waldron, and if he can blend both styles. He is in a tough position because he angers Wilson by making the offense run-heavy. If he makes it too pass-heavy he runs the risk of angering Carroll. He knows how to balance on offense well as he’s helped the LA Rams have a top-10 rushing and passing offense for 4 straight years.

I do think Seattle will be able to solve these offensive struggles this year. It will be the main focus of the offensive coaching staff, and they will be looking deeply into this problem. However, it will take them some time to figure out the fine details. I predict that the Seahawks will fail to find their footing in the first few weeks. But after week 6 or 7 they will get attractions and start showing their true colors.

Is the Russell Wilson Drama behind us?

Another one of the headlines surrounding the Seahawks of the season is their star player, Russell Wilson. There was much speculation if Wilson would spend any more time in Seattle. Many trade rumors were circling, would he go to the Bears, or Saints, or another team? However, these theoretical trade scenarios never happened as Wilson indicated that he wanted to stay in Seattle. Although Wilson has stated that he has “always wanted to stay”, there was still speculation that he wanted out. Although I don’t think he was seriously thinking about leaving, he definitely had brief thoughts about it. These thoughts most likely stemmed from the fact that he felt like he was undervalued by the team. Seattle would often move away from him being the star of the show and, let the RB’s be the star of the show. Seattle also has had several disappointing seasons since their blunder in Super Bowl XLIX (sorry Seattle fans).

Despite all of this, I do believe Russell Wilson and the team has put this behind them. If we’ve learned anything Russell Wilson is a great person overall, and he knows how to handle himself professionally. Although I don’t think this season is going to be a walk in the park for the Seahawks. What I mean by this is they can’t be guaranteed the Wilson will stay. DangeRuss knows he has the leverage with the front office, and he will expect the team to treat him like the star player he is. If they neglect him again, I fully expect to see Wilson playing for another team in 2022.

Can Seattle continue to be the only team with 0 Covid-19 cases?

I know this doesn’t really relate to football but it’s a topic that’s been dominating it since last summer. Coronavirus has turned the world upside down, and football was no exception to this. During the 2020-2021 season, it felt like teams had positive Coronvirus cases popping up left and right. This led to a lot of rescheduling of games and questioning if it was feasible to hold an NFL season. Oh yeah, for a significant part of the NFL, there were no fans. It was honestly disappointing to see no fans in the stands, and not hearing their roaring cheers and boos.

Due to all the rescheduling of games, we had an NFL game every day of the week during the 2020-2021 season. Anyways, after this huge roller coaster that the NFL faced one team seemed immune to this, the Seattle Seahawks. Throughout the season using unique tactics thanks to the brain of Pete Carroll and Sam Ramsden. They were able to keep the team “immune” from Covid-19. After the season, Carroll and Seattle were proud of their accomplishment. Carroll believes that was their biggest accomplishment of the year (I don’t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing).

To add to this, all but one 1 Seahawks player at training camp have received at least 1 shot of the vaccine. Although it’s not clear who this player is, it is clear that the Seahawks are set up for another season without any Covid cases hopefully. And yes I know there is the entire coaching staff and personnel that need to be vaccinated, but it’s a very good start. The main risk to destroying this impressive stat is the delta variant and breakthrough cases. So at this point, it’s essentially hoping that Covid-19 doesn’t affect them, but preparing for the worst outbreak possible.

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Thanks for reading my article on the biggest questions facing the Seattle Seahawks in training camp! Follow @OT_Heroics for all things sports