Hiking at 1-2 seconds

[Hawaii-hawk]

I don’t know the stats on this but I have observed and confirmed with other's observations on this subject that the Seahawks have an extremely bad habit of waiting till the last second or two to get the play off and I’d like to touch on this matter a little bit more just how bad that is.

Imo this tendency is both intentional in that PCs offensive philosophy isn’t so much to move the ball as much as it is to protect the ball and burn as much time as possible—as well as its reflective of a head coach that ingratiates himself in the offensive play calls of his coordinator during drives.

Regardless, when you consistently hike the ball at 1-2 seconds you:
1) Give opposing defenses time to read your formation, communicate with each other, and line up accordingly.
2) Give opposing defenses time to rest on-field
3) Give opposing defenses time to make substitutions without fear you’ll catch them with too many men on field for a penalty ala A-rods favorite trick
4) Give opposing defenses an extra step off the tee in their rush, as they are able to perfectly anticipate when the play is starting, making it even more difficult on the offensive line.

This alone would be enough to sink an offense. But throw in all the other things we’ve been talking about that’s wrong with the offense:

1) vanilla, repetitive, and predictable playcalls
2) terrible situational awareness on calls. example: deep ball on 3rd and 3 or 5 yard pass on 3rd and 8
3) not adjusting to opponent
4) no confidence. PC broke it after seeing a few bad turnovers by RW and this is no more reflective than in RW himself and his “regression”.

It’s no wonder in my mind that our offense went in the toilet.

Now consider what happens when our offense plays to win, no more prevalent than when we do hurry-up: all those reasons pertaining to hiking at 1-2 seconds go away and our offense typically looks: amazing.

Does anyone else groan when you see us with a close lead late in the 4th and our offense is trying to just burn clock so it waits till 1-2 seconds to run something predictable when all it needs is one more 1st down to seal the game?

We groan because it almost never works. Well instead of waiting till the 4th with a comfortable lead to start burning clock and playing not to lose, PC literally plays that way from the start of the game.

Arghhhhhhhh

 

[Grahamhawker]

It is consistently prevalent, even when the situation seems to dictate otherwise. At times on Saturday the Hawks seriously seemed to be running their own clock. Another hard to watch symptom.

 

[FloridaSeahawk18]

It also makes Russell's hard count basically worthless when the defense knows he isn't going to snap until 1 second is left regardless. Not sure how many failed hard counts we had this year but it has to be one of the highest in league.

 

[scutterhawk]

It even annoys my not so football savvy wife, she kept saying, "Just watch, we are going to get flagged for another damned false start, or a delay of game, and voila.
There's no reasonable explanation for habitually doing this, it just shows p*ss poor timing & rhythm adjustments.
McVey's Defense couldn't have asked for a better gift.
Telegraphing 101

 

[cymatica]

How about when Lewis was injured and they had 2 minutes to figure out a play. They got to the line with maybe 3 seconds and had a false start, which forced a punt. That's beyond just negligence.

 

[hoxrox]

Fans have been calling for up-tempo and no-huddle for years. But this will require more runs, more keepers by Russ, and more quick-hitters in the short and intermediate passing game.

They've shown that they can very effective in the 2-minute offense, and the 4-minute offense. But this year, they were a little more fixated on the 21-second offense.

Add in Pete's meddling on game day, and that's why they can't find any rhythm and tempo.

Also, I think Russ is at a stage in his career where he's not looking to sacrifice his body in quarters 1-3. He will only do it in the 4th quarter when the team needs a comeback win.

 

[sutz]

I suspect two primary causes.

1. I think calls in Schotty's playbook might be needlessly complex. If it takes 10 seconds to rattle off the playcall, you've used up half the playclock. :229031_shrug:

2. I suspect there is some back and forth going on over the headsets between Schotty and Pete over playcalls. Pete alluded to his "interference" the other day at his presser. If they're fighting over the playcalls, more delay.

So it looks like the calls get in late, Russ tells the team and the huddle breaks with like 10 seconds left, which gives him little time to look over the D and make any line calls or change the play. I remember Holmie always wanted them to break the huddle and be on the line by something like 15 seconds left on the play clock.

The criticism is valid, they don't leave themselves any time at the line for necessary adjustments or possible audibles. And they definitely eliminate the possibility of a quick snap once in a while, like other teams do to us.

 

[JustTheTip]

Completely agree. My similar post from a thread after the game Saturday:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=172072&p=2514187#p2514187

The discussions in this thread are not about this game or even about this season.

It is about a lack of confidence in the ability of Pete to admit his mistakes or adapt.
It is a concern that in fear of what would come next of we moved on we accept a cheap facade of winning even if the football being played is poor and not entertaining.
It is about concern over what condition Pete is going to leave this franchise in if this continues (hint, it could very well be were it was right before he started.)

The problem wouldn't be slowing down the offense if it was done creatively. Also, the team did not win any more reliably when that occured. But doing things like snapping the ball under 3 seconds on the play clock gives the opposing defense all the advantage:
1) Allows the defense to rest between plays
2) Allows the defense time to study the formation
3) Allows the defensive front to easily time their rushes
4) Denies the offense any ability to develop rythm and pick up momentum
5) Either:
a) Forces the OL to stay static for extended periods of time, increasing false starts (in the case of getting to the line with more than 10 seconds)
b) Limits the ability of the QB to diagnose the defense and change the play if necessary (in the case of the QB not even getting the play call until the play clock is in the mid teens.)

 

[Scorpion05]

It's an Air Coryell offense. It is very heavy on pre-snap reads. Russ is expected to get up to the line (usually around the 18, or 15 second mark, and then switch to a pass or run play. Depending on what the defense is showing. Russ essentially has about 2-3 plays to choose from depending on what is present.

This is also part of why the offense has been struggling. Defenses have been disguising so well against us, showing single high looks that turn into two-high looks, or vice versa. Our route concepts, based on what Greg Cosell, Kurt Warner, and others have said for years, is not overly complex either.

This is also why an elite O-line is important. At the very least Russ needs extended time to assess whether his pre-snap read was accurate, as Pete also prioritizes the big play (not 5 yard passes). People took the Giants playbook and have been using it against us to perfection.