Early year bad Oline a blessing in disguise

Ask anyone in the "know" about Seahawks Xs & Os and they'll tell you the reason why the Seahawks performed at elite level is the emergence of the short passing game.

I believe halfway through the season Russ and coaches realized the Oline was flat out bad, and it didn't seem to be changing any time soon. As a result they had to adapt and discovered they could efficiently move the ball with a 3 step drop and OUT with the ball. In past they've always been a heavy run and 5-7 step play action team. I think people always assumed Russ couldn't be efficient in the short passing game because of his height..and I'm not sure why it's taken 4 years to get to it other than the fact that they really NEEDED it halfway through this year.

While I believe the OLINE has improved since halfway through the season, I also believe the short passing game has actually helped the OLINE. Opposing defenses used to either know it was a run or that russ would have the ball for 5/7 seconds+...They could pin their ears back and go.. Now we have more plays, longer drives, more 3rd down conversions (mostly 3rd and short which we struggled with in past). It keeps opposing DLINEs tired, and honest.

If the Oline has been excellent from the start of the year, I'm not sure we'd ever have discovered this missing piece. We are truly the only team in the NFL other than perhaps PITT that has a dominant running game, short passing game, long passing game, and Read-option QB running.. It's literally impossible to stop the Hawks offense if they execute.

I believe that this is the tip of the iceberg for the team. Get ready for the next 5-7 years of an offensive juggernaut.

I share the enthusiasm. The offense isn't just hype or talk anymore. The offense felt unbeatable with Rawls. Graham started to fit into the offense very nicely in his last couple games. And though he's a forgotten man, I still remember how Paul Richardson outshined Doug Baldwin at the end of the 2014 regular season. On a team full of elite route runners, Richardson might be the best of the bunch.

I consider the return of Rawls, Graham, and Richardson to be a very big deal. It astounds me that the offense has been this good without them.

It's all the more reason why I think Seattle needs to fortify their pass rush and secondary this offseason, because next season opponents are going to be chasing points... a lot.

I have been all in on Richardson since we signed him and loved what we saw before going down late last year. I also think all the talk about getting rid of Graham is crazy and next year the learning curve has been worked through and I expect an even better offense next year with Rawls, Graham, Richardson and whatever else they add to the mix. The best thing about this current team is they are set up for the long haul to be successful. Fun time to be a Seahawks fan.

I also think that the quick passing game has helped the running game. Stay with me here:

If the ball is coming out in 2-3 seconds, it's tough for opponent rush to get home. So you either have to blitz and hope you get home, or you drop a bunch into coverage to try to stop the short to intermediate throw.

By dropping guys, you leave yourself vulnerable to getting run on. That's Bevell with his "pick your poison".

I love it. We've schemed up the pass, and thereby schemed the run too.

I agree with pretty much everything said.

I've been so frustrated with the feast-or-famine nature of drives -even from previous seasons- that I've actually wished for a weak running game, so that it forced the coaches to forge a more-fully-rounded passing attack. I see now that it actually took that AND an extremely alarming sack rate to get them to budge. I've always felt very strongly that RW would get rid of the ball quickly more often if he were given more options to do so.....and low and behold!

To be sure, many factors combined to get the O to where it is now, but the restructuring of the offense (and, at last, emphasis from the coaches) set the whole thing in motion, IMO. A blessing in disguise for sure!

I guess what is frustrating is that I am no great football mind and it was obvious to me BEFORE the first game of the year.

It's very basic stuff. You can't block, so you can't throw deep or run. Only one option left quick passes

why did it take so long for the coaching staff to put it together?

Desperation is the mother of invention.

Russell's rookie year, I expected, around the 2012 Detroit game (we lost), for Pete to go to Russell and say, "Russell, go score early and often." So it took about 3 years longer than expected. We're here now.