jlaff35
New member
This is an article I wrote for our blog, hawksontap.com, but wanted to share it here for my friends at .net. I know it's been a rough season so far, but I believe our best football is in front of us. Get strapped in for a crazy second half of the season! If you want to read the article in it's best format, head to my blog where there are pictures, etc. But if not, enjoy it here!
The run and shoot. The west coast offense. The wildcat. The list goes on and on of offenses that have been used by NFL teams. Some stick around forever, like the west coast offense, and some die a quick death, like the wildcat. The jury is still out on the read option offense, but for teams like the Seahawks, it is very much alive. It doesn’t take a super keen eye to notice that the Hawks used the read option very liberally last week vs the Giants, to the tune of 350 rushing yards and 5 rushing TD’s. Now, not all of those yards and touchdowns were attributed to the option, but a great majority of them were. Remember when the Hawks really started to break this offense out? It was during Russell Wilson’s rookie year, vs the Bears in an overtime thriller in a game that serves as the turning point for the rise of the Hawks. The Hawks then used it and reeled off almost 3 straight 50 point games, vs the Bills in Canada, 58-0 beat down over the Cardinals, and then 42-13 vs the Niners. Sure, teams have adjusted and are definitely more aware of the read option to the point where 50 point games aren’t the norm any more, but the Hawks are proving once again that it can be a huge piece of their offense.
Why it’s working: It’s working again because Russell Wilson is keeping the ball again. For the longest time, Wilson has basically not been “reading” and just handing the ball off to Lynch no matter what. It’s called the “read option” for a reason, as the quarterback must “read” the unblocked player. If that player stays outside and keeps contain (if you’re a defensive coordinator, this is preferred), Wilson gives the ball to Lynch. When the unblocked man (usually this is a defensive end, or a pass rushing LB in a 3-4 defense) crashes down, which is more instinctual for them as they want to get to the QB, Wilson fakes to Lynch and then scampers undefended around the defense for usually a minimum of 8-10 yards before sliding. Sure, even when the end crashes down there should be linebackers scraping, but they must honor the threat of Lynch up the middle, not to mention they have blockers attacking them. It really can be an unstoppable offense as long as Wilson keeps the ball enough to keep the defense honest. Every time Wilson rambles for 10 yards untouched, Marshawn’s job gets exponentially easier and the holes that he gets to run through get bigger. I get the fact that Wilson wants to be a passing QB and not a running QB, but at this point the Hawks are at their best when Wilson is using his legs more than when he’s using his arm. Wilson is the perfect QB for this offense, based on his football IQ, his athleticism, and his baseball background which is evident every time he executes a perfect “pop up” slide that would make Robinson Cano jealous.
Where I want to see it go: Yes, the read option is working very well for the Hawks lately. However, I think we are just scratching the surface of possibilities. Really, with Percy Harvin, we had the pieces in place to make this offense one of the most dominant forces ever seen in football, however our offensive coordinator has the creativity of a wooden rocking chair, so it never materialized. Picture this: Wilson in shotgun formation, Marshawn lined up next to him, on his right. Harvin lined up in the slot to the left. At the snap, Marshawn fakes to Lynch up the middle, drawing the linebackers up to stop the run. Harvin racing across the offense from left to right, behind the drawn in linebackers and in front of the secondary. You run the WR lined up out to the right on a go route to clear space, and Wilson hits Harvin in stride on a “crossing route”. I know, I know, we don’t ever see any regular football routes from Bevell like a slant, dig, out, or hitch, but man using Harvin on crossing routes could have been deadly coming off the read option fakes. Hey, then Harvin may have even gotten the ball past the line of scrimmage, like those offensive geniuses in New York are doing. What a concept. But I digress, Percy is gone and for good reason really. However, we should still be able to use Baldwin or Richardson in this capacity. Another wrinkle, and this is one we’ve actually tried, is the one where Russell fakes to Lynch, then starts to run, then at the last second throws the ball to the receiver streaking wide open down the field as the corner comes up for run support. Of course one time it worked for a TD to Lockette, the other time was probably Wilson’s worst throw of his career (at least until his 2 picks last week) when he threw a duck to a wide open TE for a touchdown vs the Raiders. That was ugly, but the moral of the story is that the play was there to be made, just lacking in execution. I’m really not sure why we aren’t trying this at least once a game. The more options we can have off of this basic idea, the more deadly it can be. I think a reverse could be run off of it too, but I’m sure Bevell is years away from cracking the code on that one. Can you imagine how deadly it would be if Wilson starts running and attacking the edge, and then Richardson comes around for a reverse when the entire defense is flowing to tackle Wilson? I mean, it’s just the couple weeks where big news was made when we instituted a “draw” package, and a “screen” package. I mean, shouldn’t every offense have these? Crazy. I don’t want to sound to negative, especially coming off a franchise record rushing performance, I just want to see our offense functioning like this more often, and to do that, we need to be able to counter what defenses are going to do to us now.
The run and shoot. The west coast offense. The wildcat. The list goes on and on of offenses that have been used by NFL teams. Some stick around forever, like the west coast offense, and some die a quick death, like the wildcat. The jury is still out on the read option offense, but for teams like the Seahawks, it is very much alive. It doesn’t take a super keen eye to notice that the Hawks used the read option very liberally last week vs the Giants, to the tune of 350 rushing yards and 5 rushing TD’s. Now, not all of those yards and touchdowns were attributed to the option, but a great majority of them were. Remember when the Hawks really started to break this offense out? It was during Russell Wilson’s rookie year, vs the Bears in an overtime thriller in a game that serves as the turning point for the rise of the Hawks. The Hawks then used it and reeled off almost 3 straight 50 point games, vs the Bills in Canada, 58-0 beat down over the Cardinals, and then 42-13 vs the Niners. Sure, teams have adjusted and are definitely more aware of the read option to the point where 50 point games aren’t the norm any more, but the Hawks are proving once again that it can be a huge piece of their offense.
Why it’s working: It’s working again because Russell Wilson is keeping the ball again. For the longest time, Wilson has basically not been “reading” and just handing the ball off to Lynch no matter what. It’s called the “read option” for a reason, as the quarterback must “read” the unblocked player. If that player stays outside and keeps contain (if you’re a defensive coordinator, this is preferred), Wilson gives the ball to Lynch. When the unblocked man (usually this is a defensive end, or a pass rushing LB in a 3-4 defense) crashes down, which is more instinctual for them as they want to get to the QB, Wilson fakes to Lynch and then scampers undefended around the defense for usually a minimum of 8-10 yards before sliding. Sure, even when the end crashes down there should be linebackers scraping, but they must honor the threat of Lynch up the middle, not to mention they have blockers attacking them. It really can be an unstoppable offense as long as Wilson keeps the ball enough to keep the defense honest. Every time Wilson rambles for 10 yards untouched, Marshawn’s job gets exponentially easier and the holes that he gets to run through get bigger. I get the fact that Wilson wants to be a passing QB and not a running QB, but at this point the Hawks are at their best when Wilson is using his legs more than when he’s using his arm. Wilson is the perfect QB for this offense, based on his football IQ, his athleticism, and his baseball background which is evident every time he executes a perfect “pop up” slide that would make Robinson Cano jealous.
Where I want to see it go: Yes, the read option is working very well for the Hawks lately. However, I think we are just scratching the surface of possibilities. Really, with Percy Harvin, we had the pieces in place to make this offense one of the most dominant forces ever seen in football, however our offensive coordinator has the creativity of a wooden rocking chair, so it never materialized. Picture this: Wilson in shotgun formation, Marshawn lined up next to him, on his right. Harvin lined up in the slot to the left. At the snap, Marshawn fakes to Lynch up the middle, drawing the linebackers up to stop the run. Harvin racing across the offense from left to right, behind the drawn in linebackers and in front of the secondary. You run the WR lined up out to the right on a go route to clear space, and Wilson hits Harvin in stride on a “crossing route”. I know, I know, we don’t ever see any regular football routes from Bevell like a slant, dig, out, or hitch, but man using Harvin on crossing routes could have been deadly coming off the read option fakes. Hey, then Harvin may have even gotten the ball past the line of scrimmage, like those offensive geniuses in New York are doing. What a concept. But I digress, Percy is gone and for good reason really. However, we should still be able to use Baldwin or Richardson in this capacity. Another wrinkle, and this is one we’ve actually tried, is the one where Russell fakes to Lynch, then starts to run, then at the last second throws the ball to the receiver streaking wide open down the field as the corner comes up for run support. Of course one time it worked for a TD to Lockette, the other time was probably Wilson’s worst throw of his career (at least until his 2 picks last week) when he threw a duck to a wide open TE for a touchdown vs the Raiders. That was ugly, but the moral of the story is that the play was there to be made, just lacking in execution. I’m really not sure why we aren’t trying this at least once a game. The more options we can have off of this basic idea, the more deadly it can be. I think a reverse could be run off of it too, but I’m sure Bevell is years away from cracking the code on that one. Can you imagine how deadly it would be if Wilson starts running and attacking the edge, and then Richardson comes around for a reverse when the entire defense is flowing to tackle Wilson? I mean, it’s just the couple weeks where big news was made when we instituted a “draw” package, and a “screen” package. I mean, shouldn’t every offense have these? Crazy. I don’t want to sound to negative, especially coming off a franchise record rushing performance, I just want to see our offense functioning like this more often, and to do that, we need to be able to counter what defenses are going to do to us now.
