RENTON, Wash. -- Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell sat across the aisle from Pete Carroll on the plane ride back from New Orleans, just as he always does. As is routine after away games, they watched the film individually, occasionally interrupting each other to share their observations. By the time the plane landed in Seattle around 8:30 p.m., everyone had arrived at the same conclusion.

It was time to cut Russell Wilson loose.

"We know the capabilities of our offense and what we have," Bevell said. "And so there was a little bit of holding back, and I think of a lot of it can be drawn to Russell’s health and where he was at. He showed some signs in that game that he was getting back to himself. Not a hundred percent. But obviously he was getting back to himself.

"So we just said, ‘We’ve gotta go.’ We kind of understood that situation and said, ‘OK, we can’t hold back anymore.’ There were however many weeks -- they all run together -- six, seven weeks where we were trying to protect him, the line and a lot of things. So we made it through that stretch, and it was like, ‘OK, let’s go play and let it loose.’"

Through the first eight weeks of the season, the Seahawks' offense was averaging 17.71 points per game (26th) and eclipsed 30 points just once. Wilson had battled through a variety of injuries -- a right high ankle sprain, a sprained MCL in his left knee and a right pectoral strain.

He didn't miss a game, but the coaches had to adjust their game plans to account for what he could and couldn't do. Wilson wasn't a factor in the run game, and the Seahawks didn't want to risk having him take hits on deep drops and bootlegs.

So the explosive plays were nonexistent, and it was all about the quick passing game. Wilson was getting rid of the ball on average in 2.35 seconds, seventh-fastest in the NFL. As a point of reference, he's never finished higher than 32nd in that category for an entire season.

"It was time to go," Carroll said that week on 710 ESPN Seattle. "We’d been careful, not knowing how we would expose Russ, and he was begging us to do more and all that. We were just trying to do the right thing by him, and he was doing phenomenal things just to play for the last two months.

"I was working the aisles to tell you the truth. ...We got together, had a nice little gathering, and there was some good stuff that was done and talked about, and it fell right into the week. It was just time. You’ve seen us. Sometimes you’ve got to make adjustments in a big, more significant way. And I think [that] week was equal to the one at bye time last week last year. We had to make some significant declarations -- where we are, what’s going on, what’s coming up. And we had to project. I had to feed off of Russell because I had to really look him between the eyes and make sure that he could take to it. And so we asked him, and he wanted to. He was more than willing. We just needed to go for it a little bit more."

Wilson had been trying to convince Carroll previously that it was time to open things up, but the coaches needed to see signs that his health was improving.

"That conversation definitely happened," Wilson said. "It was one of those things that I was telling Coach we need to roll, and vice versa. It was reciprocal. I just kept telling him I’m ready, let’s go. We can’t wait anymore, we’re playing some tough teams coming up, and we've just got to go for it."

Russell Wilson and the Seahawks scored one touchdown on nine possessions against the Saints, a showing that prompted changes on offense. Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images

The Seahawks had scored just one touchdown on nine possessions against the Saints' defense, which had been struggling. The loss included questionable calls against the Seahawks' defense, but after the game, wide receiver Doug Baldwin sat dejected at his locker and bluntly pointed out that the offense wasn't doing its part.

"Of course I was frustrated, but it wasn’t necessarily pointed in any direction," Baldwin said. "All of us were frustrated because we weren’t playing to the level we knew that we were capable of."

One of the big differences has been the downfield passing. In the first eight weeks, only 13.7 percent of Wilson's pass attempts traveled 15 or more yards down the field. That ranked 31st in the NFL

In the past two weeks, that number is up to 25.4 percent, which ranks 10th. In wins over the Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots, Wilson has completed 71.4 percent of his passes, averaged 10 yards per attempt and thrown five touchdowns without an interception.

"Some of those longer developing plays, there’s going to be something that Russell’s going to have to do to buy a little bit more time," Bevell said. "You know that somebody’s just going to shake free. So that goes into his health and where we feel that his health’s at. He has the ability to extend it for just a skosh more and then be able to have those plays down the field."

Against the Patriots, the Seahawks scored on seven of nine possessions. The run game is still a work in progress, and the offensive line will be challenged this weekend against the Philadelphia Eagles. Wilson still has not been a factor in the run game.

But if the offense continues to move in the right direction, the Seahawks will look at that plane ride back from New Orleans as the turning point in their season.

"By the time we landed," Bevell said. "We had already talked about it and knew what we were going to do."