Even Russell Wilson wants the Seahawks to open up the offense

Duane Brown was the first member of the team to openly voice his desire to see the Seattle Seahawks throw the ball more when he went on national TV and pointed out that a team with Russell Wilson at quarterback could probably stand to throw more. Then, late during the season wide receiver Tyler Lockett expressed frustration with the way the Seahawks offense had been attacking defenses on the ground, rather than through the air. Now, the trickle of public input on the offense the Hawks employ also includes a comment from the highest paid player in the NFL, Wilson himself.

In Miami for the Super Bowl festivities this week, Wilson appeared on an NBC Sports interview on Saturday evening, and had the following to say, well, I’ll just let everyone listen for themselves.

For those who don’t want to take the time to watch the clip, Russ states he’d like to see the offense take on a more up tempo and aggressive approach during games. He points specifically to the success the team has experienced when it shifts to a two minute or hurry up offense, and how that tires out the defense, allowing for the Hawks playmakers to do what they do best, make plays.

In short, Wilson is one of the best quarterbacks on the planet at this moment, and he and everyone around him recognizes that. Now, there will certainly be fans who respond that the Seahawks can’t pass protect, and so they need to run the ball in order to protect Russ. Well, a big part of the pass protection issues stem from the team’s predictability in terms of passing when the defense expects it. Here are the sack rates by down for the entire NFL in 2019:

First Down: 5.46%

Second Down: 5.43%

Third Down: 9.79%

And here are those numbers for the Seahawks:

First Down: 4.83%

Second Down: 10.16%

Third Down: 12.58%

Basically, when the defense doesn’t expect Seattle to throw the ball and has run stuffing defensive tackles on the field instead of its NASCAR package, Wilson is lacked less than league average. On later downs, when the Seahawks offense finds itself in situations where throwing is more predictable is when the offense gets itself into trouble and Wilson takes more sacks than would be expected.

To sum it up, over the past calendar year we’ve now seen the unquestioned leader of the offensive line, the veteran member of the receiving corps and now the highest paid player in the NFL and unquestioned leader of the team publicly call for the team to open up the offense.

Now it falls to the coaching staff to see how they will respond.