Seattle Seahawks: Russell Wilson and the NFL’s oddest offense

The Seattle Seahawks have been one of the most interesting and sometimes oddest NFL franchises in recent memory.

It only feels like a short time ago when the Seattle Seahawks and the Legion of Boom were making back-to-back Super Bowls. In fact, it was only five years ago played in the Big Game two straight years, winning one against the Denver Broncos led by Peyton Manning (and almost winning the other against the New England Patriots). But now things are a little different out in Seattle.

Back in the 2012 offseason, the Seahawks made two quarterback moves. One of those moves was signing Aaron Rodgers’ backup, Matt Flynn, to a three-year, $23 million contract. The other was taking Russell Wilson in the third round of the NFL Draft.

Coming out of college, one major knock against Wilson was his height — but he’s done nothing but prove everybody wrong. Wilson won the starting job as a rookie and has since led Seattle to two Super Bowls and also has the three highest season passing yardage and season touchdown totals in franchise history.

This offseason, Wilson and his agent looked to get the quarterback paid — and they made that happen in a big way. Wilson also had a great way of announcing his new contract with the Seahawks:

It’s hard to make an argument against Wilson earning the biggest contract in NFL history. When you have a star quarterback in the NFL, you pay him big time money. But here is the odd thing about the Seattle Seahawks: They don’t utilize Wilson like the star quarterback he is, especially in the 2018 season.

In 2016 and 2017, Wilson had two of the three highest total passing attempts in a season in franchise history. In 2018, however, Wilson’s numbers didn’t put him in the top 20 in that regard for the Seahawks. Meanwhile, the Seahawks went from 409 rushing attempts in 2017 to 534 rushing in 2018.

Brian Schottenheimer is a primary cause for this dramatic change in offensive approach. Schottenheimer stepped into the Seahawks franchise in 2018 and completely changed the offense from a balanced mix of passing and running to an old-school, rush-heavy style and it showed, especially when the games mattered the most in the playoffs.

Against the Dallas Cowboys, the Seattle Seahawks ran the ball 24 times and passed the ball 27 times. Schottenheimer knows what he wants to do on the offensive side of the football and is not afraid or apologetic about it, as he told Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times

"“We make no apologies for how we play,’’ Schottenheimer said. “We want to run the football. We want to be physical. We want to take our shots.’’"

The Seattle Seahawks were one of the best teams in the NFL with an elite quarterback and an elite defense. Now, they are an odd old-school team with a star quarterback who they paid the largest contract in the NFL but don’t utilize him to the degree that you’d expect (or that they should), thus continuing the narrative that they’re one of the league’s oddest teams.