Seahawks Offensive Creativity Poses Tough Challenge for Patriots in Super Bowl: The Seattle Seahawks were the youngest team to ever lift the Vince Lombardi Trophy last season. Entering that game against the Denver Broncos, the Seahawks were the second-youngest team to ever appear in a Super Bowl. A lack of experience affects teams differently. Some will be nervous and uncomfortable on the biggest stage, others will show a confidence that is irrational because they dont understand the fear that is supposed to come with the unknown. When the Seahawks shut down Peyton Manning and blew away the Broncos, they showed irrational confidence. It wasnt just on the defensive side of the ball either. In that game, the Seahawks scored over 43 points with 16 coming directly from the defense or special teams unit. The remaining 27 points were compiled by the offense, but neither Russell Wilson or Marshawn Lynch had notably productive days. What was notable about the Seahawks offense was the approach undertaken by offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell. From the very first drive of the game, Bevell was aggressive and creative. He didnt ease his offense into the game with cautious play-calling on the back of a Lynch-centric running game. Lynch had the very first carry of the game, but the second went to a wide receiver. Percy Harvin was absent for most of his first season with the Seahawks. A hip injury had sidelined him for the regular season, but he returned in time to feature in the playoffs. Harvin had hardly been used before the Super Bowl, but Bevell quickly found a way to put the football in his hands. On the Seahawks second offensive play of the game, Harvin lined up wide to the right of the formation. Before the snap, Harvin turns to run in motion across the formation. Wilson times the snap perfectly so that he can turn around and plant the ball in the wide receivers chest. Harvin is accelerating toward the left sideline while the offensive line and Lynch move toward the right sideline. This is a risky play because Harvin will be blown up in the backfield if the edge defender to the right of the defense stays disciplined. That edge defender is fully focused on Lynch in the backfield as Harvin takes the ball past his outside shoulder. Furthermore, all but one of the Broncos defenders are focused on Lynch while Harvin breaks into the flat with two blockers out in front of him. Bevells play call has worked perfectly, and the timing of it was likely a big reason the Broncos werent prepared to stop it. With two blockers out in front, Harvin was able to run untouched down the field for more than 20 yards. He was eventually pushed out of bounds, but he almost maintained his balance to keep moving toward the end zone. Harvins acceleration and overall athleticism allowed him to gain 30 yards before stepping out of bounds, but it was Bevells aggressiveness and creativity that caught the defense off balance. Bevell followed that play up with a hard play action to the left of the offense that created a wide-open receiver on the other side of the field. Wilson missed the throw though. The drive ultimately ended in a field goal. The Broncos wouldnt need to wait for too long to face another trick play from Bevell. On the second drive of the game late in the first quarter, the Seahawks line up with Lynch in the backfield, a fullback offset to the right, a tight end to either side of the formation and Jermaine Kearse as the sole receiver to the right. In this formation on 2nd-and-5, the Broncos would be forgiven for expecting a running play. At the snap, Wilson takes the football and tosses it to Lynch running wide to the right side. The Seahawks pull their right tackle and the fullback outside of their tight end to that side of the field to give him three blockers. Importantly, neither pulling blocker is aggressively running downfield. This is one of the tip-offs for the trick play that is coming. Kearse initially angled his route infield to sell the idea that he was coming inside to act as a run blocker. However, once Lynch turned back to lateral the ball to Wilson over the middle of the field, Kearse turns upfield to run a deep route. The wide receiver was slightly late accelerating into his route. Wilson is looking downfield as he catches the football. His body is structured in such a way that he can deliver the football instantly if he has a receiver to throw to. Kearse is the only option on this play, but he has two defensive backs trailing his route down the middle of the field. Instead of letting the ball go instantly, Wilson had to hold onto the football and try to create a positive play by scrambling. The Broncos defended that play perfectly, but the Seahawks eventually found their way to the end zone and two drops were all that forced them to kick a field goal. A quick drive from the Broncos that ended in an interception from Kam Chancellor gave the Seahawks the ball back again at the end of the first quarter. Bevell built on one of his previous trick plays to start this drive. Once again, Harvin ran an end-around after lining up to the right side of the formation. Instead of relying on the edge defender to follow Lynch with his eyes and neutralize himself, Bevell had his tight end account for that player. This gave Harvin a free run into the flat. Lynch would eventually cap this drive off with a one-yard touchdown run that pushed the Seahawks into a 15-0 lead. After Malcolm Smiths interception was returned for a touchdown on the following drive, the game was essentially over. The Seahawks opened the second half with a kick return for a touchdown from Harvin, so Bevell wasnt under pressure to produce points on offense after the second quarter. He still allowed his quarterback to be aggressive throwing the football, but the trick plays were no longer needed. The willingness to use those trick plays in that game was more important than how effective those plays were. Bevell doesnt have Harvin anymore, and his natural heir, Paul Richardson, tore his ACL earlier during this Super Bowl run. That will limit the versatility of what Bevell can ask of his offense, but he still has athletic options to make use of in Ricardo Lockette, Cooper Helfet and Christine Michael. None of those players are as elusive and explosive as Harvin, but each brings their own strengths to work with. In the NFC Championship Game, Bevell put the ball in Lockettes hands on an end-around play. This was a different type of end-around attack than the handoffs that Harvin had received in last years Super Bowl. Lockette lined up tighter to the formation and looped around his running back and quarterback. As he received the football, Lockette had one blocker in position to seal the edge against Clay Matthews. That blocker missed his assignment though, so Lockette was forced to change the angle of his run and gain depth to get around the edge. Matthews couldnt get to Lockette, but he slowed the receiver down so that three other Packers could crowd around him at the line of scrimmage. Lockette was able to make multiple defenders miss to turn a potential seven-yard loss into a four-yard gain. Standing at 62 with a long stride and impressive straight-line speed, Lockette can be effective on these types of plays. He and tight end Cooper Helfet, who stands at 63, are similar types of players. Neither have Harvins short-area twitch or explosiveness, but both can eat up yardage when put in space. Helfet and Lockette offer Bevell options who can work laterally behind the line of scrimmage and run routes down the field. Running back Michael offers more ability working laterally behind the line of scrimmage but less versatility or reliability as a whole. Michael hasnt even been used much as a running back since being drafted in the second round two years ago, so its completely unprecedented to think he will be used in a role that Harvin once fit into. However, with two weeks to prepare, Bevells past brashness and Bill Belichicks penchant for preparing for everything that your team has put on tape, it would make a lot of sense if Bevell looked to Michael to be his wild card in this game. Michaels value will come on triple-option running plays and plays that are designed to threaten three types of run. On this running play from Week 1 of this season, Percy Harvin lines up in the near slot initially before running behind the line of scrimmage across the formation. Harvin is following the yellow line. He creates a threat of an outside run to the right, while Lynch is the red line threatening a run off left guard. Wilson at quarterback is threatening a run off right tackle, the blue line. This play isolates Julius Peppers over the middle of the field while making a very quick handoff to confuse his eyes. Peppers lets Harvin run outside of him as he focuses on trying to find the football between Lynch and Wilson. Unfortunately for the outside linebacker, Harvin already has the ball, and hes running outside for a big gain. These types of plays can lead directly to big gains if the defense loses discipline, but more significantly, they make it tougher for the defense to focus in on Lynch or Wilson. Belichick typically makes an effort to take away the oppositions greatest strength. The Seahawks greatest strength in recent times has been Lynch. Both Wilson and Bevell will need to be effective in their roles to help Lynch be productive. Wilson will need to play much, much better than he did in his most recent outing. He will need to connect on passes down the field to Jermaine Kearse and Doug Baldwin with more regularity. Bevell will need to call a smart game that constantly moves the point of attack to keep the defense off balance. Its hard to keep the Patriots off balance simply because of how good their coaching staff is. Belichick will prepare for everything that you have done in recent weeks, so adding in something completely new or something that hasnt been used this season is always a worthwhile consideration. The Seahawks cant expect to dominate this game the way they did last years Super Bowl, therefore these seemingly minor details could prove to be significant. Read more NFL news on BleacherReport #Football #NFL #NFCWest #SeattleSeahawks
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 01:29:36 +0000
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