Field Gulls
The Seattle Seahawks entered Week 1 against the San Francisco 49ers with optimism surrounding a new offensive system under coordinator Klint Kubiak. Instead, the season opener exposed an immediate concern: Seattle’s inability to establish the run. Seattle’s backs were routinely met in the backfield, finishing with one of the least efficient rushing performances of the opening weekend.
To examine what went wrong, I sat down with Coach DC from All 22 Films, a coach and analyst who has built a strong following for his detailed NFL tape study on YouTube. His perspective helped uncover both schematic and executional issues that left Seattle unable to generate consistency on the ground.
Our discussion began with the numbers before turning to the film itself. Using the All-22 angle, Coach DC walked through several plays where San Francisco’s defensive line anticipated Seattle’s blocking concepts and controlled the line of scrimmage. Missed assignments and minimal push from the offensive line compounded the issue, leaving the Seahawks without rhythm in the rushing attack. One play he believed summed up Seattle’s woes generating a rushing attack was the play before Sam Darnold’s fateful strip-sack fumble. Kenneth Walker received the ball on a 1st and 5, gaining just a yard after being tackled by Nick Bosa (who’d have a much bigger, game-sealing role on his next snap).
“The play that sticks out to me a little bit as far as things not being ready for prime time yet, even though it’s week one, is the play before the strip sack,” Coach DC said.
“The motion across by Walker, I think puts him almost a full step, maybe even more than a yard slow. And as a consequence, [Nick] Bosa is able to close down. And you’re asking me about the run game. So, you know, week one, sometimes you have small issues to iron out. Any time you’ve got motion attached to the guy who’s getting the ball, whether it’s a jet sweep, a fast sweep, toss, whatever, there is some risk there of timing. And that play to me is one that I think kind of illustrates that; the timing will get better. Number one, or they’ll stop motioning the guy who’s going to get the ball, in this case, Kenneth Walker. But I think I’m more on the side of crediting the 49ers defense.”
“Walker is slow here. And I don’t mean he is personally slow but just the mesh here. Couple of things: What’s the threat for Bosa? I mean, Darnold keeping it out here? Not much. But you need something to hold or deal with Bosa. What some teams have done recently or in other situations is motion a receiver down to try to cut him off and dig him out. You can’t do that because Walker’s in motion, right? So, the design of the play is somewhat limiting in my opinion, but I still really like it.
“They’re trying to hit it downhill here. And I think you’ve got what you want from...
