Anleitungen » Brian Schneider has been the Seattle Seahawks’ special teams

coach since 2010 Tedric Thompson Color Rush Jersey , aka the start of the Pete Carroll era. From that season through 2013, we enjoyed great special teams, namely the excellent kicking from Steven Hauschka, Jon Ryan being Jon Ryan, the legendary punt coverage unit of 2013, outstanding abilities to block punts and kicks (Red Bryant, anyone?), and the terrific play from Leon Washington and Golden Tate as returners.From 2010-2013, they were 2nd, 16th, 3rd, and 5th in DVOA.Those days are gone. Seattle ranked 24th in DVOA this season, and just imagine how much worse they’d be if not for Michael Dickson. Last year they were 20th, and the year before that they were 15th. In 2014, they were 19th, but bounced back in 2015 at 3rd almost entirely because of Tyler Lockett’s great rookie season.That’s four years out of five with middling to poor results, and they’ve been progressively worse for three years running. Saturday night’s 24-22 playoff loss against the Dallas Cowboys wasn’t one of Seattle’s worst ST games on the season, but it really didn’t measure up as a net positive. Tyler Lockett had a huge kick return into Dallas territory before halftime, Michael Dickson and Neiko Thorpe combined to pin Dallas at their 2. On the flip side, they gave up a 90-yard punt return touchdown to Tavon Austin that was nullified due to a penalty, and allowed an actual 53-yard runback from Austin in the final quarter. KJ Wright prevented the Cowboys from scoring, but the field position flip meant that they were in deep trouble in the first place, and it sums up the woes of this unit throughout the last several years.Just in the month of December Ethan Pocic Color Rush Jersey , the Seahawks gave up a kick return touchdown, two blocked punts in a single game, multiple big kick and punt returns, three missed extra points, and Sebastian Janikowski was fortunate to not have had multiple blocked kicks given the frequency of free rushers being able to get a shot at the ball. The kick/punt coverage woes bled into this game, and while it ultimately wasn’t even one of the top three seasons Seattle lost, it is a microcosm of how badly this group has collapsed.You can blame depth issues leading to more regular ST contributors being saved for offense/defense, scheme, what have you, it’s been bad. At times it is game-losing awful. Pete Carroll preaches balance in all three phases of the game. The special teams is causing an imbalance, and if 2017 wasn’t enough evidence, 2018 was the clincher. It’s time for Brian Schneider to go. The Seattle Seahawks set themselves up for the very strong possibility of making the playoffs on Sunday with the victory over the Carolina Panthers on the road, and one of the biggest plays of the game was the 35 yard touchdown pass to David Moore on 4th & 3 with less than four minutes to go in the fourth quarter. Some fans have speculated that the throw was simply a gamble by Russ that paid off with the tying score, but based on the evidence available, it’s my feeling that Moore was the primary target on the play and that the touchdown was yet another example of Pete Carroll being willing to take a risk and put faith in his players. There are several pieces of evidence I believe point to Moore being the primary target, so let’s work through them one at a time. The ProtectionThe first thing that sticks out when watching the play is that the Seahawks send only three receivers into the pattern. This is unique because the offense traditionally puts all five skill position players into the pattern, but that was not the case here. Instead, Seattle kept both tight end Ed Dickson and running back Mike Davis in for pass protection, meaning the Hawks had seven players providing protection. In an offense in which the passing game is built around stressing the defense, only sending three targets out doesn’t really add up. Unless, as was the case here, the way the team was stressing the defense was by creating an advantageous one on one matchup that would likely need time to develop. Here’s a look at the offensive line, with Dickson and Davis helping in protection at the moment Russ reaches the bottom of his drop and pushes forward off his back foot. I have seen speculation on social media that Wilson’s primary target was Doug Baldwin on the offensive right side or Tyler Lockett on the crossing route Shaquill Griffin Color Rush Jersey , and this seems to be largely based on the fact that Wilson’s helmet is pointing that direction as he makes his drop. However, in having watched so much film of Brian Schottenheimer’s offense, one thing that becomes apparent is that the majority of the time the quarterback is looking a safety off until he reaches the bottom of his drop. Mark Sanchez did it while Schotty was with the New York Jets, Sam Bradford did it while Schotty was with the then St. Louis, but now Los Angeles Rams and Wilson is now showing the same thing with the Hawks. So, to that end, let’s take a look at what Russ does with his head once he’s reached the bottom of his drop. Here we see Wilson has barely had time to lift up his back foot, and his head is already snapping to the left. Continuing to focus on his feet, let’s watch how he INSTANTLY repositions his feet, and where that foot repositioning sets him up to deliver the pass. When using proper quarterbacking technique, a line connecting the heels of the quarterback should point in the direction where he is preparing to deliver the ball. In this image the day glow green arrow seems to indicate that Wilson is either preparing to throw the ball well behind Lockett, or he’s looking past Lockett to another receiver. Transitioning out to the all-22, let’s take a look at what the entire field looks like. I’ve drawn another arrow based on Wilson’s foot positioning, and it pretty clearly shows that Wilson is preparing to throw the ball to Moore at the top of the picture. Lockett’s crossing route is pretty well covered, and Baldwin does not have any separation at the bottom of the screen. However, of note is Eric Reid, the safety circled in red in the image. It appears that based on having attempted to read Russ’ eyes, Reid is heading to the offensive right side. This makes sense not only because of the fact that Russ was seemingly looking that way, but also because there are two receivers on that side of the field. Welp, he’s wrong. That is most certainly not the prettiest form I’ve ever seen on a catch, but I’m certainly not going to complain about the result.