RENTON, Wash. -- The seeds for the Seahawks' recent offensive explosion were planted at the team's practice facility during the first week of November.
Seattle was coming off a 13-12 victory over the Dallas Cowboys, but there was little reason to celebrate. The offense was in the midst of a five-game stretch where it averaged 17.2 points per game (27th) and converted touchdowns on 22.2 percent (32nd) of its red zone trips. There was no rhythm and no identity, as Russell Wilson was being sacked on 11.1 percent of his dropbacks, the highest rate of any quarterback.
In the first half of the season, the Seahawks had become easy to attack. Opposing defenses knew they couldn't handle pressure as Wilson's 70.9 passer rating against the blitz ranked 28th.
And so the coaches gathered during the bye week for a period of self-scouting. It's the only time they get during the season to forget about the opponents and focus entirely on themselves.
"It’s a big process," said coach Pete Carroll. "There’s a lot of stuff to look at. We look at what we’re doing. We look at what people are doing against us. We find what’s been effective and what hasn’t. We look for wrinkles that we may be able to take advantage of -- information on both sides of that. We’re looking at personnel as well. How is the stuff fitting for the guys? Are we making progress? Should we go somewhere else with another player?
"There’s a lot of things that happen there. All of that happened. We save that week for that focus. It’s an ongoing process. We don’t just wait until then. It is at that time when often, you have a chance to step back away from it. You can assess and do some things. And we were able to do that. It was kind of like halftime."
Coaches on the Seahawks' staff divide up different areas of focus. One might be charged with analyzing third down. Another might zero in on the red zone. And so on. They try to make constant adjustments, but time during the week is limited and preparing for the next opponent often takes precedence.
"During the weeks, you’re so into game-planning the opponent," offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell said. "We have ways to check ourselves, and I’m always trying to check those numbers, but you don’t have the time to dive into it like we do on a bye week. So it gives us an opportunity to look at as many things as you want to.
"At that time, we talked about how many sacks we were giving up and where we could help that, how we could change some of those things up. So all those things that we’re trying to evaluate, we were trying to evaluate during that time."
The conclusion was they needed to do a better job in protection and give Wilson more options for getting rid of the ball quickly.
In the first game following the bye, the Seahawks inserted Patrick Lewis into the starting lineup at center in place of Drew Nowak. But penalties derailed their early drives, and the Arizona Cardinals built a lead, forcing Bevell to dramatically alter the offensive game plan.
Since then though, the offense has looked like a juggernaut, averaging 35.25 points in the last four games, second to only the Carolina Panthers.
What changes did they implement? What's working so well? And is it sustainable?
Diversity on offense
Carroll gets annoyed when reporters ask him to point to one thing that's made the difference. The Seahawks' turnaround is less about one big change and more about finding the perfect mix. They still use the read-option. They still call slow-developing bootlegs. They still want Wilson to use his athleticism to improvise and extend plays.
But the Seahawks have made excellent use of the quick passing game -- plays where Wilson takes the snap and gets rid of the football before the pass rush has a chance to get to him. In Week 12 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Wilson averaged 2.14 seconds before the pass, his fastest time of the year. The quick rhythmic passing game has taken stress off the offensive line and helped against the blitz.
Wilson's passer rating against the blitz over the last four weeks is a league-high 153.9. And he's completed 79.4 percent of his third-down passes during this stretch.
But the quick passing game hasn't come at the expense of explosive plays. The Seahawks have produced 51 pass plays of 20-plus yards, tied for fifth-most in the league. Add in the run game, which ranks third in Football Outsiders' efficiency rankings, and it's been an outstanding mix.
"I think it’s been crucially important," Carroll said of the offensive diversity. "I think it’s right there. I think that’s the focus that’s really given us the spark to adjust things, and a lot of other things that fit off of that. It’s given us our third-down efficiency. It’s given us better efficiency in the red zone, and all of that’s worked together."
Added Bevell, "I think we create problems for defenses. The way that we run the football, that’s where you need to start. Say, 'Hey, we need to take something away, and we’re going to try to stop the run game.' If we’re able to continue to run the ball the way we have been, then all that other stuff is still going to be there for us. They kind of have to pick and choose what they want to stop. I think we’re hard to stop that way because of the run game, because of how our quarterback is playing."
'Core concepts'
Offensive coaches strive constantly to find the right balance between avoiding predictability and getting overly complicated. One solution is to use a lot of the same concepts, but dress them up differently.
For example, against the Baltimore Ravens, the Seahawks used the same slant/flat route combination on three different occasions to hit wide receiver Doug Baldwin on third downs. But the offense used the concept from different looks each time.
"It’s really hard to come up with just all new plays every game," Bevell said. "It becomes too voluminous for the players. From one week to the next, there’s no continuity. So it’s important for us, we call them core concepts. We’re going to have a set of core concepts in our base first- and second-down plays. We’re going to have core concepts in third down. We’re going to have core concepts in the red zone. Now we’re going to try to get to them in different ways so that you can’t just say, ‘Here’s this coming.’ But the core concepts are really important.
"We can change personnel. We can change formations. We can do all different kinds of things to be able to get to that."
Right now, the Seahawks are doing an excellent job of going back to the same concepts throughout the course of a game, but switching up the looks to keep defenses off-balance.
Where they go from here
The biggest question with this group right now is the run game. That's been at the center of the Seahawks' offensive success.
"When you can start to run the football, it creates so many more opportunities for you, and so many different things become open for you," Bevell said. "Our down-the-field passing game becomes open, some of our movement passing game comes open, and then we can mix in some of those quick passes. For me, it really starts with us being able to run the football as well as we do. Then everything else is created off of that."
The Seahawks lost Thomas Rawls to an ankle injury, and his impact cannot be overstated. Rawls carried 147 times for 830 yards (5.6 yards per carry). The rest of the running backs have 164 carries for 588 yards (3.6 YPC). This week, the team will forge ahead with Bryce Brown, Christine Michael and Derrick Coleman. They hope Marshawn Lynch will be able to return in the coming weeks.
In the end, the season will be judged by the player getting the most attention: Wilson. Teams will have to decide how they want to defend him. The Ravens' plan was to use a spy and keep him in the pocket. That's been a recipe for disaster recently. In the last four games, Wilson is 81-of-99 (81.8 percent) for 1,094 yards (11.05 YPA), 15 touchdowns and no interceptions when he stays in the pocket.
That's the point though. Wilson's play has forced defenses to make difficult decisions, and there no longer are any easy solutions.
If the run game takes a big hit without Rawls, it will mean even more on Wilson's plate. But the way he's playing right now, the Seahawks look like they'll be a tough out in the postseason.