Seahawks vs. Rams is why Pete Carroll hired--after Russell Wilson tested--Shane Waldron
Oh, yes, Russell Wilson was involved in choosing Shane Waldron as his new offensive coordinator.
In fact, Wilson interviewed Waldron. In a very unique way.
The quarterback testing the 41-year-old coach when he was still the Los Angeles’ passing-game coordinator, back in January, is a large reason Waldron will be calling the Seahawks’ plays against his former Rams Thursday night in an NFC West showcase at Lumen Field.
Days after coach Pete Carroll fired Brian Schottenheimer following Seattle’s offense face-planting out of the playoffs against the Rams in the first round in January, Carroll and Wilson got on a Zoom call that was one of Waldron’s job interviews.
“I had always been curious of what the Rams were doing, with up-tempo especially. It was very unique, it stood out,” Wilson said.
“I was really curious that there was a differentiation with what Shane was doing in terms of tempo, obviously (Rams coach) Sean McVay, too. When (Seahawks GM) John Schneider, Pete and I talked about who the guys could possibly be, that was one of the things that stood out.
“For me, it definitely mattered in the sense of, how could we be different? What can we add? How can we continue to challenge? That was really cool to me.”
Wilson was impressed that Waldron’s early days as an NFL assistant had been under Bill Belichick with the New England Patriots. The Seahawks’ quarterback also was intrigued Waldron had coached with McVay and (now-49ers head coach) Kyle Shanahan with Washington.
On that Zoom call nine months ago, Waldron impressed Wilson with his confidence.
“When you’re calling the game, you have to have that,” Wilson said. “When we got to talk, I could feel that knowledge.
“I know the game, too.”
The confidence box checked, Wilson went to the second part of his virtual interview of Waldron.
“We had some fun,” Wilson said.
“I had him call a game for me.”
Right there, through the computer screen on Zoom, Wilson asked Waldron to call plays. It was as if he was calling them through his sideline microphone to the speaker in Wilson’s helmet connected to his play caller during games.
“I said, ‘Let’s go through some series,’” Wilson said. “That was interesting because his mind clicked in. I wanted to see how he would react.”
Not just a rote list of any plays, either. Wilson put Waldron into several game scenarios in which to call particular plays, to learn about Waldron’s pace, urgency, poise and cadence.
At one point during the call Wilson said to OC-candidate Waldron: “We’re down by seven in the first quarter.”
“I wanted to hear him call it,” Wilson said. “And that was really rewarding, too, to be able to hear his process but at the same time I was playing the game myself. We were going back and forth around, ‘Hey I’m going to go to this right here. Yeah, I like that.’
“That type of engagement was really good.”
Wilson got off that call knowing who he wanted as his third play caller in 10 seasons with the Seahawks.
“We stayed in touch as we were going through the process of interviewing several guys, who all were great. You could tell that he really wanted the opportunity,” Wilson said.
“It was a great thing.”
Wilson now calls Waldron “a wizard.”
Carroll said Waldron’s performance during Wilson’s play-call test floored him, too.
“He killed it,” Carroll said Monday. “He killed it, yeah.
“It was perfect.”
Carroll said Waldron put obvious, increased tempo into his simulated play calls for Wilson on Zoom in January, as he’s done in September into October as the Seahawks’ first-time offensive coordinator in real games.
“The whole time,” Carroll said, laughing. “He knew he was selling. He did a good job, man.”
Thursday’s test
Carroll wanted a new coordinator steeped in the tradition of Mike Shanahan, the former 49ers play caller and Super Bowl-winning coach of the Denver Broncos. Shanahan and his zone-running schemes were the evolutions that advanced Bill Walsh’s West Coast offense from the 1970s and ‘80s into the 1990s.
Mike Shanahan was one of coach George Seifert’s offensive coordinators with the 49ers, through 1994. Seifert succeeded Walsh as the 49ers’ champion coach. The year Carroll joined Seifert’s staff as San Francisco’s defensive coordinator, 1995, Shanahan took Walsh’s and Seifert’s West Coast offense to Denver to be its head coach. Shanahan tweaked it with the zone-running game and led the Broncos to consecutive Super Bowl titles, which John Elway at quarterback and famed offensive line coach Alex Gibbs perfected the zone-blocking system with Denver.
“I’ve always given Mike Shanahan a lot of credit, maybe not so much openly, but the credit to take what they’ve done in the West Coast offense — the principles of the throwing game, getting the ball out, and quarterback friendly stuff — and matched it with a different running game than the San Francisco days,” Carroll said last month.
Carroll didn’t like how out of balance his Seahawks offense became during the 2020 season. Defenses sent a second safety deep to take away all the long passes Wilson kept throwing to DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett, with decreasing success as last season went on. Carroll wanted renewed basis in and emphasis on the running game, and on a quick-passing game off it that reduced the time during a play Seattle’s annually iffy offensive line had to pass block for Wilson, to get teams out of two-high safety looks and back into more single-high coverages with a safety nearer the line of scrimmage.
Carroll mentioned Monday that among all the offensive coaches he’s hired, going back to his early 2000s days leading USC, “there’s always been a connection to Mike Shanahan.”
“Mike Shanahan was one of my favorite coaches, back in the day,” Carroll said.
That’s another reason Waldron got the job.
“Shane was just the best, right guy for our situation, and everything we wanted to get done,” Carroll said.
Thursday night’s game will measure how well Waldron and the Seahawks are getting that new offense done.
Through four games, the results have been inconclusive and largely incomplete. Because of penalties, sacks and other mistakes, Waldron’s new Seattle offense has often been in third and long. That’s not conductive to the play caller using the entire breadth of his playbook, formations and personnel. It also has shelved a lot of Chris Carson and the running game.
“We have to stay out of third and 10s,” Carroll said Monday.
Waldron and Wilson have yet to fully or even mostly utilize unique tight end Gerald Everett, who signed with the Seahawks from the Rams a couple months after Wilson’s test call with Waldron. Everett, who often lines up outside like a wide receiver, had a zooming touchdown past Colts All-Pro linebacker Darius Leonard in Seattle’s opening-game win at Indianapolis. Everett had just one catch on two targets for 3 yards the next week in the Seahawks’ home loss to Tennessee. Following his five-catch game at Minnesota, another Seahawks loss, Everett missed Seattle’s 28-21 win at San Francisco this past weekend. He is on the reserve/COVID-19 list.
Everett, signed to a one-year, $6 million contract, badly wants to play against his former Rams Thursday. He took a step toward doing that Monday. He tested negative for COVID-19. As a vaccinated player Everett needs a second negative test Tuesday for what Carroll said is “a chance” he’ll play Thursday.
Waldron got to see some vintage Wilson magic on Sunday in Santa Clara.
In the first half, Wilson asked Waldron to go up tempo more before a possession with just under 5 minutes left in the first half and Seattle trailing the 49ers 7-0. Alex Collins had a 28-yard catch and run down the left sideline on the first play of that drive for the Seahawks’ initial first down of the game, and they took off at a faster pace to 21 unanswered points from there to take over the game.
“I told Shane, ‘Let’s go for it. I want to be a part of controlling the game with you, and let’s go get them, because we can,’” Wilson said.
“So that’s what we did. Shane and I are so connected in such a good way. ...
“That’s why he’s here. That’s why he’s so special at what he does. ...We were able to get to everything that we wanted to.”
The 32-year-old quarterback out-ran the 49ers on a 16-yard scramble run for the go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter. Then after the 49ers fumbled away the ensuing kickoff, Wilson ducked out of San Francisco’s free-blitzing Dontae Johnson about to sack him, ran away from Nick Bosa about to do the same and fired a dart that stuck to receiver Freddie Swain at the goal-line pylon for a crazy touchdown.
Before that, Waldron’s offense looked even worse than it had failing to score in the second half while losing at Minnesota the previous week. Seattle had five consecutive three-and-out possessions to begin the 49ers game and minus-7 total yards of offense 25 minutes into the first half.
So this is far from a finished, flourishing offense Waldron has for Aaron Donald and the Rams Thursday.
But this is the team Carroll hired Waldron to beat. The Rams’ 30-20 win in Seattle in the NFC wild-card game that wasn’t that close nine months ago was the latest in years of domination by L.A.’s defense of Wilson and the Seahawks.
Now Carroll has a coordinator who knows the Rams and how they do what they do better than any Seahawk.
“We couldn’t have more help” knowing L.A., Carroll said.
Until they beat the Rams, the Seahawks aren’t going to win the NFC West for the second consecutive season. Without the division title, Seattle isn’t going to host a playoff game. Without a home playoff game, the Seahawks most likely aren’t going to the Super Bowl for the first time since the end of the 2014 season.
The three times Seattle has advanced to the Super Bowl it was a division champion with home-field advantage throughout the postseason to get there.
Until they beat the Rams, Waldron’s new offense will remain a work in progress.
Carroll, of course, didn’t want to assign all that importance to a Week 5 game in early October, not with 12 games still to play in the regular season after it. Plus, the Rams are reeling this week on defense. One game after L.A. beat Tom Brady and Tampa Bay, Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray scorched the Rams for 307 total yards, many Wilson-like escapes from sacks and two passing touchdowns as Arizona stayed undefeated with a 37-20 win at Los Angeles this past weekend.
“They were a standard last year,” Carroll said of the Rams defense. “We’ll see. We’ll see how it goes.
“I don’t know if I would give anybody that kind of calling (as an ultimate measuring stick), you know. But they were the best in the league last year. They are working to figure it out again this year. They’ve got great scheme and terrific people and all that.
“I don’t know that one game is going to make any difference in figuring all that out.”
Rookie returns
The Seahawks designated rookie cornerback Tre Brown to return to practice this week off injured reserve. Carroll said the short week before the Rams game makes this a tough game for Brown to be ready to make his NFL debut.
Seattle’s game 10 days later at Pittsburgh is a more realistic goal for the second of the Seahawks’ three draft picks this spring.
Same corners
The short week is the same reason to expect D.J. Reed at right cornerback and Sidney Jones at left corner to start again Thursday. Carroll said Reed looked more comfortable at right cornerback against the 49ers. It’s where he excelled at the end of last season.
The coach said Jones “got in trouble a couple of times” in coverages against San Francisco but otherwise was solid.
Injury update
Carroll said the team was mostly “very fortunate” to come out of San Francisco with minimal injuries for the short Rams week.
The coach said the question marks so far for this game are defensive end/linebacker Darrell Taylor (ankle), end Benson Mayowa (neck) and end Carlos Dunlap (toe).
Carroll said in the morning Dunlap had turf toe, a ligament injury. In the afternoon he likened Dunlap’s pain from the San Francisco game to “a bear with a thorn in his foot” — and that Dunlap will be “grumpy” like a big bear trying to get the toe ready to play Thursday.
This story was originally published October 4, 2021 at 4:30 PM.
