Seahawks’ Pete Carroll reminds us who is boss, parts with Brian Schottenheimer

Trailing by 10 points in the fourth quarter of its wild-card game Saturday afternoon, Seattle prepared to go for it on fourth-and-1 from its own 34-yard line. Right guard Damien Lewis suffered an injury on the previous play, and the stoppage gave the Seahawks more time than usual to discuss a crucial decision.

In that time — roughly two minutes — a play call came in. But head coach Pete Carroll wanted a different one. A debate ensued and they wound up choosing Carroll’s play. Russell Wilson re-entered the huddle with 20 seconds on the play clock. The huddle broke with 6 seconds remaining. Wilson began his cadence and three players moved too early. Right guard Jordan Simmons was flagged for a false start and the Seahawks were forced to punt. They eventually lost the game and ended their season.

The entire sequence was a mess, but the part about Carroll’s input stood out. Head coaches chiming in during high-leverage situations is nothing new. Every coach does it. After all, it’s their butts on the line; they’re naturally inclined to insert themselves into the decision. This is Carroll’s team. Offense, defense, special teams, personnel — it’s all Carroll, who moonlights as the executive vice president of football operations.

Tuesday’s news that offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer would not return due to “philosophical differences” with Carroll is a reminder of this fact. Regardless of title, everyone inside the organization answers to Carroll. And if you have differences with Carroll, you may end up unemployed.

The story of Seattle’s 2020 season was not about the offensive adjustments Schottenheimer didn’t make in the second half of the year when it was clear the Seahawks were, for the first time in the Carroll era, a pass-first team. This season was about the adjustment Carroll made late in the year to ensure the offense was playing more like its 2012 version.

“We struggled down the (stretch) to overcome the teams we were playing,” Carroll said of his offense on KIRO-AM on Monday morning. “We didn’t match up with the performances we would like to have continued with. But, as we came on defensively, I adjusted us some to make sure we were really taking care of the football, knowing that we could win some games by the way we were playing defense, which you’ve seen us do that for 10 years. That’s just the way we had to adapt.”

Sure, Schottenheimer, who had one year left on his contract, could have been better with his play-calling in the second half of the season. The Seahawks could have incorporated more routes to naturally create yards after the catch for the receivers, something that has been lacking for years in this system, despite having talented playmakers such as Golden Tate, Percy Harvin, Doug Baldwin and Tyler Lockett, all of whom spent time on special teams because of their skills with the ball in their hands. Seattle’s offense was bad in the second half of the season and the playoffs, and someone had to pay for that.

But if Schottenheimer feels like he’s being used as a scapegoat, that’s probably because he is. Carroll spent his 40-minute exit interview Monday lamenting the team’s lack of adjustments, pointing out how running the ball more (and better) is the key to defeating the two-high safety looks they saw in the second half of the year.

“We just didn’t get it done, so we needed to turn a corner. That’s why I feel like I need to help our coaches do a better job of that and force the issue more so,” he said in one revealing statement. “I feel like I have a factor in that, I got to be a more contributing factor than I was.”

Like many people with power whose butts are on the line in a multi-billion-dollar business, signs of trouble lead to a need to be more involved in the decision-making process. But Carroll has now gone through two offensive coordinators during the Wilson era for largely the same reason: The team wasn’t running the ball enough. It’s just a two-person sample, but a pattern is forming in that a run-first head coach parts with play-callers who, intentionally or otherwise, put more of an emphasis on the passing game. And in Schottenheimer’s case, that’s the exact clash that caused the end of the relationship.

I asked Carroll on Monday who in the building holds him accountable, who can get in his ear and tell him not what he wants to hear but what he needs to hear. The first two names mentioned were his son Brennan, who recently accepted the OC job at the University of Arizona, and his son Nate, the team’s receivers coach.

“My guys are totally loyal in the way that you would understand the word. They’re positive, they support and all that, but the true loyalty is the people that will tell you what you need to hear when you might not want to hear it,” Carroll said. “I’m (going to) really miss Brennan not being part of our club because he and Nate have been really big factors because they’ll tell me stuff other guys won’t tell me. They have always been really instrumental, and moving forward, I’m going to miss something there.”

Carroll also mentioned having tough, necessary conversations with general manager John Schneider, who just received a five-year contract extension Tuesday, keeping him in Seattle through the 2027 NFL Draft. Carroll also mentioned former QB coach Carl “Tater” Smith, who left for the Texans in 2019.

“I would say I always need more help,” Carroll said. “I need to be coached up just like everybody else. Over the years I have lost a couple guys. Tater would tell me anything. He was awesome. I demanded it of him because he knew the truth and he needed to speak to me. I have lost a few guys like that. It is something I’m looking at.”

This last sentiment might be more important than dissecting the reasons why Carroll should or should not have fired Schottenheimer, because it may not matter who the offensive coordinator is in a system run by Carroll and quarterbacked by Wilson. The philosophy is in place and there’s no deviating from that, at least not for long, anyway. Whoever replaces Schottenheimer will have to navigate the task of building a hard-nosed run game while constructing an incredibly efficient passing game on limited attempts in neutral situations. This is hard, but not impossible, as Schottenheimer and former OC Darrell Bevell have both demonstrated. They each called the plays for the most successful offenses in franchise history (Bevell in 2015, Schottenheimer in 2020).

But they were each dismissed after setting career highs in passing touchdowns. In 2017, Seattle led the league with a 56.6 early-down passing rate in neutral situations, according to our Ben Baldwin’s rbsdm.com. Seattle dropped to 38.2 percent in Schottenheimer’s first season — the lowest rate in the league. It was a philosophical shift sparked by a conversation Schottenheimer and Carroll had after starting the season 0-2 because the coach didn’t feel they were committed enough to the run. This season, Seattle ranked fifth in early-down passing rate in neutral situations at 61.5 percent, by far the highest rate since 2012.

Was it wrong to fire Bevell after missing the playoffs in 2017? No, not on its face. Is it wrong to fire Schottenheimer after the offense sputtered the second half of the season and the playoffs? No, not necessarily. But the why in those situations is still relevant. Would Carroll have made those calls if it was the run game, not the pass game, that was the team’s strength in those years their season ended prematurely?

(Steven Bisig / USA Today)

It’s anyone’s guess who the next offensive coordinator will be. Earlier this year I mentioned outside options such as former Chargers QB coach Pep Hamilton, Indianapolis QB coach Marcus Brady and current Seattle passing game coordinator Dave Canales, who spent three years as a quality control coach working with the receivers and quarterbacks (2010-12), two years as assistant QB coach (2013-14), three years as receiver coach (2015-17) and two years as the QB coach (2018-19). NFL Network on Tuesday reported former Chargers OC Shane Steichen may be in consideration because the Seahawks want to “run the ball more effectively.”

Whoever Carroll chooses may be walking into a situation where the only person who can hold the boss accountable is a guy with the same last name. Carroll mentioned veteran leaders such as Wilson, linebacker Bobby Wagner and left tackle Duane Brown as people he also seeks advice from to be “coached up,” but anyone falling in labor can only be so influential in management’s decision making.

This is not to say Carroll being in complete control of the organization is good or bad. After all, he’s the best and most successful coach in franchise history. He must be doing something right. We just have to acknowledge the dynamic associated with taking a coordinator position with this franchise; it’s as relevant as the name of the man holding the play sheet on gameday.

Wilson may have his shortcomings as a passer, but make no mistake, this roster is best suited to be a pass-first unit. DK Metcalf is a star. Lockett is one of the most underrated receivers in the league. With Chris Carson and Carlos Hyde set to be free agents, there are no bruiser backs under contract for next season. Brown and Brandon Shell might be the best offensive tackle pairing Wilson has ever had. In an era when the most efficient passing teams are the ones left standing at the end of the year, optimizing that element of the offense gives the Seahawks the best chance of getting back to the Super Bowl.

Everyone in the organization agrees that playing in February is the ultimate goal. But deciding on the best way to get there is the tricky part. Wilson spent all offseason sending subliminal shots at Carroll, saying the defense needed superstars and the offense needed more tempo, suggesting that the Seahawks should try to emulate the Kansas City Chiefs and their high-flying style of play. Wilson got his wish, started off hot, stumbled in the middle of the season and fizzled at the end, with Carroll reining the offense once again.

With that in mind, the question is not who the next offensive coordinator will be. The question is, will it even matter?

(Photo: Joe Nicholson / USA Today)