by: William P. Tomisser
Before starting to design Seattle's new look offense, Greg Knapp sat down with Matt Hasselbeck and got his input on the passing game and football in general. After a dozen X's and O's sessions, Knapp concluded that a good part of Seattle's aerial game will remain and be augmented by the new running game.
Danny O'Neil has written an great article that talks about how Knapp is changing the Seattle offense to fit the players and how he's going about it. Here's the link. Knapp obviously thinks very highly of Hasselbeck, and with good reason -- he's probably never had such a talented passer to pair up with his highly regarded running attack. When he came to Seattle, he knew where to go first:
But the offense starts with the same person Knapp sat down with as soon as he arrived in Seattle — before he changed a single thing about the playbook. The coordinator who has proved he can adapt to the talent on hand got to know a quarterback who just two years ago set a career high in passing yardage. And as Knapp has begun implementing his offense, he can't help but feel lucky about the man he has under center.
"For me, personally, to work with an experienced quarterback such as Matt Hasselbeck -who has been to the Pro Bowl, played in the Super Bowl — from an offensive coordinator's standpoint, that is enjoyable," Knapp said.
Actually, if we pair Holmgren's passing attack with Knapp's running game, you might just have a combination that will be lethal. After all, it was the passing game that kept Seattle alive for the two years after they went to the Super Bowl, and a decent running game would have put them in real contention. Knapp has coordinated a top 10 running attack for quite some time now, even in Oakland where their offense overall sucks. He's really never had a great passing game to go with it -- until now.
Food for thought.
Hasta,
Bill T
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