The Seahawks fired offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell, served in that position for the past seven years. Seattle ranked 15th in the NFL in total offense last season, but sputtered badly late in the campaign, gaining only a combined 285 yards against the Los Angeles Rams (149) and Dallas Cowboys (136).
Later Wednesday afternoon came news that offensive line coach Tom Cable was dismissed as well. Carroll confirmed the firings in a message released on Twitter:
“We are challenged by change, but excited to attack the future with great purpose. I want to thank both Tom and Darrell for their role in helping take this program to a championship level. I will always be grateful for the opportunity to coach and compete alongside these great men.”
Bevell became OC in 2011 succeeding Jeremy Bates, who served in that position in 2010, head coach Pete Carroll’s first year in Seattle.
Seattle finished 9-7 this season and missed the postseason for the first time in six years. The trademark running game over the past two seasons has withered, a span that coincides with the departure of Marshawn Lynch.
The Seahawks ranked 23rd in rushing and ran for four touchdowns, three by QB Russell Wilson. The one TD by a running back (J.D. McKissic) is the lowest single-season from that position by any team since the NFL adopted the 16-game schedule in 1978.
Bevell, the only coordinator fired by Carroll since he axed Bates, oversaw the two biggest back-to-back regular-season wins in franchise history, 58-0 and 50-17 victories over Arizona and Buffalo late in 2012. He called the plays in Seattle’s 43-8 win over Denver in the Super Bowl following the 2015 season.
Under Bevell, the Seahawks also set a club record with 6,012 total yards in 2014 and broke that a year later with 6,058. But Seattle gained only 5,286 this past season, although Wilson led the NFL with 34 touchdown passes.
The Seahawks also ended the 2014 season with perhaps the most infamous play in Super Bowl history, an interception of Wilson by CB Malcolm Butler at the one-yard line in the final seconds that preserved a 28-24 New England victory. Bevell has always accepted the blame for that call.
While Bevell’s ouster will be celebrated by many of the 12s, that won’t necessarily be the case with many of the players. At season’s end, wide receiver Doug Baldwin launched into a spirited defense of his offensive coordinator.
“How can I say this? It’s not play-calling,” Baldwin said, whether the Seahawks offense has become more risk-averse. “We go into a game knowing what the defense is going to give us, the situations we’re going to be in. We don’t execute as a team. Offensively, that’s what we’ve seen time and time again — we do not execute the way we should.
“That’s on us as players. You guys (media) can blame Bev all you want to, but the truth of the matter is, Bev is not the problem. Probably already said too much.”
Bevell,48. joined the Seahwaks in 2011 after spending the previous five seasons as Vikings offensive coordinator.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="2238262 https://sportspressnw.wpengine.com/?p=2238262">26 Comments
Surprise #1. Art, we await your in-depth read – and did you know this would happen?
Unlikely we hear from Art on this issue. He has been an ardent supporter of Bevell if you go back and read his past responses to Bevell critics here. Art has gone into hiding the past two weeks since he lost public credibility with his misinformation regarding the Schneider/Packers non-story.
Art posted 2 articles yesterday.
If that is “laying low” I wonder what high productivity would look like.
That was about “responding” to guests. Art hasn’t posted a response to a guest’s Seahawk question for the past 6 days.
” his misinformation regarding the Schneider/Packers non-story”
I wouldn’t bother to respond to this sort of drivel either.
It was Art who said: “But there’s no way Allen would deny him [John Schneider] a chance to work for his hometown team again.”
Well, now it’s Cable too, as many respondents here wanted. And it has been reported PC suggested K. Richard look for other employment. This is indeed “blow up” stuff, and he hasn’t even gotten to the players yet . . .
“Misinformation” is the wrong term. It suggests an intent to deceive, like the misinformation they spew on FOX news.
If Art gives us his opinion, and it ends up being wrong, so what? Set the tinfoil hat aside and relax.
You are confusing misinformation with disinformation.
I meant, and still believe, that if Schneider asked out, Allen would say yes. As far as we know, he didn’t ask out. GB asked and was denied.
Yes, I was surprised Carroll went so strong for change. The fact that he took 11 days is curious, and I hope to learn over time what went down between Carroll and Bevell/Cable that may have provoked the deliberation, or whether Carroll wanted first to quietly vet potential successors before pulling triggers.
11 days is probably related to Mike Shula just becoming available a couple days ago. Pete has been on record raving about the work he did in Carolina.
I would have said 60-40 to keep both coaches, but I can only imagine that the tension created by the poor December play magnified long-standing issues.
I guess the guys who gave him this years O line didn’t care for his chicken salad. Sounds like Tom Cable might wanna get the ol resume updated.
As you saw since you wrote, your wish came true.
Nah, I wasn’t wishing that. I thought Cable was a good fit for the blocking scheme they wanted to run. My gripe is about the level of talent on the O line. Now that it’s done, I guess we’ll see if it was the talent or the coaching I guess. I certainly hope it gets turned around.
Hard to be a good play caller when the team cannot run the ball, and the line cannot block for the QB. That makes it hard to run or pass, and there aren’t too many other things to do in an offense.
Who the play caller is is irrelevant to me.
I’m trying to imagine training camp this year, and the usual talk about coaching up the offensive line, with a lot of the same guys, hoping for a better outcome. That’s where the rubber meets the road, not who is wearing the headset on the sidelines. We need better players.
Actually very easy to be a good play caller if you have Marshawn Lynch and you’re one yard from the goal line.
Lynch and Wilson were both so extraordinary they covered a multitude of sins for the O-line. But not after they were hurt.
Having the same guys in the O-line two years in a row is usually a good thing. Churn has been a big part of the problem. And most teams have the same issues, because of the changes in the college game that don’t help future pros.
Throw some tomatoes, lettuce and cheese on that pound of flesh you just got, Seahawk fans.
I do wonder if, had they let Lynch run from the one in the Super Bowl (and assuming Tom Brady doesn’t come back with 15 seconds left), would Bevell still be around? Never mind the fans, it seems like the organization still hasn’t recovered from that call and the lost chance at two straight championships.
IMO Lynch would have been stuffed at the line and Bevell would have been criticized for being too conservative.
I tend to agree. NE had in jumbo package. A pass was reasonable. Just not that play, to that player.
I think fans are way more obsessed than anyone at team HQ. It’s a pain that never goes away for anyone who cares, but has little relationship to the here and now for professionals.
It does have a relationship to the present.
1) If Bevell called Lynch’s number at the one yard line, Lynch may have stuck around, continuing the ground game that Bevell has sorely needed.
2) The interception caused the Seahawks’ belief that a big end zone weapon was needed. So they traded away a first round pick and Max Unger for Graham.
Out of a field of 7 no running back stood out on a consistent basis. Alex Collins was not good enough to make the team but ran for more than 900 yards for the Ravens. I can’t help but wonder if Sherman Smith, let go as running backs coach last offseason, could have been a difference. Rawls certainly was not the Beastmode in the rough he was in the past.
If there was a threat at RB that would have at least taken some pressure off Wilson. Considering the questions on the O-Line and at RB I surprised the Hawks didn’t use a fullback. That might have made the RB position that much more successful and given Wilson that much more protection. I don’t know how much say Bevell had in those decisions. Hope the best for him. He gets too much blame for losing a Super Bowl and not enough for winning one.
NFL.com is reporting Brian Schottenheimer has been offered the OC job by Pete.