KIRKLAND — While he’s ditched the old-school attitude of establishing the run at all costs, Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren hasn’t completely turned his back on the past.
The 59-year-old coach seems to be adopting a common theme from the late 1960s and early ’70s: If it feels good, do it.
The latest case in point is the shotgun formation, which was once considered taboo in his offense but has recently become more prevalent.
“I’m not so hard-headed,” Holmgren said Monday. “If it’s working, I’m happy for everybody. If (quarterback Matt Hasselbeck) likes it, I’m glad.”
Hasselbeck, who has the option to take snaps from shotgun formation, used it 12 times in Sunday’s win over Chicago. That’s eight more times than he’d used it the previous week, which had marked the most shotgun-laden game of the season.
After Sunday’s 30-23 win over the Bears, Hasselbeck said he prefers the shotgun because it gives him an early advantage on pass-rushing defenders. It’s especially effective against a blitz scheme like that of Chicago, which likes to bring linebackers up the middle.
“It is so much easier,” Hasselbeck said on Sunday. “At times you feel like it is cheating. When they are blitzing, you can just catch it and throw it, it’s nice, it’s really nice. Hopefully we can keep that going.”
The Seahawks have used the shotgun sparingly in the past, but Holmgren has generally discouraged the use of it because it can disrupt timing and present extra danger in the long snaps. That goes back to his days as an offensive coordinator in San Francisco, when then-coach Bill Walsh instructed him to dedicate one summer to putting shotgun formations into the 49ers’ offensive package.
When San Francisco botched a snap over the quarterback’s head in the first regular-season game of that year, the shotgun was scrapped altogether.
“That was six months of my life,” Holmgren said Monday, “right down the drain.”
He rarely used it in Green Bay and has only recently allowed Hasselbeck to call shotgun formations at his own choosing.
“Matt does have pretty good ability to catch the ball and then deliver the ball quickly,” Holmgren said. “Not everyone can do that. And I don’t want him to have to do that all the time. But, having said that, he likes it.”
Hasselbeck typically decides whether to use the shotgun as he comes out of the huddle, depending on what defensive alignment he sees. He used it less than a handful of times over the first eight games before opening last week’s San Francisco game with back-to-back plays out of shotgun formation. On Sunday, Hasselbeck completed six passes out of the shotgun while also getting sacked once.
“The more we practice it, the more comfortable everybody will be with it,” Hasselbeck said.
The risk in the shotgun, of course, is the snap. Center Chris Spencer has had one snap skip in front of Hasselbeck and another sail high enough that the quarterback had to jump for it. But both of those plays worked out in the end.
And now Holmgren, once a staunch advocate of shotgun control, is loosening up his stance.
“Every once in awhile, the ball will jump or do funny things,” he said Monday. “But it’s working, so we’ll stay with it as long as Chris Spencer does not snap one over (Hasselbeck’s) head.”
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