RENTON, Wash. – As first-year Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald and general manager John Schneider turn their focus to the offseason, one notable topic of discussion will be first-year offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb’s unity given the team’s expectations wasn’t exactly convincing in the previous season.

Seattle plans to face quarterback Geno Smith and the rest of the offensive starters in the season finale, giving the team a chance to improve its numbers in Week 18 against the Los Angeles Rams. But Seattle’s numbers through Week 17 more accurately reflect this season’s performance, considering the Rams and several other teams will have to sit out their starters this weekend (all stats provided by TruMedia unless otherwise noted).

The Seahawks rank 23rd in points per drive (1.78) and have posted their lowest average since 2017. They rank 21st in EPA per game (minus 0.05) and their average is their lowest since 2011. Seattle ranks 20th or lower in the following categories: EPA per dropback (20th), red zone efficiency ( 20th), success rate on running back carries (23rd), third-down conversion rate (24th) and goal line efficiency (30th).

Seattle has an above-average success rate on offense and Smith ranks fifth in passing yards, but the offense has generally not been very efficient compared to the rest of the league.

When asked about his feelings on Seattle’s offense this season, Grubb said he was “frustrated, happy (and) excited at the same time.”

“I know there are people who probably share my frustration, and our fans deserve the best,” said Grubb, who is nearing the completion of his first year in the NFL after joining the Seahawks from the University of Washington is. “We have a great team and there are times when we compete and play against people, some of the best in the NFL, and I don’t think there are people that we see on film and go, ‘Oh my God, how are we doing?'” moving the ball to these guys?’ I’m happy every time we get the opportunity to play against some of the best in the league.

“I really feel like we’re on the cusp of doing something really special. At the moment these are just words and that doesn’t help at all at this point. Unfortunately the season is over this weekend, which hurts.”

Grubb cited inconsistency as one of the reasons for his frustration, citing their six-point performance in a win over the Bears in Week 17 as an example. Seattle entered that game as one of the more efficient offenses as they needed 2 or 3 yards to move the bats on third down, but in those situations against Chicago the score was 2-5.

“Something that made us stay on the field, take advantage of opportunities, be explosive, move the ball down the field, things like that, we didn’t do that,” Grubb said. “It was hard to see.”

Before the season opener, receiver DK Metcalf recalled Grubb’s first team meeting in which he expressed that their offensive foundation would be the running game. Other players recalled a similar message. During training camp, Macdonald and Grubb often talked about how the offense was built around Smith and his ability to distribute the ball to their playmakers. The on-field product ended up looking like a mix of those two messages, with a bias toward the latter.

According to RBSDM.com, the Seahawks have the fifth-highest passing rate on early downs, with the last two minutes of each half and unnecessary time excluded from the data. They rank 30th in designed rush rate and 29th in running back carries.

The style that players like Metcalf described was one that used the running game to create more advantageous looks in the passing game for their receivers and tight end Noah Fant to exploit. The offense Macdonald and Grubb talked about can be broadly interpreted as the opposite, using Smith’s arm and the threat of all those pass catchers to generate advantageous run looks for Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet. Offensive game plans can vary from week to week depending on the opponent, but teams generally prefer a style that they can stick to and then adjust as needed to exploit defense weaknesses. Seattle never really seemed to find itself, which was probably due to an unreliable offensive line in the first half of the season.

When asked what needs to happen for the running game to get going, Grubb said, “Consistency on the O-line early in the season would be something that could help us a lot when we’re not working through things and learning new things.” centers and things like that.”

Grubb said the uncertainty on the offensive line wasn’t an excuse, but noted that it would help players know the scheme better early in the season “so you don’t keep fixing things in the first five weeks of the season.”

The Seahawks went into training camp needing a starting center, and the guy they signed in August (Connor Williams) didn’t play in the preseason, struggled at the snap in the regular season, and then left after nine games. For nine weeks they reluctantly had an in-game rotation at right-back, and then, two games into the end of that contest, Anthony Bradford injured his ankle and sixth-round rookie Sataoa Laumea was forced to take over starting in Week 13 (Laumea had played zero snaps). before becoming a starter). Seattle had three starters at right tackle before Abe Lucas made his debut in Week 11.

The unit gained some momentum after the break week when Olu Oluwatimi became a regular player following Williams’ retirement and Lucas (knee) was forced out of the reserves with an injury. But Smith was still pressured at one of the highest rates in the league, and only Cleveland’s Nick Chubb averaged fewer yards before contact than Charbonnet and Walker.

Continuity at the top also didn’t do much to address the team’s short-yardage issues that persisted into Week 17, nor did it lead to a stronger desire to be balanced. Macdonald spoke about the need to get the running game going after the loss to the Giants in Week 5 and was still singing the same tune after the loss to the Packers in Week 15.

This is perhaps why Grubb added: “In addition to continuity, there is also an ownership of the way we should play and finish that we need to improve.”

As Macdonald evaluates his entire offensive team (not just Grubb) at the end of the season, potential changes could depend on how much blame he places for their problems on the Horses not being ahead. One could argue that a first-time NFL coordinator, bringing with him a first-time NFL offensive line coach in Scott Huff, would understandably have a difficult time under these circumstances. There are schemes that put less strain on the offensive line, but every play instruction must be executed, so there’s only so much a coordinator can do with inconsistent blocking. Macdonald might see things that way and thinks the onus should be on the front office to give them better players to get a more accurate assessment from Grubb, Huff and assistant O-line coach Brendan Nugent.

Then there’s the quarterback. Macdonald strongly believes Smith and Grubb are too, even though their quarterback ranks 30th in touchdown rate and 10th in interception rate. However, when assessing the offense, the coaching staff’s judgment must be weighed against the impact of these turnovers and lack of touchdowns, particularly in the red zone.

“I appreciate Coach Grubb and the way he has worked diligently all season,” Smith said Thursday. “We had some ups and downs and not everything was perfect, but Grubb was the same guy all year. With the changes we made at the top, both with the players in and out of the lineup, Huff did a great job and (Nugent) did a great job making sure the guys were prepared.”

The possible counterargument: Grubb’s predecessors faced similar challenges on offense, but had better offenses that scored more points, ran the ball more often, and produced more explosive plays (in 2024, Seattle had its lowest rate of explosive plays since 2017). Grubb’s offense also ranks second in penalties entering Week 18, and half of those were for procedural issues such as false starts, delay of game, illegal shift and illegal formation. There were also games in which Grubb admittedly failed to get his best players the ball, such as when Walker scored just five runs against the Giants and Metcalf scored a season-low three times against the Packers. Regardless of the offensive line, that would be valid criticism of Grubb, whose focus is on finishing the season strong on Sunday.

“We’re not worried about the Rams, no matter who they play or not,” Grubb said. “We don’t care. We just want to go out and do everything we can, finish with a good result and get a tenth win.”

(Top photo: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)