Seahawk identity

I wrote recently about a potential decline for the Seahawks due to their eroded draft results. There's another noticeable shift this year, and probably has to do with Russell Wilson's big contract: they are throwing more.

	Passes	Runs	Russell runs	Total runs
2013	420 (45.2%)	413 (44.5%)	96 (10.3%)	509 (54.8%)
2014	454 (46.4%)	407 (41.6%)	118 (12.0%)	525 (53.6%)
2015*	101 (54.0%)	62 (33.2%)	24 (12.8%)	86 (46.0%)

	Passes	Runs	Russell runs	Russell uses
2013	420 (45.2%)	413 (44.5%)	96 (10.3%)	516 (55.5%)
2014	454 (46.4%)	407 (41.6%)	118 (12.0%)	572 (58.4%)
2015*	101 (54.0%)	62 (33.2%)	24 (12.8%)	125 (66.8%)

* Stats through 3 games

The Seahawks' winning script has been completely flipped. Where they used to run the ball around 54% of the time, they are now passing it that often. The run-first feel of the offense has dissolved. Another way to look at this is the percentage of plays Wilson is directly involved in. It's grown from 55.5 and 58.4 to 66.8 so far this year. Wilson is being asked to carry more and more of the offense, and the results are not following. Compounding that is Marshawn Lynch's diminished output (he's averaging under 4 yards per carry, down from 4.2 and 4.7 the previous years). Or maybe Lynch's less effective running is leading to more pass plays being called. Regardless, Wilson is not as effective, scrambling even more often, and taking 4 sacks per game (he averaged under 3 in the previous 2 years).

It will be interesting to see if these trends revert or continue. The offensive coordinator has remained constant over this time, which should eliminate a wholesale "offensive system change" as a culprit. Can the Seahawks throw their way to victory? Will they go back to what worked? Or will they take a step back this year?