Last weekend we took a look at some trends from the 2023 Bucs offense may take from the 2022 Seahawks offense by looking at the Seahawks’ Week 1 matchup against the Broncos. Following that I wanted to see what trends might be learned from their best offensive performance of the season. Week 4 Seattle traveled to Detroit to face a Lions defense that was, well … not good. The result was a 48-point performance that represented the most points the Seahawks scored all year.

How did the Seahawks fare so well? Was it just a porous Lions secondary? Or were there schematic themes that helped Seattle score seemingly at will? While the former certainly was at play, there was definitely some of the latter for Bucs fans to take away from the game as they look to the future of their favorite team’s offense.

Increased Space For Playmakers Through Reduced Route Combinations

Seattle offensive coordinator Shane Waldron isn’t afraid to reduce the number of receivers he puts in play. While former Bucs offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich preferred to send four or more players out in the formation, new offensive coordinator Dave Canales will most likely have special plays and packages that reduce the number of viable options for the quarterback to potentially throw to. In doing so he often takes defenders out of the throwing lanes and creates more space for those receivers to work with.

On this play-action pass that netted 21 yards plus a roughing the passer call to boot, the Seahawks only send two receivers out as viable options for quarterback Geno Smith. Tight end Noah Fant runs a corner stop from the field side while receiver D.K. Metcalf runs a deep dig from the boundary side as the “X” receiver. Meanwhile, Tyler Lockett runs a jet motion to pull the weakside linebacker into the left flat and opening up additional room for Metcalf on the dig. And tight end Colby Parkinson stays in to run a split zone block on the play action along with running back Rashaad Penny.

Parkinson’s block helped slow down a twist that would have otherwise blown up the play for a likely sack. The Seahawks employed extra blockers often last year to help a young offensive line that had not one, but two rookie offensive tackles. That will likely be a welcome sight for Bucs fans who saw their offensive line lose quickly while being asked to block superior pass rushers on islands far too often last year.

I can easily see plays like this designed for Bucs receivers Chris Godwin and Mike Evans by Dave Canales in 2023.

Seattle Runs More Efficiently From Shotgun

While the offense is predicated on an under center running game, Seattle was actually a more efficient running team out of shotgun. In 236 under center carries they averaged -0.115 EPA while that number improved to -0.0173 for their 173 shotgun runs.

Their three most successful runs in this game all came from a shotgun look. The longest was a 41-yard touchdown scamper late in the game to give the Seahawks the go-ahead score.

This was a unique pin-and-pull on third-and-5 and takes advantage of an overly aggressive Lions defense that brought seven men into the box. The Seahawks use down blocks on the play side from the tight end to the center. They then brought the backside guard and tackle around on pulls to clear the road for Rashaad Penny to score from deep.

Earlier in the game Penny scored from a distance on a shotgun trap.

Both of these plays came on likely passing plays and neither worked off of the signature mid-zone run scheme. The pin-and-pull came on a third-and-5 and the trap came on third-and-16. But what these plays do show is there is diversity in the play scheme. Which brings me to the third tendency I noticed watching this game.

Bucs OC Dave Canales Will Run Two Tent Poles To His Offense

The Kyle Shanahan/Sean McVay offensive system is widely known to be based on the outside/wide/mid-zone running schemes. And for good reason. That is the basis for their offenses … to a degree. That under-center offense is the basis for how they run, pass, and use play-action on early downs and under reasonable distances. But that is just one half of the offense.

In this game against the Lions, the Seahawks worked off of their mid-zone schemes on first down 65% of the time. On second-and-7 yards or less they ran under center almost 91% of the time. But on third-and-4 or more they went away from their signature offensive system 86% of the time. And on second-and-8 or more they once again went away from the under-center zone-based offense in favor of a spread shotgun system 92% of the time. Most of the time this comes from 11 personnel. All of that should be present in this upcoming season for the Bucs.

The second tent pole of Dave Canales’ offense is a shotgun spread offense with almost no motion. Here is an example on third-and-4 during the third quarter.

The more you dig into the Seahawks offense from last year the more you start to understand what the Bucs offense will look like in 2023 under Dave Canales. We now know that there will be a lot of motion and condensed looks on early downs and short distances.

In long-and-late situations, the offense could pivot to a static spread shotgun look. And the running game will utilize a lot of mid- and wide zone concepts from under center with a more varied run game from shotgun. Additionally, it will be a Dave Canales offense that isn’t afraid to reduce route combinations to increase space and the chances for big plays. Execution will be the key, but the Bucs offense in 2023 has the potential to be very good based off of these tendencies and concepts.