Russell Wilson, Shane Waldron, and Seahawks 'Can Calls'

Shane Waldron's arrival in Seattle meets the wishes of both Pete Carroll and Russell Wilson. The new offensive coordinator will give Wilson line of scrimmage power that the quarterback wanted in the offseason, including "can calls." Matty F. Brown explains while looking at the concerning wild card pick six that suggests Wilson needs improvement for this to work.

The Seahawks’ hires of Shane Waldron as offensive coordinator and Andy Dickerson as run game coordinator satisfied the requirements of two major parties: the head coach and the franchise quarterback. In 2021, Pete Carroll will have an offensive system layered off the run game. The wide zone action, that same look and appearance, is what sets up the majority of Sean McVay’s concepts with the Rams.

Russell Wilson will also be delighted. This was a pivotal procedure. if Seattle had got this wrong there was potential for the quarterback's time in Seattle to end early. In Wilson’s end-of-season press conference, he told reporters that he was not in favor with the decision to fire Brian Schottenheimer and wanted to be heavily involved with the new coordinator hiring process.

Wilson’s presser touched on the specifics he desired from his new offensive coach. Asked by our own Corbin Smith about where Schottenheimer helped him the most, Wilson responded with an answer that also looked to personal ambitions for the future. 

“To be able to check plays and get to stuff,” Wilson said. “I think a little bit of that is, you know, I want more of that and to continue to do that, in this next OC. I want to be able to get us to anything and everything, right here; right now: bang! [clicks fingers] here we go!”

“I’ve always been able to do that, but I think also too is that, you know, that being kind of a key part to our offense, you know? And making sure that’s where I can kind of put my foot on this play. ‘Okay, here we go, they’re in this, boom boom boom boom.’ And continue to do that.”

Wilson desires autonomy and authority at the line of scrimmage. Like one of his idols, Peyton Manning, he clearly wants to be viewed as a true signal caller and field general. The 32-year old was keen to emphasize his high degree of legacy consciousness to the assembled media; earning this high football IQ and important reputation would be a key boost to that legacy.

This was something promised by Carroll in the 2016 offseason. The coach looked to provide his quarterback with a football education that transitioned his game to the upper echelons. This included teaching Wilson the difference between a 4-3 and a 3-4 plus describing defensive schematic differences.

Waldron comes from a McVay system that asks the quarterback to heavily read the defense pre-snap, ticking that box for Wilson. A simple example of this is "can calls." These kill certain plays at the line of scrimmage, switching to a different call. In the huddle, the quarterback will call two plays in. Here’s an explanation from McVay’s 2014 Washington playbook:

2014 Washington Football Team-Sean McVay Can Calls pic.twitter.com/xGeQcRDSwg

— Ultra Rare Tape (@UltraRareTape) January 31, 2021

The play call and can call described, “Trips Right 19 Wanda ‘Can’ 18 Support,” is changing the wide zone run direction and receiver blocking. The crucial part of the description for me is that can calls allow the offense to “change a play at the line of scrimmage without using an audible.”

Here’s a pass-to-pass can call example from McVay’s 2019 playbook: “Cowboy (Can) Spotify”. Cowboy looks like a crossing concept suited to beating man coverage. Spotify looks like a spot concept suited to attacking zone pass defense.

2019 Los Angeles Rams "Cowboy (Can) Spotify" pic.twitter.com/BznhDkaLKj

— Ultra Rare Tape (@UltraRareTape) January 27, 2021

Rams tight end coach Wes Phillips appeared on the Run The Power podcast in the 2020 offseason. Phillips, who coached under McVay in Washington before heading West in 2019, provided an excellent description of the quarterback’s role with can calls and how these help the offense.

“We do make some calls on the move. You did ask if there were kills or cans. We call them cans, but we do can just about every run. We’re not a big call and run it team, in run or pass, and that’s because Sean’s just of the belief - I mean he’s a beautiful mind with ball - he’s just of the belief, he doesn’t want to, what he would consider in his mind, waste a play, ever. So a lot of our criteria for runs will be G-bubble, pressures. So we gotta have the g bubble, we don’t want to run it into pressure to the play, right? And whatever we have, can the other way. Whether it’s run to run, run to pass, pass to pass, whatever it may be. But we have these criteria that kinda the quarterbacks lean over time to really kinda lock down on, and our centers understand that. The center could, our center Austin Blythe, could walk up immediately and say ‘hey, can it’. You know, look at Jared and say ‘hey can it.’ Right? So, understanding some of those indicators. The quarterback’s gotta understand what does pressure mean? What is a look that is a pressure look? And that’s why we use some change of strength motions, some tight end motions, we use some different things to try to undress some of those looks to make it easier.”

More power at the line of scrimmage will likely be met with excitement from Wilson. However, in the disappointing wild card loss versus the Rams earlier this month, Wilson did not demonstrate suitable defensive comprehension. The pick six he threw is an excellent example of the improvement Wilson requires in this area. If he wants to be an in-depth reader and controller, plays like this must not happen. (I do think the equivalent of can calls and zone-or-man play checks existed with Schottenhemier) Here’s a video breakdown illustrating this pick six defensive reading issue:

“The thing that I think that, you know, he’s really brought to me is this ability to really process the whole field and all, everything that’s happening,” Wilson said of Schottenheimer. “To be able to check plays and get to stuff... I mean Schotty did a tremendous job of that. Really helped, you know, really allowed me to do that, you know you know, that first and second year, and that tempo of it.”

Wilson with can calls and the other elements of Waldron’s system may well be given greater responsibilities. It would then be up to the franchise quarterback to be the true star for an entire season and postseason. Can calls would just be the start.