<
>

Hobbled Russell Wilson will give Seahawks' offense different look

RENTON, Wash. -- Pete Carroll was asked Friday whether Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson will be limited at all Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams.

"Nope," Carroll said.

"He's going to play, and we expect him to play well."

Of course, expect the coaches to build the game plan around Wilson's limited mobility. He suffered an ankle injury in the third quarter of the Week 1 win over the Miami Dolphins, and offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell adjusted his calls accordingly.

Keeping that in mind, here's a look at how the offense will probably look different Sunday from how it normally does.

Less zone read: The Seahawks frequently use Wilson to keep defenses honest in the run game. He always wants to hand the ball off, but if the edge defenders crash on the back, Wilson has shown often that he can do damage.

That's unlikely to be the case this week. The Rams know he's hurt and will challenge Wilson to keep the ball on those plays.

The Seahawks have other options in the run game. They can go to plays that don't require Wilson to account for an unblocked defender. And they can use run-pass options that allow Wilson to throw screens to the perimeter rather than run the ball himself.

In Week 1, the Seahawks ran the ball 32 times for 112 yards. They'll definitely want to find balance in this game, but don't expect much zone read.

Designed bootlegs, rollouts: According to the Football Outsiders Almanac, Wilson has finished first or second in percentage of passes thrown outside the pocket every year he's been in the league.

The Seahawks used play-action on 24 percent of their pass plays last year, the sixth-highest percentage in the NFL. And a lot of those were bootlegs designed to get Wilson deep behind the line of scrimmage and outside the pocket.

Bevell may still mix a few of those in, but the guess here is that they'll be a much smaller part of the game plan than usual. This game will be more about Wilson operating from the pocket and getting rid of the ball quickly.

Scrambles, plays outside of structure: One of Wilson's strengths has always been his ability to escape pressure and make plays when the protection breaks down. Football Outsiders had him down for 56 scrambles last year, the most in the NFL. He's been the leader in that category every year he's been in the league.

But Wilson often scrambles to buy time and connect with receivers downfield. He doesn't like to go down easily and concede sacks. This week, he may have to go that route.

In Week 1, Wilson was sacked three times and hit on nine other occasions. The Rams are a blitz-heavy team. And at right guard, the Seahawks will either be going with a banged-up J'Marcus Webb (ankle) or a third-stringer.

Wilson will need to be smart about avoiding hits and trying to do too much.