It took a while, but the Seattle Seahawks offense seems to be coming into its own, and head coach Pete Carroll is encouraged by what he's seeing, according to ESPN Seattle 710.
Rookie quarterback Russell WIlson had one of his best games of the season in last Sunday's 24-23 win over the New England Patriots. While throwing for 293 yards and three touchdowns was impressive, the most encouraging aspect of his performance might have been his ability to stretch the field and attempt deeper passes than he had in recent weeks. Wilson completed five passes deeper than 20 yards downfield on Sunday, which represented 33.3 percent of his attempts on the day.
Carroll said in the interview that the increased number of deep balls thrown by the rookie was no mistake:
"We gave him plenty of chances to bomb 'em and he did it. He's thrown the ball deep really, really well. We've all seen him do that in practice and he's done it in games as well. He got the chances, he got the protection, guys ran some beautiful routes for him and then made the plays at the other end."
Carroll also stressed the importance of having the fleet-footed rookie quarterback's ability to throw on the move:
"If we can get that part going, that's the most difficult play in football to deal with because you don't know what's going to happen and you don't know when and where it's coming. It's such a great accent when you can stretch the field that much [combined] with the running game that we have. It can make us a very solid offense here in the next few weeks."
The Seahawks square off against the San Francisco 49ers in a Thursday Night Football matchup that will be televised on the NFL Network. Kickoff is slated for 5:20 p.m. PT.