"Empty" sets

[SonnyCID]

How Russell Wilson, Seahawks destroy defenses with 'empty' set

I've seen a few fans complain about the use of this formation on early downs. While it catches base defenses off guard and has been productive as hell.

 

[Cave_Johnson]

I don't know about its use on early downs, but there was a stretch in 2014 when pretty much any time 3rd and 2-4 came up they were going empty set. That definitely bugged the shit out of me. It got very predictable and it just seemed like you should at least threaten to run in that situation.

Of course they had much more success out of that formation last year and don't go to it 75% of the time on third and short anymore. At this point they have better personnel to pull it off and it shows. Should be fun to watch this year.

 

[FirebreathingMonkey]

My problem was they used it on the ONE yard line. No threat of Beast and if they wanted to throw because they thought the other team was going all out for the run than to a roll out. Otherwise no problem with the play every once in awhile.

 

[SonnyCID]

I do have a problem that it didn't work in that one situation, but truthfully it's been an effective staple since Wilson got here.

Lynch was a very underrated receiver, Wilson can do amazing things in open space, and defenses often come out heavy against the Hawks and this takes advantage of that lack of speed.