THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: Seahawks fans bemoan another Super-less weekend

It’s Super Bowl weekend.

Millions of football junkies across the country will be excited.

Unfortunately, I’m not so sure Seahawks fans are going to be fired up.

Why?

Well, we’re going to see a fantastic older quarterback square off against a super-talented heir apparent — and both Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes figure to come out firing.

It should be thrilling stuff.

Meanwhile…

Brady and Mahomes will be gunning away in the same week that Seattle named Shane Waldron as its new offensive coordinator.

And?

Waldron has met the media in a Zoom call just once so far, and he spoke as though Pete Carroll had written the script.

Like, word for word.

It was almost eerie, listening to Waldron say that his philosophy was in sync with Carroll’s, and that he wanted the Seahawks to be “all about the ball.”

IN CASE you’ve forgotten, that phrase might someday be on Carroll’s tombstone..

Pete treasures the ball like no coach still working in the throw-it-around NFL.

The firing of Brian Schottenheimer was down to “philosophical differences,” if you remember how parties explained his departure — that coming after a season in which the Seahawks set a franchise record for points scored.

It doesn’t take a genius to decipher the philosophies in play as Schottenheimer was shown the door.

Pete wants to run the ball considerably more often — he’s said so publicly — and Schottenheimer presumably disagreed with that 1960s Ohio State approach.

The potentially gloomy evidence here is pretty obvious.

The four teams who played in this season’s conference championship games (Tampa Bay, Kansas City, Green Bay and Buffalo) all finished within the NFL’s top seven in passing.

Given the speed, strength and savvy of the better defensive fronts in the league these days, it’s getting harder and harder to run the ball.

At least, to run it as your signature, or…

Run it when the other team knows you plan on it.

When you watch the Super Bowl, you’re likely to see the Bucs and Chiefs have some success running the ball — but it will only come if one team (or both) can establish a passing game that has to be feared.

Heck, the Chiefs will have established the pass before kickoff.

The whole world knows they can and will throw it successfully.

WHAT YOU no doubt must wonder about the Seahawks, who didn’t really challenge seriously for a spot in this Super Bowl, is whether the days of pounding the ball successfully can be resurrected.

Yes, it worked in the Beast Mode era — when the Hawks complemented a smash-mouth offense with one of the best defenses in league history.

Seattle did get better at stopping people during the second half of last season, but that gang was a long way from the Legion of Boom.

Just as an example, the Seahawks did not score a touchdown on defense or special teams.

That used to be part of the club M.O.

I guess what I’m saying is that chasing a Super Bowl by running the ball seems to be defying the odds in 2021.

But, hey…

Carroll intends to go that route, and he hired a 41-year-old coach who was the Rams’ PASSING game coordinator to help him make it work.

IF YOU want to be optimistic, one thing you can say about Waldron is that he worked under Sean McVay — which means he understands offense.

And winning.

Just in the last couple of years, Matt LeFleur has left McVay’s staff to become head coach at Green Bay, and Zac Taylor departed for the top job in Cincinnati.

Most pro scouts and coaches believe the Rams staff managed to pull some success out of QB Jared Goff, almost like it was a magic trick.

Goff is rated as a middle-of-the-pack quarterback, at best, and yet L.A. rode him to the Super Bowl.

Presumably, Waldron had something to do with that.

But, sheesh, he’s inheriting an awfully good QB in Seattle.

Russell Wilson doesn’t exactly need to be reinvented.

Let’s see…

Maybe Waldron is being groomed as Carroll’s successor, which is an intriguing prospect.

In the meantime, though, expect the new coordinator to follow orders from his boss, which means…

Run the damn ball.

Sigh.

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Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. “Moments, Memories and Madness,” his reminiscences from several decades as a sports journalist, runs each Sunday.

Steve also writes Zags Tracker, a commentary on Gonzaga basketball which is published each Tuesday.

Note: The Zags Tracker will run in next Thursday’s paper because Gonzaga plays BYU on Monday night.