Twelve months ago, Scott Huff was completing his seventh season as the offensive line coach at the University of Washington, looking ahead no further than preparing his players for the Sugar Bowl.
Which, to make clear, was merely as big as any game he’d ever coached.
Since then, he’s coached Washington in the national title game, accepted a job coaching the offensive line for Kalen DeBoer at Alabama, then a few weeks later reversed course to accompany offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb to Seattle to take a job with the Seahawks, completing a dream of working at the game’s highest level.
After navigating all that to take on the task of coaching what is annually the most analyzed and scrutinized position group on the Seahawks, he’s only had to deal with a revolving door of four starting right tackles, two rookies playing substantially at right guard and the shocking news of veteran free-agent center Connor Williams — who was expected to stabilize everything — retiring midway through the season.
“Yeah, it’s been pretty wild,’’ Huff said. “It’s been tough, up and down. But overall, it’s been great.’’
The payoff came Sunday when the Seahawks finally played the kind of offensive game they’d envisioned all year, rushing for a season-high 176 yards while not allowing a sack in grinding out a 30-18 win at Arizona.
It was a win that kept Seattle in first place in the NFC West and greatly increased the team’s odds of winning the division for the first time since 2020.
Afterward, coach Mike Macdonald awarded one of a handful of game balls to Huff amid raucous cheers from Seahawks players.
“That was nice and cool,’’ Huff said after practice Thursday. “But really, I didn’t do anything. The boys, they all did it, the guys. It was good. But time to move on.’’
Surely in a private moment later on, Huff might take more time to soak that in.
But that response also is indicative of Huff’s even-keeled approach that has helped him ride out some of the more challenging moments of the past 12 months, and specifically in trying to ignite the Seahawks’ running game.
“I think he’s done a good job of weathering the storm, so to speak, at times,’’ Grubb said Thursday. “There’s been some rough sledding obviously, and there will continue to be those moments where it’s difficult to block NFL fronts with the players that different teams have. So, I think his mindset and mentality (has been key), what he brings to the room, just that we’re going to keep working and finding solutions.’’
The solutions Sunday were to try to take advantage of the Cardinals’ aggressiveness, and to use more gap-scheme runs, which not only seemed a better fit against Arizona but also appeared to catch them off-guard in flipping the script from the game two weeks ago in Seattle.
The key offensive play of the game was a 51-yard TD run by Zach Charbonnet — Seattle’s longest run of the season — late in the second quarter that put the Seahawks up 24-10 at halftime.
As quarterback Geno Smith revealed Thursday, Grubb called the run after seeing how Arizona’s defense was aligning — and specifically, apparently anticipating a blitz by Cardinals safety Budda Baker.
“I guess he saw a blitz or something (coming) and got to that look,’’ Smith said.
If the call was perfect, it also took perfect execution from the line, especially right tackle Abe Lucas and right guard Sataoa Laumea pulling to pave the way for Charbonnet to the opening Arizona left in the middle of the field.
And for that, players credited Huff.
”I love coach Huff,’’ Smith said Thursday. “I think he’s done a tremendous job with that room. You think about all the guys who have been in and out of the lineup — he’s got veteran guys, he’s got young guys from all over the place, and he’s getting each and every one of those guys prepared to go out there and be their best selves. That’s really what you want from a coach.’’
Huff says it’s that week-to-week work, and eventual progress, he has taken the most pride in this season.
“That’s what you work so hard for,’’ he said. “For the guys to go out there and feel good and confident and then you go execute it at a high level. That was the exciting thing, how that came together, (not) the other stuff (such as game balls).’’
Still, the cheer that erupted when Macdonald awarded Huff the game ball — a moment the team released on its social media channels — spoke to Huff’s ability to reach his players at more than just a schematic level.
“The way that he can connect with the guys, and then the way that he pushes the guys, everyone doesn’t get to see how stern he is and how on it he is with these guys, but he’s right there, and they respect him, and I think that’s a big thing,’’ Smith said of Huff, who played at Boise State from 1999-2002 before entering coaching.
Told of Smith’s stern comment, Huff laughed.
“Time and place,’’ he said. “I just like to think there is a high standard, and if we are meeting it, which we should be, great. And if not, we have to make sure we address it and try to fix it.’’
What Grubb and Huff have also had reinforced in their first NFL season is the week-to-week nature of the league. While the Seahawks seem to have found answers last week, they know Sunday’s game against the 9-4 Packers will present its own challenge.
“I think the versatility piece is really what we talk about, having the ability to run multiple schemes,’’ Grubb said. “It is not easy to do just in the sense that you have preparation against a lot of these NFL teams that have different fronts and things like that that you got to be ready to block different structures.’’
The hope, though, is that Sunday’s breakthrough doesn’t prove to be an outlier.
“I know it hasn’t always shown up, but there’s been a couple of games where a couple of tackles here and there, we have a 55-yarder one week, now all of a sudden an 85-yard game turns into 130 yards rushing,’’ Grubb said. “So I think that we were kind of due for that a little bit.’’
Smith, for one, seems confident Sunday was just the beginning.
“Huff has brought a lot to this offense, a lot to this team,’’ he said. “And I can’t wait to see where it goes.’’
Huff, too, is hoping that what has sometimes been a bumpy ride in 2024 is setting up for a smooth landing.
“It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,’’ Huff said. “I’ve always believed in that, whether it was one play or a season or a year. There’s been some highs and lows (this year). Just trying to stay consistent through the whole thing.’’