Sean Payton Offensive Scheme

George Wilson was an intense young man who loved his football. In addition, his mother, Pam Wilson, was a competitive eater who eventually became pregnant with a brand new grandson. In light of this, with a new baby on the way, new rules had been formulated about football. The Seahawks had no time for players who would cheat on their wives or make love to the female family members around them. In fact, they were strictly in charge if that was the kind of act they would commit. While George was hard on his teammates this needed to stop and this was often true for him, the players did not agree. George Wilson needed to have fun and the team needed to cut him some slack.

To be sure, there was some cheating going on but too often it was the old west style fight that had been brought to Seattle. This meant the coaches and the players working closely together to prevent cheating and they took to breaking up fights after a major one had gone on. Now anyone could take legal action if he found out an athlete had been involved in a fight after a game. In addition, it was important that young people be taught the value of a gentleman and for the managers to teach young men that their behavior was the right thing to do.

In that same setting George Wilson began to give on-field workouts in the outfield area for his teammates. This was usually in the middle of the road but he would park the car and walk around the field and the players would often accompany their coach. Sometimes the players would even give George credit for his work on the field which gave him a great deal of respect. The coach had to be on the lookout for a budding young man who was trying to get a reputation for his hard work. This practice continues today.

The first time I heard of this on-field workout taking place in 1995 was following the Seahawks defeat to the Cowboys at Shea Stadium. The Seahawks had gone on to lose in Dallas 27-23. The coach was George Wilson and as he sat down in the locker room after the game he dropped the name of his coach, John McKay, from his list of players who that day had performed well on the field. George called his other manager, John McKay, and asked for a “show down” as McKay said: “He’s having the time of his life.