The 2022 Seattle Seahawks are putting the very definition of a new-look defense on the field. When they cast future Hall of Fame linebacker Bobby Wagner to the side this past offseason, it marked the exit of the last member of the legendary Legion of Boom defense, one of the greatest such units in NFL history. That defense led the NFL in points allowed four straight seasons from 2012-2015; the new group isn’t quite at that level, but showed a lot of spark in Seattle’s surprising 17-16 win over Russell Wilson’s Denver Broncos on Monday night.
The most important play of that game might have been a tackle for loss by linebacker Cody Barton, selected in the third round of the 2019 draft out of Utah. The Utes have put quite a few top-tier defensive players in the NFL of late, and while Barton was a nice bit player in his first three professional seasons, one wouldn’t yet put him on the level of an Eric Weddle, Marcus Williams, or Star Lotulelei.
Monday night’s game may represent Barton’s claim to a higher status. He had eight solo tackles, a sack, a quarterback hit, and two tackles for loss. One of those tackles for loss may have saved the upset for Seattle on Monday night.
With 1:24 left in the game, the Broncos had the ball with first-and-10 at their own 49-yard line. Wilson threw the ball to running back Javonte Williams on a quick cross-action pass. Williams might have been able to beat Barton to the sideline were all things equal, but Barton read the play perfectly, and nuked Williams — one of the league’s best backs — for a four-yard loss.
On Wednesday, Barton explained what he saw, and why he took off for Williams with no hesitation whatsoever.
Talked to Cody Barton about this play today. He said Seahawks noticed during week that Williams had a habit of patting his feet prior to the snap on screen plays and Barton read it on this play. "As soon as I saw the pat-pat I just shot it. I knew it was coming.'' https://t.co/Ur3ZLlzEEB
— Bob Condotta (@bcondotta) September 14, 2022
The Broncos now had second-and-14 from their own 45, and after a Wilson incompletion, Denver’s quarterback hit Williams for a nine-yard gain. That put the ball on the Seattle 46-yard line, and its possible that the first-down TFL was going through Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett’s mind as he chose between going for it on fourth-and-5, or allowing kicker Brandon McManus to attempt a 64-yard field goal in vain.
Broncos coaches, players react to final missed 64-yard field goal
In fact, it was absolutely going through Hackett’s mind, as he explained on Tuesday.
“Looking back at it, we definitely should have gone for it. It’s one of those things where you look back at it and you say, ‘Of course we should go for it.’ We missed the field goal. But in that situation, we had a plan. We knew that [the] 46-[yard line] was the mark. We were third-and-15, I think, third-and-13. I’m more upset about that play before, to lose yards. Getting that there would have definitely been better able to call that same play and get extra yards, but he dumps it out to [RB] Javonte [Williams]. Javonte makes a move, goes a lot farther than I think we had anticipated.
“We were expecting to go for it on fourth down and then you hit the mark. The mark that we had all set before we started. We said 46-yard line was where we wanted to be, and we got there so we had to make a decision. We wanted to give it to Brandon, and we did. It didn’t work, it sucks but that a part of it.”
So, had Barton not made that play, the Broncos might well have gone for it on fourth down, and we may be dealing with an entirely different game story.
Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll was suitably impressed by Barton’s shot, namechecking K.J. Wright, a key member of that legendary LOB.
“The play he makes, that’s totally coming from the gut. That’s a K.J. Wright play. He sees it and knows what it is, a screen. He’s got to beat the lineman and he can feel the lineman coming out and he dipped him and made a great tackle on a great back in a crucial time for a big loss. It was a great indicator for things to come.”
Defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt, asked about it Wednesday, was similarly struck by Barton’s effect on the game.
“On the screen? That was an unbelievable play. Those are the ones for a guy that’s not really a young guy anymore. Now he’s in year four, I believe it is if I’m not mistaken, so those are the ones that you want to start seeing that guy make. The recognition, identifying certain things, whether it’s recognizing a formation, a backfield set, something a guy does pre-snap for him to be able to go trigger and make a play that fast. That’s really encouraging, so he did a lot of positive things in that game, but he also has things that he knows that he wants to clean up to play better, which excites you for his future.”
The future may be now for Cody Barton, and the most recent past is quite enlightening. Without Barton’s efforts, Seattle might have allowed Russell Wilson to have his revenge game, after all.