The Seattle Seahawks have a secret superstar in the wild-card round, as safety Quandre Diggs will be returning from his high-ankle sprain.
Going into the 2019 season, the Seahawks thought they could replace future Hall of Fame safety Earl Thomas with an aggregate of young players who had not yet aligned their athleticism to their field awareness. They were wrong. To their credit, head coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider went about correcting the problem by fleecing the Lions out of safety Quandre Diggs on Oct. 22. All they had to give up to get Diggs was a 2020 fifth-round pick, and Detroit even threw in a 2021 seventh-rounder.
The difference in Seattle’s secondary was immediate. From weeks 1-9, on posts, deep crossers, go routes, hitch-and-go routes, out-and-up routes — anything that would test a secondary deep — the Seahawks allowed five catches on six catchable targets for 144 yards, one touchdown, and one interception to the middle, right middle, and left middle of the field. But from weeks 10-13, Seattle didn’t allow a single reception under those conditions. Neither Diggs nor safety-mate Bradley McDougald was targeted at all on such routes. In Week 14, Diggs was one of the few bright spots in a 28-12 Week 14 loss to the Rams, picking off two Jared Goff passes and returning one for a touchdown.
Having a safety who knows what’s going on is kind of important, as Diggs showed in his pick-six. Goff tries to hit Robert Woods on a crossing route from left to right, but Diggs has it read all the way, and screams down from the deep third to take the ball away for a 55-yard score.
But Diggs suffered a sprained ankle in Week 16 against the Panthers, and it didn’t take long for Seattle’s pass defense to fall apart again. Jimmy Garoppolo took advantage in a Week 17 loss to the 49ers that cost Seattle the division title. Diggs is on pace to return to the field on Sunday against the Eagles, which is very good news for a defense desperately in need of smart safety coverage.
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