Tag: Seahawks defense

Quandre Diggs explains how new Seahawks defense will help him and Jamal Adams

The Seahawks have been blessed with two sensational starting safety combos during the Pete Carroll era.

The Seahawks have been blessed with two sensational starting safety combos during the Pete Carroll era. It’ll be a long time before any team matches the might of prime Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor, but today’s iteration of Quandre Diggs and Jamal Adams is no pushover. Having those two patrol the back end of a fresh and different defensive scheme is one of many reasons for fans to feel hopeful about this unit in 2022.

Here’s Diggs describing how the new defense will help both him and Adams, per Brady Henderson at ESPN.

“I think it’s going to help both of us… I think guys can’t automatically tag [Adams] and say he’s in the box and he’s blitzing and slide his way. I’ve always learned from the different quarterbacks that I play with. They always watch the backside safety. And now with the backside safety just showing something different or kind of sitting there … you don’t know what we are in. You don’t know what checks we have. So I think that’s going to be dope.”

Adams also gave his stamp of approval, saying both he and Diggs are really excited to be a part of the change.

Diggs and Adams are both recovering from major injuries suffered late last season. Diggs broke his fibula and sprained his ankle in the final quarter of the last game of the year, while Adams missed the final month with yet another shoulder injury. Both are expected to be back to 100% by training camp.

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Shelby Harris gushes over new Seahawks defense: ‘You guys will love it’

Seahawks fans who are looking for a silver lining should probably focus their attention on defense.

Seahawks fans who are looking for a silver lining in what’s been a dark and difficult offseason should probably focus their attention on defense. At the moment, their roster doesn’t have a sure-thing at quarterback, left tackle or right tackle. That situation will likely change over the next few weeks but for now the most promising things about this squad are on the other side of the ball.

The loss of Bobby Wagner at middle linebacker is hard to stomach. However, Cody Barton looked more-than-ready to take over and start at a respectable level late in 2021. More importantly, this defense is undergoing a change in philosophy under new defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt. Coach Pete Carroll has admitted that his team has been a little bit arrogant over the years on defense and realized a change was needed.

A defensive line guy by nature, Hurtt will be bringing a more aggressive approach – at least compared with that of former defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr., whose scheme had become too passive and predictable.

One guy who’s a big fan of the new D is also one of the new faces that came over in the Russell Wilson trade. Shelby Harris is perhaps the NFL’s most underrated defensive lineman and our favorite part of the deal. Harris spoke with members of Seattle’s media for the first time yesterday and he gushed at length about both Hurtt and his defense.

Harris says that Hurtt came highly-recommended by former teammate Teddy Bridgewater:

“I’m just excited to work with coach Hurtt. I’ve heard so much about him, I remember that Teddy Bridgewater was the first person to text me, he was like, ‘You’re going to love coach Hurtt, he is the man.'”

Here’s how he described the defense.

” I’m a big believer in this scheme. It creates a lot of turnovers, creates a lot of havoc, and is very easy to scheme and confuse quarterbacks. I just think that it fits me very well, obviously. I’ve always believed in 3-4’s—I just think that 3-4’s are better run stoppers and in the division that we play in, with the Rams, Cardinals, and 49ers, the Rams and 49ers are run-heavy teams and this kind of neutralizes that a little bit. This defense, you guys will love it, you guys will see that it is a mixture of rush and coverage working together. You are going to get a lot of zones out of it, but once everybody gets it, it’s going to be hard to stop.”

Exciting.

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Pete Carroll admits Seahawks have been ‘a little bit arrogant’ on defense

The same could be said for the Seahawks defense over the last several years.

“Peace has cost you your strength. Victory has defeated you.”

So Tom Hardy’s Bane informed Patrick Bateman’s Batman in 2012’s ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ not long before breaking his back. The same could be said for the Seahawks defense over the last several years.

From 2012-2015 Seattle had the top defensive unit in the sport – ranking No. 1 in points allowed all four years and also top-five in DVOA. That proud group began to come apart beginning with the playoff loss to Carolina and it’s been a long fall since, but now the Seahawks officially have a below-average defense in all the ways that matter.

Head coach Pete Carroll offered up a telling quote yesterday at the 2022 NFL Combine that illustrates what’s happened, admitting that his team has been a bit arrogant over the years with the way they play defense.

This is exactly right and it’s very encouraging that Carroll is willing to admit it and change course.

For a long time, Seattle’s heavy cover 3 scheme was the envy of the entire league, but even with the most talented defensive personnel in football any scheme that becomes stale can be taken advantage of. It’s been several years since the Seahawks were elite in the talent department here, so it’s all the more important to embrace a necessary change. Losses to teams starting Kirk Cousins, Colt McCoy, Ben Roethlisberger and Taylor Heinicke at QB this past season is all the evidence you should need.

New defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt and associate head coach Sean Desai will be tasked with coming up with a gameplan every week that’s more aggressive and variable than the ones we’d come to expect from Ken Norton Jr. and Kris Richard before him.

To his credit, Norton started making some significant changes just after the Week 5 loss to the Rams – namely less zone, more varied looks (including two high safeties), and more disguising coverages. He didn’t go far enough though, which was part of the reason Seattle wound up ranked No. 21 in DVOA last year.

Carroll’s admission that his defense needed to change should be exciting for every fan who wants to see this team finally get back to performing at an elite level on this side of the ball.

If only Pete would have a similar revelation on offense and embrace a more analytics-friendly-let-Russell-Wilson-loose kind of attack then the Seahawks would really be cooking with gas.

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Jadeveon Clowney could be a good fit to re-sign with the Seahawks

Gil Brandt at NFL.com says Clowney could be a fit.

The Seattle Seahawks need to add a high-impact edge rusher this offseason if they’re going to get back to the playoffs in 2022. While this free agent class is weak overall it is deep on the edge, making this position a potential priority for Pete Carroll and John Schneider to target next month.

One interesting idea is to re-sign former Seattle defensive end Jadeveon Clowney. Gil Brandt at NFL.com says Clowney could be a fit.

“Clowney is now in a much different place, career-wise, than he was after the 2019 season, when he spurned efforts by Seattle, which had acquired him via trade, to retain him in free agency. After a down 2020 in Tennessee, a rejuvenated Clowney piled up nine sacks for the Browns, which would have made him the single-season leader on a Seahawks team that finished tied for 22nd in sacks last season.”

The knock on Clowney’s game has been his relatively-low sack numbers compared to other superstar pass rushers. He’s never had 10 sacks in a season and has 41 in 97 games. However, that narrative has always been overblown. Clowney makes a difference where it matters – he gets consistent pressure and disrupts the backfield regardless of the sack numbers. For his career he has totaled 105 quarterback hits and 86 tackles for a loss and last season he posted 53 total pressures in 14 games.

There are other better options for the Seahawks out there at this position, including Von Miller, Chandler Jones and Haason Reddick, but Clowney should at least be on Seattle’s radar.

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Seahawks DC Clint Hurtt: Pete Carroll has ‘given me full autonomy’

Hurtt also says Carroll has always given the defensive staff full rein.

Seahawks defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt has a lot of questions to answer as he sets out to reinvigorate a unit that had gone stale after four frequently passive seasons spent under former DC Ken Norton Jr. – who was fired in January. Hurtt was officially named his replacement earlier this week.

One question that hasn’t gone away for any defensive coordinator who’s worked under Pete Carroll in Seattle is just how much autonomy they really have to run the defense as they see fit. Hurt was asked that on a Thursday appearance on the local ESPN radio station and said that Carroll has given him full autonomy.

“I think that’s way overblown what’s being said. Pete is the type of coach who’s going to let you coach. . . He’s given me full autonomy. . . obviously when you’re a coordinator and you have a head coach … you have somebody you have to answer to when there’s things that come up. That’s part of it, and that’s no issue for me. And I want to also lean on him for his expertise.”

Hurtt also says Carroll has always given the defensive staff full-rein.

“He’s given us full rein to go and put in a defense, run it and it’s not the things that we’ve always been running here for the last 11 or 12 years.”

There you have it.

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Clint Hurtt hits all the right notes diagnosing Seahawks’ defensive problems

There’s a lot more to the job than just saying the right things, but what he did say should come as music to the ears of Seattle fans.

The Seahawks had one of the weirdest defensive units in the NFL last year. While they did a relatively good job of keeping points off the board, Seattle strugged in just about every other way that a defense can.

To name just a few major issues, the front four did a poor job of consistently getting pressure and former defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. didn’t do enough to help manufacture pressures, either. Combined with a soft zone scheme that asked too much of its back-seven, the defense got beat during the regular season by a series of patient game manager quarterbacks who could have been stopped by a more aggressive scheme.

Norton also made some questionable moves using his personnel – among them dropping his defensive linemen back into coverage – including his defensive tackles.

Most frustrating were the issues with strong safety Jamal Adams being put out of positions to make an impact and into ones where his unique skillset leaves him more vulnerable. Rather than finding new ways to counter offenses that had schemed up against Adams as a pass rusher, Norton dropped him back more and more often into the two-deep, middle field open looks that are replacing the traditional cover 3 stuff Carroll’s teams are known for. Trouble is, that’s not Adams’ game and he had predictable issues covering big tight ends and shifty slot receivers. He went from 9.5 sacks in 2020 to zero and allowed four touchdowns.

Norton deserves credit for getting his defense to stop the run and tighten up in the red zone, but these mistakes were all too much to overcome and the unit simply couldn’t get off the field often enough. That contributed to the team’s league-worst time of possession imbalance.

Good news: help has arrived in the form of former defensive line coach Clint Hurtt, who’s officially been promoted to replace Norton as DC. There’s a lot more to the job than just saying the right things, but what he did say should come as music to the ears of Seattle fans who have grown tired of languishing defensively. Hurtt shared a number of encouraging quotes in his first press conference in his new position on Wednesday and he addressed all the major flaws.

In general, Hurtts plans to field a more aggressive defensive unit – echoing what head coach Pete Carroll said about wanting a more attack-minded defense after Norton’s firing. Blitzing more often will be a part of that, as will not playing such a “zoney” strategy in general. Hurtt also mentioned Jamal Adams, who he correctly identified as “still a difference maker” – it’s on him to use Adams in the right way. Hurtt also seems fundamentally opposed to dropping DL back into coverage – saying he doesn’t want to see them “going backward” anymore.

It’s still very early in the process and Hurtt will be judged based on the results he produces in 2022 and beyond. However, diagnosing what’s wrong with this defense is the first step towards fixing it and he nailed it.

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Seahawks: Who are the top 18 franchise leaders in forced fumbles?

Perhaps they can draw some inspiration from the all-time franchise leaders in this department.

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll likes to preach about the ball, stressing the importance of turnovers on defense. It’s a lesson that will need more emphasis from the new staff as Seattle only has one true ballhawk on the roster and forced just nine fumbles in 2021, the fourth-fewest in the NFL.

Perhaps they can draw some inspiration from the all-time franchise leaders in this department. These 18 players are on top.

 

Pete Carroll planning for more ‘attack-minded’ defense going forward

The decision to move on from Norton could be part of a changing defensive philosphy – a more aggressive one, specifically.

The Seahawks dismissed two of their top assistants on Tuesday, including defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. While Norton has a long history and a good relationship with coach Pete Carroll, Seattle’s defense more often than not had disappointing results over the last four seasons.

The decision to move on from Norton could be part of a changing defensive philosphy – a more aggressive one, specifically. According to a report by Adam Jude at the Seattle Times, Carroll was satisfied with the shift to playing cover 2 this season to prevent explosive plays, however he’s looking for a more attack-minded plan going forward.

The Seahawks did do an excellent job of preventing explosive plays, as well as stopping their opponents in the red zone. However, they had an awful time getting off the field – partially because of their strategy.

While the two-high safety looks helped keep everything in front of them, it left them more vulnerable to quarterbacks who thrive dinking and dunking and attacking the defense underneath. Kirk Cousins and Colt McCoy were just a couple of examples of QBs who took advantage in costly conference losses.

Seattle’s defensive line and associate head coach Clint Hurtt is among the early candidates to replace Norton.

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Seahawks: 3 defensive positions to target in the 2022 NFL draft

Here are three defensive positions the front office should be targeting on Days 2-3.

These 2021 Seattle Seahawks are finished as far as the playoffs are concerned. While we expect them to break their losing streak and perform better down the stretch, it’s also time to look ahead to next offseason.

Yesterday we examined a few positions on offense they should prioritize in next year’s NFL draft. Their defense has improved a ton since the start of the year and there aren’t as many leaks on this side of the ball. Still, there are a few spots where they could use help. Here are three defensive positions the front office should be targeting on Days 2-3.

What was Jamal Adams doing on DeSean Jackson’s 68-yard reception?

The Rams’ biggest play against the Seahawks was a 68-yard pass from Matthew Stafford to DeSean Jackson. Here’s why Seattle’s defense was unable to cover it.

It’s never easy to know what a coverage was unless you talk to coaches and players about what happened — and in the case of bad or blown coverage, what was supposed to happen. You can pick up general concepts, but you don’t know what the intentions were unless you ask the people involved in design and execution.

With that said, let’s take a look at the biggest play from the Rams’ 27-16 Thursday night win over the Seahawks. With 9:27 left in the third quarter, and Seattle up 7-3, Matthew Stafford hit receiver DeSean Jackson on a deep vertical route for a 68-yard gain. That set up a five-yard Darrell Henderson touchdown run two plays later, and the Rams never trailed again.

The Rams were in a 3×1 with Jackson as the frontside iso receiver with no presnap motion, so the receivers were in the same place before and after the snap. On the backside trips formation, safety Marquise Blair had Cooper Kupp on the intermediate

Here was the broadcast view:

And here’s the overhead.

Adams got pilloried on social media during and after the game because from the broadcast view, it looks like Adams was wandering around and just missed Jackson over the top. The All-22, as it always does, tells a different and more comprehensive story.

The Seahawks were in dime on this play, and they were playing man, with Quandre Diggs (No. 6) as the single-high safety, and Adams (No. 33) hanging out as either a potential robber underneath, or as a second deep safety with his drop depending on the coverage call. Now, what you don’t know unless you’re asking the coaches and players involved is what Adams was supposed to be doing here. Adams didn’t speak to the media after the game, and neither head coach Pete Carroll nor Diggs had specifics right after the game. I asked Diggs what he saw, and he said that his focus was to his side of the field. Based on that comment, and the quickness with which Adams dropped to the deep third, one can assume that this was a man across coverage with Adams as the other deep safety.

If that was the case, this may have been a Cover-1 pre-snap look, spun to 2-Man as the play unfolded.

Carroll did discuss the play, and Seattle’s overall coverage busts, during his weekly day-after-game segment on ESPN 710 Seattle.

“We’re getting antsy in our coverages, and we’re biting on stuff we don’t need to bite on,” Carroll said. “We need to be more patient, and let the ball be thrown underneath us. We’ve been doing this for years, and we’ve been working on it. That’s the part that’s disturbing to me. It’s a focused area for us, and we didn’t get it done.”

As to the specific play, Carroll said that Adams “got himself into a situation where he was deeper than the guy running the route, which is where he was supposed to be, and because it was DeSean Jackson, the guy who’s their bomber, y’know, Jamal took off to guarantee that he wouldn’t get beat deep. The ball was well underthrown, and it was just a funky play. Unfortunately, nobody else could help him, and we had [Jackson] double-covered at that time. Unfortunately, they made a huge play out of it.”

As my Touchdown Wire colleague Mark Schofield pointed out when I asked him about the play, Adams was paying attention to Kupp on the crosser to the other side because Stafford manipulated the safeties with his eyes. From the end zone angle, you can see how Stafford looked it off, and then made the throw.

That Stafford underthrew it isn’t a surprise at all, because he missed short several times in this game, with at least five deep incompletions on throw to Stafford’s left. This play just happened to bite Seattle’s defense right in the posterior.

Why is Matthew Stafford’s deep ball a problem all of a sudden?

Not that Seattle’s defense has needed any help in that regard this season. The Seahawks have a long week to get everything right before they take on the Steelers next Sunday. If similar issues show up against Pittsburgh’s vertically-challenged offense, the Seahawks will be in just as much trouble this season as they appear to be.