The Seattle Seahawks are 8-2 through the first 10 weeks of the season, in part because they are able to flash different tricks up their sleeve each week to keep opponents guessing.
Monday night against the 49ers saw Seattle debut two new impact players, safety Quandre Diggs and receiver Josh Gordon, which made it difficult for San Francisco to gameplan without having seen either of them in a Seahawks uniform.
As if that wasn’t enough, Shaquem Griffin, who has been an active member of the special teams all year, made his 2019 debut on the defensive side of the ball against San Francisco — and he was playing a new position.
Griffin played 14 snaps on defense for the Seahawks, all coming on passing downs as an edge rusher. While he did not record any stats, coach Pete Carroll liked enough of what he saw to keep him in that role going forward.
“We’re going to find ways to utilize him,” Carroll said on Tuesday. “It’s really clear, more than it has been, that we might be able to build [him] a role that could be a factor. We have to work at that more so just to use his speed. He’s instinctively a good rusher. He’s just not very big. You have to do special things with him. We’ll put that together and see if we can make that a good complement to what we’re doing.”
Part of the reason Carroll believes Griffin should play more is certainly due to his performance in practice — but it might have more to do with the poor performance of veteran Ziggy Ansah, who has failed to live up to expectations in his first season in the blue and green.
Ansah also only played 14 snaps on Monday, and he was benched after committing a neutral zone infraction late in the game.
The veteran edge rusher has just one sack and three quarterback hits all season, and has struggled to adjust to Seattle’s defensive scheme.
Griffin is not a slam dunk to instantly contribute off the edge, but considering how great at it he was in college, he’s certainly earned at least a look out there. Plus, this allows Carroll to challenge Ansah to improve, knowing his role is no longer guaranteed if Griffin can find a modicum of success getting to the quarterback.
The Seahawks have a Week 11 bye but will be back in action on Sunday, November 24 against the Eagles in Philadelphia.
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