The Seahawks are a zone team. Under Pete Carroll, they have always been a zone team. It doesn’t matter how much defensive talent they have, or who the defensive coordinator is – the scheme is and has always been primarily about playing zone, keeping the ball in front of them and rallying to make stops. Unfortunately, over the last six years that just hasn’t worked out very well – in large part because the Seahawks simply aren’t getting enough pressure with a four-man rush to make a zone-heavy defense work.
Calls for Seattle to embrace playing 1-on-1 are getting louder as the season progresses. Apparently we can add standout rookie cornerback Devon Witherspoon’s voice to that chorus.
Watch Witherspoon rage on the sidelines as the Seahawks’ zone continually got beat last week by the 49ers.
Spoon: “why can’t we just do what we normally do and man they ass up”
— xyn (@EyesoXyn) November 29, 2023
Of course it’s easy for Spoon to say as he’s better-suited to play man defense than anyone else on the roster. Guys like Tre Brown and Jordyn Brooks might not do as well.
That said, the way things are going the Seahawks have to try something different to try to shake things up and change their fortunes. Manning up against Dallas might be a good place to start.
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