Can Someone Explain an Apparent Weakness to Me?

[SirTed]

On Defense -

The short middle. What is happening schematically that is abusing this area, specifically in the screen game, and scrambles / designed QB runs. Is it a lack of Reed?

Just curious, this seems to me to be the one area of the field that our D is getting routinely beat this year, and I don't remember it from years past. Wags getting stretched in coverage?

Anyway - if some couch coaches could fill me in, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks!

Ted

 

[Mad Dog]

DL not maintaining discipline and Wagner and Wright getting rubbed out be OL getting to the second level.

ALthough that one big play to Johnson yesterday should have been flagged for blocking downfield as the OL were well beyond the LOS when the pass was thrown. I think Pete said something to the officials as it was flagged on another screen pass later in the game, so the refs were looking for it.

 

[SirTed]

Thx man!

It was more than yesterday, at least to me. That damn TE middle screen against the Steelers got us, the Johnson screen (I can't comment on the downfield blocking) and the designed run. I know those are different things, but I'm just not used to seeing such wide open space in that area of the field. I wondered if Reed being out, and the LB's getting stretched was a factor. I can see the OL getting to the 2nd level, but I guess I don't know WHY it was / is happening, more than I remember anyway. Thanks for your help!

 

[sc85sis]

Lots more base D instead of nickel this year for two reasons: we lost Coleman and we have three really good LBs.

Pete also is willing to give up short completions in order to prevent chunk plays. If the opponent gets to the red zone, the D frequently shuts them down or limits them to a FG due to the compressed field.

 

[MontanaHawk05]

Those short middle throws happened well after Murray's reads, so they were improvisations. Basically dumpoffs where the refs let the OL get further ahead than is allowed by the rulebook.

 

[AgentDib]

My preferred analogy for low reward-high risk actions is to compare them to picking up pennies from railroad tracks. You could earn a steady but very low income this way right up until you were hit by a train. We're trying to force opposing offenses into low reward-high risk passes. It worked well against Arizona where they piled some yards up for their stat sheet but we kept them from making any big plays and then Clowney delivered the train hit with a pick 6.

It's not foolproof because we really have to tackle well and eliminate big plays in order for this philosophy to work.

Occasionally we get dinked and dunked by accurate QBs and give up a ton of yards but even then Pete is usually OK with that. You probably remember Rivers killing us in the 2014 opener with slants to Allen and Gates mixed with a bunch of dump offs to RBs. I bet what Pete remembers is the YAC on those plays and then mostly the three TDs to Gates where the defense broke down.

 

[xray]

That Murray kid is gonna do that to every D he plays ; not just the Hawks . :irishdrinkers:

 

[Smellyman]

It has been that way for years. Pete is willing to allow that and force teams dink and dunk the entire field.

Watching QBs like Rivers paper the cut the D to death is frustrating. Usually works out though.

 

[chris98251]

What it does is makes the other team play mistake free between the 30's or 20's, if we can get there in pass rush or if they throw a errant ball then it favors us on the next play. when they get to the red zone things tighten up and there is less field for them to operate in and we start bringing more physicality and they don't have the space to dink and dunk.

Also we take away the run game more times then not and force them to pass to move the ball.

One thing I have noticed and it may be coincidence, but with the new rules about interference we don't have the turnovers from interceptions as much, in fact watching other games we don't see them like we used to, I think it's being coached in more zone play and less contested catches where you have a defender and a receiver going after a ball due to a flag being thrown.

 

[Fade]

It has been that way for years. Pete is willing to allow that and force teams dink and dunk the entire field.

Watching QBs like Rivers paper cut the D to death is frustrating. Usually works out though.

This.

Pete is obsessed with not giving up big plays. So he likes to play 3 deep, 4 underneath. Instead of 2 deep, 5 underneath.

QBs playing the Seahawks should rarely every get sacked, because the dumpoff is usually left open. So if the QB is feeling pressure he can just check it down. And Pete wants them to check it down. He figures the opponent will eventually screw it up. And he is usually right.

Alex Smith types, and backups give the Seahawks the most trouble for that reason. Because they love to check it down anyway.

Where they need to improve drastically within this framework though. Is they are getting eaten up by RB & TE screens. They need to recognize these plays better, and snuff them out.

 

[kidhawk]

It has been that way for years. Pete is willing to allow that and force teams dink and dunk the entire field.

Watching QBs like Rivers paper cut the D to death is frustrating. Usually works out though.

This.

Pete is obsessed with not giving up big plays. So he likes to play 3 deep, 4 underneath. Instead of 2 deep, 5 underneath.

QBs playing the Seahawks should rarely every get sacked, because the dumpoff is usually left open. So if the QB is feeling pressure he can just check it down. And Pete wants them to check it down. He figures the opponent will eventually screw it up. And he is usually right.

Alex Smith types, and backups give the Seahawks the most trouble for that reason. Because they love to check it down anyway.

Where they need to improve drastically within this framework though. Is they are getting eaten up by RB & TE screens. They need to recognize these plays better, and snuff them out.

I agree that this is Pete’s defensive philosophy but to my amateur eye what I see most this year are people being out of position and missed/poor tackling attempts.

Our defense has always been quick to the ball and making the quick tackle for little to no gain. This year we just haven’t been as successful in doing this.

One thing I believe strongly is that Pete knows this as well as anyone and he’s pushing to improve it. I do not see it being a weakness in the second half of the year.