Great write up on what Exactly our Defense did against N.O.

[rightbench]

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/sbn ... opped.html

Really good write up with both X's and O's and more straightforward analysis of what exactly the Seahawks defense was able to do against all the different things the Saints tried to do to create mismatches.

Really cool to see just how deep and complex our system really is and how Pete and John go out of their way to find those guys with multiple talents rather than just prototypical players.

Gives Seattle a great ability to value players in different ways when it comes to the draft and trading than most teams.

It also explains why Draft prognosticators are always stumped by the Hawks' picks every year.

 

[seanoob]

Thanks for the link. My son loves this stuff.

 

[Rocket]

"but watch Clemons drop into the flats to take slot receiver Marques Colston. Yes, that's a defensive end matched up in zone with a receiver. "

Beat that, Sann Franciscooo

 

[Filydan]

I'm curious to know who at Philly.com decided to reprint this article. It was an excellent article, but also more proof that the love is spreading. :th2thumbs:

 

[MontanaHawk05]

Clemons and Wright have really improved in coverage without anyone noticing. No other explanation for the ballsy coverage Quinn was calling.

One thing I would like to know more is, what is the downside of playing a hybrid 4-3/3-4? I mean, if it were the ultimate trump card, everyone would be doing it, so there must be reasons that some teams prefer to stick to one or the other.

 

[RolandDeschain]

Clemons and Wright have really improved in coverage without anyone noticing. No other explanation for the ballsy coverage Quinn was calling.

One thing I would like to know more is, what is the downside of playing a hybrid 4-3/3-4? I mean, if it were the ultimate trump card, everyone would be doing it, so there must be reasons that some teams prefer to stick to one or the other.

I'm guessing you need some unique talent traits to not get exposed, but that's a good question. Hopefully someone that knows can answer.

 

[rightbench]

I'm wondering what it is that we are giving up by having these multidimensional players. It seems like we're gaining a lot, but what are we losing? We play both the run and the pass really well. We stop both screens and deep balls. Our D-line seems to match up to both run blocking and pass blocking and also man and zone blocking schemes.

There hasn't really been an offense this year that's given us fits other than our 2 week mishaps with our run D and they seem to have straightened that out.

 

[Seahawkfan80]

The answer would have to depend on the personnel that you have. Some personnel can adapt to the scheme and have the speed to adapt. Some have the girth to adapt to the rushing portion. Very few have both speed and girth to attempt the different schemes. Then there is the learning curve. If the draftee has been exposed to this kind of player concept, it is easy to adapt to the scheme. If he has not been exposed to it, the learning curve is a gamble. Simple straight up rushing is kind of easy to accomplish and the sets are easy to bring to the fore. If you add another massive situation (fall back to coverage) to the learning curve without some experience involved, the learner will not see the end result and may become flustered or never "get" it. One more thing on this is keeping your place in the scheme when the play is called. If you recall we had issues keeping our holes covered earlier in the year. We have somewhat fixed that. This is my opinion tho. Speed and body strength.

And one thing that you do give up is the amount of players that can operate in that scheme. You are not gonna find a lot that can do it. So getting in a rotation of players that can do all schemes is gonna be difficult.

 

[Lady Talon]

Clemons and Wright have really improved in coverage without anyone noticing. No other explanation for the ballsy coverage Quinn was calling.

One thing I would like to know more is, what is the downside of playing a hybrid 4-3/3-4? I mean, if it were the ultimate trump card, everyone would be doing it, so there must be reasons that some teams prefer to stick to one or the other.

I think the biggest downside is needing years and high turnover in order to collect the correct pieces, a owner that has complete faith in the coach and lets him collect his own coaching staff and GM, a FO that isn't afraid to draft and play free agency against conventional wisdom. Most teams can't hope to have such harmony at the top that trickles down to the field.

Kearly brought up that while we force top QBs into captain checkdowns while they try to minimize risk against us, QB's that have an arm and aren't afraid to take risks have success against us, although that damage was mostly done to us in the 1 pm ET slot when we are normally sluggish defensively.

Good downhill running seems to give us problems as well. Perhaps its a downside of practicing against the ZBS that fast developing run plays have success against us.

 

[Trenchbroom]

The original SBnation article has much better GIFs:

http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2013/12/6/5181238/seattle-seahawks-defense-nfc-breakdown

Also, since this is a specific type of defense was already named for a team ("Tampa 2", as referenced in the article) I think the "4-3 D with 3-4 personnel" needs to be labeled the "Seattle 4-3" defense.

Amirite?

 

[OneLofaTatupu]

If KJ doesn't break up that last pass to Graham, Kam gives Graham the VD tx.

 

[seahawks08]

I remember watching Jimmy catch one of the passes and was running, saw Kam coming right at him and starting running backwards.

 

[jblaze]

LOVED THE ARTICLE. Those linebackers are amazing in coverage against maybe the best QB in under routes in the NFL. They are so assignment sound, it's amazing.

 

[RolandDeschain]

It's ridiculous how much our linebacker coverage has improved. Used to be, the short dink & dunk drove against us consistently last year.

 

[KK84]

Irvin's closing speed is ridiculous.

 

[jblaze]

Drafting 4.5 guys in the linebacking corp is key. You just hope they can hold up against the run.

 

[jblaze]

I love the whole size vs. speed debate in defenses. We have both somehow.

 

[Perfundle]

Clemons and Wright have really improved in coverage without anyone noticing. No other explanation for the ballsy coverage Quinn was calling.

One thing I would like to know more is, what is the downside of playing a hybrid 4-3/3-4? I mean, if it were the ultimate trump card, everyone would be doing it, so there must be reasons that some teams prefer to stick to one or the other.

Well, considering the pass rush and run defense were pretty inconsistent last year with the same system, the system itself is clearly not the ultimate trump card; any system looks great with the correct personnel. Also, I think the asymmetry of the system is somewhat of a negative. In a 3-4 or 4-3, the ends are more or less interchangeable, but that's not the case here, so your depth has to be more specialized as well.

 

[mrblitz]

how often do you see a player the size of irvin laying a hit on graham like that?

 

[RolandDeschain]

how often do you see a player the size of irvin laying a hit on graham like that?

Kamtrak has been teaching the young'uns. :0190l: :thirishdrinkers: