Let's talk Defense

[hawks85]

I've read some of the threads on here to get a feel of what everybody is thinking so far. I'm not gonna lie, I am concerned about this Defense right now. They looked bad against the bears, like really bad. I know it's preseason but I'm starting to think is Hurtt really gonna change things around, or will he be Norton V2. Right now I am not impressed at all.

 

[sutz]

Meh. Hard to judge yet. Haven't seen a lot of key players on the field yet. None of the projected starting DBs have played yet. There were 'starters' from the front 7 not playing as well.

Of course I'm a type.

 

[TwistedHusky]

It is hard even to know the effectiveness of the schemes because nobody can tackle.

It feels like weird version of flag football where you need to touch the ball carrier with 3 different people before they are tackled.

The 1st guy rarely, if ever, seems to actually make the tackle. Nor does the 2nd.

Probably not as bad as it seems, the bad tackling makes it more glaring. But holy ish. We don't look like our only problem is at QB.

 

[Rock_the_Hawk]

It is hard even to know the effectiveness of the schemes because nobody can tackle.

It feels like weird version of flag football where you need to touch the ball carrier with 3 different people before they are tackled.

The 1st guy rarely, if ever, seems to actually make the tackle. Nor does the 2nd.

Probably not as bad as it seems, the bad tackling makes it more glaring. But holy ish. We don't look like our only problem is at QB.

Those guys who were not tackling won't be here for the opener...as far as the schemes Carroll isn't showing what they will be running in the regular season.

 

[TwistedHusky]

I hear this a lot every preseason.

It usually isn't true.
We play vanilla defenses and soft zones in the preseason because that is what we are going to revert to in the regular season.

We put LBs on WRs in the preseason (earlier years) because that is going to happen in the regular season.
You fight like you train.

It would be nice to believe things will change, and maybe they will a little. But not as much as is being implied.

 

[Rock_the_Hawk]

Most of the game they were running a 4 man front. Thats not going to happen vs Denver we are going to see a varying version of the bear front... bank on it.

 

[TwistedHusky]

That is interesting. I am banking on a 3 man front that magically changes to a 4 man about midway through the year. We will see.

 

[Rock_the_Hawk]

Do you think the personal is set up for a 4 man front? I think not...all those pass rushing linebackers are for a bear front

 

[Chuckwow]

Bobby.

 

[TwistedHusky]

Rock,
Im trying not to be a jerk here.
It probably sucks to have someone just peeing all over any optimism there is.

Not trying to do that. Honestly.
Just frustrated and trying to reconcile what I am seeing.
The heart says we might lose and be competitive (think 1990s Seahawks), best case is we are OK but just because no QB - with a strong roster, we get a good QB and go back to being a winning team.

The head knows this is unlikely.
Your question should answer itself Rock. Have we ever put in a system that doesn't make much sense for the personnel we are running?
The answer is ALL THE TIME.

Have we ever had a great player that we just tried to force into some play style that isn't a fit for them, doesn't help the team, and actively destroys their ability to contribute?
Again, pretty much every year.

 

[GemCity]

I think I’m a TwistedHusky fanboi.

You got merch Twisted? I’m not fighting my tendency to agree with every single aspect of your posts anymore.

Buttons…iron-ons…something?

 

[Fade]

Funny how the "It's pre-season"!! excuse works. If players are playing good, it's an indicator that is what we'll see in the regular season. But when the shoe is on the other foot, well… It's just pre-season.

We've been watching Pete Carroll's Seahawks for 13 years. When they look like dog doo in the pre-season for them it translates to the regular season. Same for when they play well in the pre-season that also translates to the regular season.

They looked all-world in 2012-2013 in the pre-season it translated. They looked like crap last year in the pre-season, it translated. Pete's teams are straight forward, they are not a riddle wrapped up in an enigma. They are not holding a bunch of secrets they're just waiting to unleash in the regular season. That's Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan, NOT Pete Carroll.

The best you can hope for is the starting secondary which hasn't played yet, lifts the whole thing up, that's the best you can hope for.

But I'll bet my bottom dollar before mid-year, they will be a 4 man front, playing soft zone on the backend. Struggling to get off the field on 3rd down.

 

[jammerhawk]

So what’s different from what you saw last night?

 

[AROS]

It's silly to pass judgement in August when the primary motive of these practice games is to evaluate rookies, backups...Fringe players looking to make the final 53. There's a reason we don't see our starters on both sides for all 4 quarters during preseason. These are PRACTICE GAMES for coaches to evaluate their entire roster, mainly the rooks and newbs.

I'm not downplaying the poor performance at all. In fact I think it's pretty telling on the coaches. The one thing I said I wanted to see improvement on from last week to this week was tackling. I think it was worse. Ouch. However, I for one am not clutching the pearls and freaking out about a shitty August preseason game. Now if all of our starters look like this on opening day?

Yep, sound the alarms.

 

[GemCity]

Meh. Hard to judge yet. Haven't seen a lot of key players on the field yet. None of the projected starting DBs have played yet. There were 'starters' from the front 7 not playing as well.

Of course I'm a View attachment 54125 type.

That’s half empty bruh

 

[BASF]

However, I for one am not clutching the pearls and freaking out about a shitty August preseason game.

That is the thing though boss. They aren't doing that either. They are enjoying the fact that it seems they are right about their years in the making points about Pete Carroll after he has "wasted" Russell Wilson's career. This their gotcha, I told you so moment.

 

[Palmegranite]

That is the thing though boss. They aren't doing that either. They are enjoying the fact that it seems they are right about their years in the making points about Pete Carroll after he has "wasted" Russell Wilson's career. This their gotcha, I told you so moment.

If it's years in the making point it's not a gotcha moment.
It's just reality revealing itself, now, at this moment in time.

"Told you so" accompanied by years of frustration, sadness, some anger? Yes.
Enjoyment? Not so much.

 

[keasley45]

It seemed to me against the bears that they were pushing different pressure packages and again, players were playing fast, but undisciplined. I do think the first until settled down some and forced some stops, but tye gaps in our middle zones are still there.

They need to dial the speed back a bit and focus on assignment sound football. It feels like 11 guys playing individually as opposed to as a unit.

 

[keasley45]

It's silly to pass judgement in August when the primary motive of these practice games is to evaluate rookies, backups...Fringe players looking to make the final 53. There's a reason we don't see our starters on both sides for all 4 quarters during preseason. These are PRACTICE GAMES for coaches to evaluate their entire roster, mainly the rooks and newbs.

I'm not downplaying the poor performance at all. In fact I think it's pretty telling on the coaches. The one thing I said I wanted to see improvement on from last week to this week was tackling. I think it was worse. Ouch. However, I for one am not clutching the pearls and freaking out about a shitty August preseason game. Now if all of our starters look like this on opening day?

Yep, sound the alarms.

Great post.

The thing i think the players and dc have in common right now is they are both amped to be aggressive and kill the passive play that we've seen on D for the last few years AND, they want to flex the speed of the unit. I think to thr latter, they've over worked that element to the detriment of just playing sound assignment football.

But agree that part of the issue is that we were playing depth beyond the starting handful up front.

I'm sure it doesn't help that in practice, the D is going up against offensive units who are themselves learning the playbook and likely less sophisticated in terms of the pressure they put on the defense.

But yeah, they need to tighten things up, and I suspect they will. It's a better situation to have to throttle back a D with elite speed and talent than to try to get something out of a unit that it doesn't have.

 

[keasley45]

And remember folks, in 2009, we mopped up in preseason, finishing 4-0 and then proceeded to crap ourselves in the regular season and finished 5-11.