The Biggest Problem with our Defense

Mebane's game has sadly diminished to almost nothing the last couple of years. Earlier in his career, Bane had a couple of seasons with nearly 60 tackles. Last year, Williams (3 sacks) and McDaniel combined for 80 tackles, while Mebane had only 20...granted, Mebane played in only 9 games. This year, Rubin is probably playing up to the standards set by Williams and McDaniel last year, but he's not setting the world on fire either. Hill shows a lot of upside...if he could just stay healthy. Mebane on the other hand has missed only one game this year, and at his current pace, will be lucky to make 20 tackles and one sack. Can you imagine what the Hawks D-Line would have been like this year with a DT like Aaron Donald? Donald is on pace to surpass 70 tackles and 11 sacks. Having that kind of production from the middle of the line would make Bennett and Avril even more productive.

I think that the Hawks lack of production on the inside of the D-Line is causing all of the other issues on the defense. Even the run D is affected negatively. I don't place much of the blame for the Steelers' 480 passing yards on our secondary. Roethlisberger had an unbelievable amount of time to make those laser throws. Avril and Bennett had a decent enough game, but Big Ben was able to step up in the pocket on most plays without any pressure. Our inside guys weren't able to collapse the pocket.

Our offense is now ranked #8 in the NFL in both yards and points...that's been a steady improvement the last few years. The O-Line is not as bad as people make it out to be...it's improved immensely since Week 1. But it's been our D that took us to the last 2 SB's, and this year's D will clearly NOT take us to SB50. Our D lost the game in the 4th quarter to all 4 playoff teams we've faced this year...not a good sign for making it deep into the playoffs this year.

We are only a couple of really good DT's and one CB away from having the #1 D again. I say leave the O-Line alone. I say keep a few of the guys we're losing this coming offseason, stay out of the FA market except maybe one DT, don't trade away any of our high picks, and draft some good kids...O-Line, inside D-Line, CB's.

Three thoughts.

I like what I have seen inside at defensive tackle with the Carolina Panthers.

There can be no up side without good health.

A J Francis processes great size ...... and at this moment he is healthy.

The OL was easily the worst in the NFL the first half of the season, but has looked much, much better when Rawls is playing. And I don't think it's just a case of Rawls' perfomances polishing a turd either, it seems like the line is legitimately growing in performance and confidence.

Nowak was improving towards competent before being benched, but I think the move to a modestly experienced Center in Lewis has really helped stabilize the interior OL. Sweezy is starting to look like Sweezy again. Britt has finally figured out how to stop an edge rush in a phone booth. Gilliam is still a liability, but he's less of one now than he was a few weeks ago. Okung is having his worst year, though outside of a few atrocious outings he's been an average LT in most of his games this season.

Getting that impact DT is really hard. You either need to win the draft lottery once or twice a decade with Geno Atkins, or you need a high pick the year that Donald / Watt / Suh / McCoy enter the draft. There's a reason why Suh got $19 million a year in UFA. An impact pass rush DT might be the most difficult player to acquire in football.

Mebane is a free agent after this year. Hill would be wasted as a full time 1 tech. Maybe Rubin bumps over to 1 tech and Hill become the new 3. Seattle will probably spend medium level resources on DT in FA and in the draft just like they always do, with solid results.

I agree that corner is a need and will likely see a shakeup. Lane and Shead are UFA. Burley and Seisay are RFA. Cary Williams will likely be cut. Big changes are likely coming.

Hill seems to be MIA to me. Injury? Agree about Bane, unfortunately. And yeah, a guy like Palmer needs pressure in his face to cut his comfort way down and Hawks aren't getting it this year.

Wishing for a guy like Donald is great, but as kearly pointed out, you don't get those type players unless you're picking way up in the draft like the Rams do pretty much every year.

kearly":1vpkp5pa said:

The OL was easily the worst in the NFL the first half of the season, but has looked much, much better when Rawls is playing. And I don't think it's just a case of Rawls' performances polishing a turd either, it seems like the line is legitimately growing in performance and confidence.

Nowak was improving towards competent before being benched, but I think the move to a modestly experienced Center in Lewis has really helped stabilize the interior OL. Sweezy is starting to look like Sweezy again. Britt has finally figured out how to stop an edge rush in a phone booth. Gilliam is still a liability, but he's less of one now than he was a few weeks ago. Okung is having his worst year, though outside of a few atrocious outings he's been an average LT in most of his games this season.

Getting that impact DT is really hard. You either need to win the draft lottery once or twice a decade with Geno Atkins, or you need a high pick the year that Donald / Watt / Suh / McCoy enter the draft. There's a reason why Suh got $19 million a year in UFA. An impact pass rush DT might be the most difficult player to acquire in football.

Mebane is a free agent after this year. Hill would be wasted as a full time 1 tech. Maybe Rubin bumps over to 1 tech and Hill become the new 3. Seattle will probably spend medium level resources on DT in FA and in the draft just like they always do, with solid results.

I agree that corner is a need and will likely see a shakeup. Lane and Shead are UFA. Burley and Seisay are RFA. Cary Williams will likely be cut. Big changes are likely coming.

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I haven't watched the Steelers game a second time yet, so I don't know how reliable this is, but I read somewhere that Gary Gilliam had a +5.3 grade at PFF for that game....that was the highest grade of any Seahawk, even higher than Wilson or Baldwin. I know PFF isn't necessarily the be-all and end-all, but their grades are for the most part at least close. Maybe Glowinski

What do you think the chances are that they let Okung walk and try to find a younger, less expensive yet decent LT that doesn't get called for 10 False Starts a year? I really liked Lewis last year, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why they suddenly decided on Nowak at the start of the season. Hopefully Sweezy won't cost too much. Maybe Glowinski will be another option...who knows, maybe Poole will come out of nowhere and wow everybody next preseason.

I agree, a lot of changes likely coming at CB.

Error Alert and Correction

Spotrac is incorrect in listing DeShawn Shead as an unrestricted free agent in 2016.

Over the Cap (OTC) correctly lists DeShawn Shead as a restricted free agent for 2016.

In 2012, Shead was move from the practice squad to the regular roster on December 5, 2012. However no games were credited to him for the 2012 season according to seahawks.com statistics. Confirmation is reinforced and found at Football Outsiders where DeShawn's 2012 snap counts are listed as zero.

DeShawn Shead will clearly become a restricted free agent in 2016.

kearly":xlsvw918 said:

The OL was easily the worst in the NFL the first half of the season, but has looked much, much better when Rawls is playing. And I don't think it's just a case of Rawls' perfomances polishing a turd either, it seems like the line is legitimately growing in performance and confidence.

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So you think Coach Cable's Grand Plan™ is legit?

Rocket":6p69qzd4 said:

kearly":6p69qzd4 said:

The OL was easily the worst in the NFL the first half of the season, but has looked much, much better when Rawls is playing. And I don't think it's just a case of Rawls' perfomances polishing a turd either, it seems like the line is legitimately growing in performance and confidence.

Click to expand...

So you think Coach Cable's Grand Plan™ is legit?

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I think it is legit in theory. Unfortunately, I think the gamble was lets put these youngsters in there even though we know they really aren't ready for primetime and hope we catch lighting in a bottle. Maybe we can steal a few in the first part of the year. All with the hopes that come now our guys will begin to figure it out and we'll get better and better pressing for the playoff's.

Everything seems to be going according to Cable's Grand Play except the maybe we steal a few part, which we were dam close to doing. No one could have anticipated that our D would play the way they have and given up leads. But hopefully part 2 of the plan pays off.

Pete stated that they were hoping Nowak would adjust a bit faster than he did, and they decided to go with Lewis because he had experience (and likely because he played well against AZ last year). Nowak will most likely be competing for a starting job next year.

I'm not real happy about starting Hill next year at the 3 tech. He hasn't proven durable in a rotational role, relying on him to be healthy in a starting role seems a bit iffy to me.

We're still in a good spot draft wise, in that we don't have to take a home run swing on any one player. I honestly could see us going CB in the 1st round if they see the guy they like. I can see us going BPA with LT, CB or DT in the 1st round. Typically you don't see good value in LT at the end of the 1st round. Regardless, I'd like to see us spend some serious draft capital in LT, DT and CB.

In recent years we've seen DT's and CB's make impacts as rookies. Historically, a good LT will start as a rookie and make an impact if he's the guy you think you drafted.

Depending on what Lynch is going to do, we could see draft picks spent on RB, SS (I'd like to see this, I think Kam wore out his welcome this year), interior OL (keep hitting it until you get it right, especially if Sweezy is gone), and TE. I honestly think we're fine at WR, even if Kearse isn't retained.