Defensive Philosophy, what changed?

In 2013 we have some unreal amount of interceptions, like 28....'14 was like 15 or so, and 15' like 12, and 2016 was 11..in fact I don't believe we've had an interception in the last 5 games.

Takeways and interceptions were literally a huge chunk of our offensive....where did it all go? When did we start a more conservative defensive schemes. I really liked our aggressive attack defensively, specifically attacking the passing lanes.

Pass Rush has been a hot topic, but sacks are down, we have been able to pressure, but not able to reach the CB....

Just curious when or what changed specifically on our defensive philosophy? Certainly it a layer cake which ties into multiple parts of the offensive and other parts of the defensive too.

Thanks all, new to the board, but blue and green in my veins. And just some random thoughts as I reflect on this season and we head deeper into the playoffs. Go Hawks!

I don't think it's the defense that's changed so much as how opposing offenses choose to go after the Hawks. It's mostly dink and dunk, safe zone beating throws. Teams don't test this defense deep like they used too.

You nailed it. We've missed some opportunities like the one that hit Lane in the chest, but for the most part people have learned how to attack our defense to avoid the big turnovers. I think we are seeing some small changes at least at times, by our defense in an effort to combat this. They've been moving Kam around a little more. If teams dink and dunk and avoid testing Sherman its just not going to be there as much. We have missed a few we should of had though, maybe they're pressing, I'm not sure. I expect a turnover this week though because Ryan will test Sherman.

Trrrroy":2jns66ch said:

I don't think it's the defense that's changed so much as how opposing offenses choose to go after the Hawks. It's mostly dink and dunk, safe zone beating throws. Teams don't test this defense deep like they used too.

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I'll second that. Maybe with Terrell back there instead of ETIII, they'll start taking some chances we can exploit.

It seems to me that around the league in general, completion percentages are up a bit.

Trrrroy":bchudla7 said:

I don't think it's the defense that's changed so much as how opposing offenses choose to go after the Hawks. It's mostly dink and dunk, safe zone beating throws. Teams don't test this defense deep like they used too.

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Sherman used to get the bulk of his interceptions off go routes. Teams avoid throwing on that route at him now.

I think it was the mmqb article previewing us v atl when talking about our last matchup. In football there is only so much you can do. Doesn't matter WHAT Man coverage you run there are plays that can beat it. IT doesn't matter WHAT zone do you run there are plays that can beat it. The third qtr melt down was due to some great design by atl, sure we have miscommunication but the plays were specifically built to beat our traditional cover 3 scheme.

gowazzu02":1jnwxbc6 said:

I think it was the mmqb article previewing us v atl when talking about our last matchup. In football there is only so much you can do. Doesn't matter WHAT Man coverage you run there are plays that can beat it. IT doesn't matter WHAT zone do you run there are plays that can beat it. The third qtr melt down was due to some great design by atl, sure we have miscommunication but the plays were specifically built to beat our traditional cover 3 scheme.

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That's the chess game behind the scenes that many fans don't account for. Sometimes it's just blind luck if you choose the right gameplan, or the wrong one.

This is a very complicated question, with many reasons our D has changed...........but philosophy and scheme isn't one of them.

Pete is still running mostly the same 4-3 under scheme with the single high safety and Kam down in the box.

So what's changed?

- less depth
- more injuries to key players
- other teams have had years now to scheme against it
- certain players are older and might not be as hungry after getting fat paychecks

But this defense is still one of the best in the league when healthy, so IMO it's extremely unrealistic to expect this version of our D to play like the 2013 version. That defense is one of the all time best, and will probably never be duplicated again. But 70-80% of that level of defense for a solid 5-10 years? I'll take that.

All good points. I'd like to add that the personnel has changed as well.

In 2013 we had Sherman, Browner, Kam and Earl. People didn't avoid Sherman that much at the time, and Browner was so physical at the line that he throw a ton of routes off their timing. QB's would look for WR's in their spot and they wouldn't be there, thus not being able to avoid Sherman as easily.

The other big thing about the personnel is ball skills. Sherman has the best ball skills of any CB/Safety in the league. If you throw at him, he's going to get his hands on some. So avoiding him has been the way to go. Browner's ball skills were highly under rated. He got his hands on a ton of balls, got INT's and a lot of tips that Thomas and Chancellor ended up picking off.

Now we're running Shead. Shead is a decent cover guy, but he rarely gets his head turned around in time and doesn't really play the ball all that well. A good example of this would be last game where a ball hit him literally right between the 3 and 5 and he dropped it. Most of our LBers would pick that every time. He has the mentality of being in the right place at the right time and trying to be disruptive, but Sherman and Browner had the attitude that the ball was theirs and they were going to do anything and everything to take it away.

Anyone else feel like the OP is a Falcon fan posting in disguise? LOL. My apologies if I am wrong, but most Seahawks fans have a pretty good idea of the answers to the questions posed so I am skeptical. Maybe I have just been reading too many inflamatory Falcons post on here recently....

I say give a person a chance, not everyone reads this place, we beat the shit out of topics and get things down to bare bones eventually, casual observers may not get the nuances of how the press coverage and the deep zone we run now as well as how aggressive Quinn was versus a more conservative Richard works.

Trrrroy":14fuwdrn said:

I don't think it's the defense that's changed so much as how opposing offenses choose to go after the Hawks. It's mostly dink and dunk, safe zone beating throws. Teams don't test this defense deep like they used too.

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And they are able to do this because our offense is so inept. There is no pressure on their offense to score so our opponents can be patient. Irony is that our defense was and can be so advantageous, that it makes teams play the best strategy to beat us.

austinslater25":s3ol8rf8 said:

You nailed it. We've missed some opportunities like the one that hit Lane in the chest, but for the most part people have learned how to attack our defense to avoid the big turnovers. I think we are seeing some small changes at least at times, by our defense in an effort to combat this. They've been moving Kam around a little more. If teams dink and dunk and avoid testing Sherman its just not going to be there as much. We have missed a few we should of had though, maybe they're pressing, I'm not sure. I expect a turnover this week though because Ryan will test Sherman.

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I think you're right about Ryan trying to exploit Sherman, but I think he will do it early in the game to try and get Sherman to focusing on trying to make 'THE' big play, only to abandon going his way for the remainder of the game....Look for JJ to play decoy.