'Anticipation': Coach Pete Carroll Reveals Why Seahawks Sat Bryan Mone vs. Tom Brady's Bucs
RENTON, Wash. - Two days following a tough 21-16 loss to the Buccaneers in Munich, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll confirmed that the team deactivated nose tackle Bryan Mone as a healthy scratch for game plan-related reasons.
Heading into Sunday's matchup across the pond, Carroll and his coaching staff expected Tampa Bay to continue leaning on superstar quarterback Tom Brady and its passing attack given the team's historic struggles running the football. Prior to Week 10, they averaged under 61 yards per game and per Pro Football Reference, excluding the 1982 strike season, they were one of only three teams since the NFL/AFL merger to rush for 546 yards or fewer in their first nine games.
Considering the Buccaneers ineptitude as the 32nd ranked rushing offense, the Seahawks opted to sit the 345-pound Mone in favor of a lighter, more athletic Myles Adams to provide additional interior pass rushing reinforcements with hopes of getting after Brady at Allianz Arena.
"Because we anticipated them throwing a lot, we wanted to make sure we were ready with a backup who could give us a little boost there," Carroll told reporters via Zoom on Tuesday. "And the game didn't turn out that way."
Unfortunately, as Carroll indicated, Seattle's decision to focus personnel decisions on stopping Brady and his bevy of receivers didn't pan out quite as envisioned. Tampa Bay came out emphasizing the run game early and found unexpected success on the ground with Leonard Fournette and Rachaad White, surpassing its season average for rushing yards before halftime while orchestrating two touchdown drives to build a 14-0 advantage.
Utilizing a wide variety of schemes, including mixing in a bevy of gap concepts with pulling guards and tackles out of multi-tight end formations, the Buccaneers set a new season-high with 161 rushing yards. After a Geno Smith touchdown pass to Marquise Goodwin trimmed the deficit to five with under five minutes to play, White went to work behind a physical offensive line to put the game away, breaking off 12 and 18-yard runs for first downs to seal the deal and run out the clock.
In a nutshell, Tampa Bay followed Carroll's preferred blue print for winning games by controlling the clock and using an effective, committed run game to stay on schedule, move the chains, and open up the play action passing game, eventually wearing Seattle's defense down and thwarting a valiant comeback attempt.
Meanwhile, with Adams logging 21 snaps and seeing some action as a nose tackle in Mone's absence, the Seahawks failed to muster much pressure on Brady. On 29 drop backs, they mustered only six pressures, one quarterback hit, and no sacks as the seven-time Super Bowl winner diced them up with frequent clean pockets and used play action to his advantage off of a suddenly competent run game.
"They ran a variety of scheme plays and they attacked us in a particular way that we just didn't fit consistently enough to control the run game," Carroll explained. "And so they did a great job controlling the football game. That's exactly why you do that style of play and that commitment. The passing game off of it was really effective, which is Tom's strength, the quick rhythm, play action passes... He did it and we didn't stop it either."
In hindsight, it's debatable whether playing Mone instead of Adams would have made much of a difference considering how Tampa Bay thrived running off guard and off tackle with counter, power, and toss crack runs among other concepts using pulling linemen. From a big picture standpoint, Seattle's decision making leaning towards pass rushing reinforcements made sense scouting the opponent.
But it's possible Mone's mammoth presence rotating in the middle with Al Woods could have had a positive impact limiting Fournette and White's effectiveness on early downs and set up more ideal third down situations for the Seahawks defensively. Considering how the game unfolded with the Buccaneers converting 10 out of 15 third downs on the evening, that alone may have improved their odds at flying back across the Atlantic as winners.
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