Seahawks Game Planning for Aaron Rodgers' Hard Count Mastery

With Seattle's defense attempting to build off their outstanding performance against Philadelphia, the defensive line will need to prevent Rodgers from taking advantage of them with his cadence skills.

Over Aaron Rodgers’ 15 seasons in the league, the eight-time Pro Bowler and two-time MVP has mastered the art of drawing defensive players offside using a hard count during his cadence.

During the regular season, Rodgers generated four defensive offside penalties for "free plays," one lower than his total of five from the 2018 season, according to nflpenalties.com.

As expected given the home field advantage and crowd noise control that comes with it, three of those four offside infractions were induced at Lambeau Field, where the Seahawks haven't won since a 27-7 victory back in 1999.

Following Thursday’s practice, three-time Pro Bowler Jadeveon Clowney detailed the type of mindset Seattle’s defensive line must play with to succeed against Rodgers’ hard count on Sunday in Green Bay.

“We have to be smart. We are in their house - we know they are going to hard count. We know that is a way that he likes to control the game, with his hard count,” Clowney discussed. “Letting the play clock going down. We just have to be smart and watch the ball. If we watch the ball, I think we will be OK.”

During the Seahawks’ 27-24 victory over the Packers back on Nov. 15, 2018, their defense wasn’t drawn offside once by Rodgers. But that Week 11 showdown took place in the friendly confines of CenturyLink Field, where opponents have to combat a boisterous crowd throughout the game.

Sharing similar thoughts to Clowney, defensive tackle Jarran Reed referenced Rodgers' ability to lure defenders offside and emphasized the need for the Seahawks to stick to their own game plan.

“We know he’s going to hard count, so we always got to watch the ball and move with the ball,” Reed explained after Thursday’s practice. “As far as getting our substitution in, we got to plan for that. We got to stick to the plan and stick to the game plan.”

Reed continued to discuss how it’ll take a complete team effort for Seattle’s defensive line to win in the trenches against Green Bay’s offensive line, which ranks first in ESPN's Pass Block Win Rate.

“It’s a collective effort. All four guys being on the same page, not being any selfish type of rusher,” Reed said. “We got to be on the same page. It’s key. If one person gets out of the gap, it causes a hole for any quarterback to throw or run through.”

The Seahawks’ defense is coming off one of their best performances of the season in terms of rushing the passer, as the unit produced a season-high seven sacks and 11 quarterback hits in a 17-9 wild card win over the Eagles.

In order for Seattle’s defense to replicate that success against Green Bay, they’ll need another impressive performance from Clowney and for their entire defensive line to remain patient at the scrimmage line, thus preventing Rodgers from capitalizing on free play opportunities created by defenders jumping offsides for explosive pass plays.