After Breakthrough Outing, Seahawks Seeking Defensive Consistency Facing Chargers
RENTON, Wash. - Following weeks of subpar play on the defensive side of the football, the Seahawks took a positive step forward in a Week 6 home victory over the Cardinals, limiting their NFC West foe to a single field goal on offense.
Entering the game yielding nearly 31 points per game with the 32nd-ranked run defense in the NFL, Seattle held Arizona to under 4.5 yards per play and stopped them on four out of five fourth down conversions. After allowing two 100-yard rushers in the previous week to New Orleans, while Kyler Murray managed to hit the century mark, a more aggressive defensive line led by Poona Ford bottled up Eno Benjamin and non-quarterbacks averaged less than 2.5 yards per carry on the afternoon.
After weeks searching for answers on defense, coach Pete Carroll and defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt finally found a solution, at least for one week. Gearing up for another tough opponent with a top-tier quarterback in Justin Herbert and plenty of weapons around him, he wants to see the Seahawks come back on the road and pitch another strong outing against the Chargers on Sunday before proclaiming they have righted the ship.
“It’s consistency. We need to see our guys come back out and continue to play well," Carroll told reporters on Friday. "We did great on third down and fourth down was stupendous last week. We got off the field a bunch. Everything was like how we wanted to see it with the exception of the quarterback running all over the place. So, it’s consistency in all areas. I just want to see the guys come on back and do what they are capable of doing."
Last Sunday, Seattle achieved great defensive success against Arizona by turning up the heat on Murray, sacking him six times with six different players and generating a total of 20 quarterback pressures. Mixing in well-executed stunts with their defensive line along with occasional fire zone concepts sending safeties or linebackers as blitzers, the former No. 1 overall pick was under constant duress.
As a result, Murray couldn't find his rhythm as a passer all afternoon, throwing for only 222 yards without a touchdown while the Cardinals averaged 4.4 yards per pass play. He also committed a pair of costly turnovers, losing a fumble in the red zone courtesy of rookie slot cornerback Coby Bryant and throwing an interception to fellow rookie cornerback Tariq Woolen in the closing moments.
For Carroll, the collective effort from his team was a long time coming on the heels of weeks of dismal play and everyone had their hands in on the dominant performance in some way, shape, or form.
"There wasn’t a heroic performance by anybody," Carroll remarked. "Our guys played like they were capable of. We spread the sacks; it wasn’t one guy that led the charge, everybody did it. The guys on the backend did a nice job keeping everything in front of us and challenging stuff."
If the Seahawks want to prove the defense has truly turned the corner, Herbert and the Chargers will present an excellent litmus test. While they struggled themselves offensively in a 19-16 win over the Broncos on Monday Night Football and have been marred by their own inconsistency in part due to injuries, Herbert ranks in the top six in passing yards and touchdowns, leading an offense that remains capable of lighting up scoreboards.
Playing the past six weeks without his top receiver Keenan Allen and dealing with his own rib injury, Herbert has kept his team afloat by being difficult to bring down and breaking out of sacks like a young Ben Roethlisberger. Despite being pressured an NFL-high 99 times per Pro Football Focus, he's only been sacked seven times, tied for the league-low among qualified quarterbacks.
Coupling his ability to escape pressure and underrated athleticism with a cannon arm, Herbert has a penchant for extending plays, putting great stress on linebackers and defensive backs trying to cover for a prolonged period of time and opening the door for explosive throws downfield. Even with Allen out, he ranks third in the NFL with 13 completions of at least 20 yards.
Admiring Herbert for his toughness, physical tools, and competitive mindset, Carroll compared him to another talented young quarterback wreaking havoc in the league in Bills MVP candidate Josh Allen.
"He is an incredible athlete and player. I’ve listened to his interviews and stuff over the offseason just to try to get to know who he is and how he handles stuff. He is a really together kid too," Carroll said of Herbert. "A big guy that can move around, get outside of the pocket, and strike you dead. He has all of the throws and all of the arm talent and strength that you would ever need. He’s a really good competitor too. The fact that he got banged up earlier in the year and just kept fighting through it, that was a difficult injury that he fought through, so you have to give him credit on all levels.”
Away from Herbert, the Seahawks will also have to deal with one of the NFL's best do-it-all running backs in Austin Ekeler, who continues to somehow fly under the radar despite his immense production as a runner and receiver.
Formerly an undrafted free agent signee out of Western Colorado, Ekeler ran for a career-best 911 yards and 12 touchdowns while adding 70 receptions, 647 yards, and eight touchdowns as a receiver. The 5-foot-11, 200-pound back has picked up where he left off through six games this season, already rushing for 349 yards and four touchdowns while leading the Chargers with 41 receptions out of the backfield.
Such dynamic backs have given the Seahawks major fits in the past, with Saints star Alvin Kamara recently rushing for over 100 yards and ripping off a 54-yard gain on a screen pass in a 39-32 win against them in Week 5. Understanding his importance in the Chargers' offense and his strengths creating yardage after contact and after the catch, linebacker Jordyn Brooks knows he and his teammates must swarm to him in droves and get him to the ground with effective gang tackling.
“He’s just a good overall back," Brooks assessed. "He can run the ball, he’s great at route running and catching the ball, and then they get him out in space. He makes guys miss. His build, he’s a like a bowling ball, so that’s why I say we have to tackle well and get him down to the ground.”
On the outside, receiver Mike Williams has been Herbert's go-to target. His production has been hit and miss with three games of 100-plus yards receiving sandwiched around three games with under 15 receiving yards, but his 6-foot-4, 218-pound frame and high-pointing ability at the catch point could serve him well against the 6-foot-4 Woolen, who rarely covers receivers of similar size.
If Allen, a perennial 1,000-yard receiver renowned for his precise route running, manages to play after missing six games with a hamstring issue, Carroll expects Seattle's task to be far more difficult defensively.
"Keenan has been doing it for a long time," Carroll said. "He’s a great catcher, great timing guy, great come through guy and conversion guy. If he's playing, he helps them out enormously.”
Former Seahawks tight end Gerald Everett, who left in free agency and signed a one-year deal with the Chargers, also could be a problem for a Seahawks defense that ranks in the top three for receptions and receiving yards allowed to tight ends so far this season.
With so many weapons to potentially deal with and a quarterback capable of elevating the play of everyone around him, Seattle's defense will face a daunting mission trying to replicate its success from a week ago, particularly playing without the 12s at Lumen Field. But after seeing the group play to the level he believes they are consistently capable of achieving, Carroll remains confident they can take another step forward after their strong showing from a week ago in a tough road environment.
“This is a really important week for us to come back from the game we had last week and play well and try to build off of what we did. We are making progress in some areas, we have so many areas that we have to continue to develop. Guys are working at their stuff, groups are working at their stuff, and this is just important. We have a really good matchup going against a first-place team and they are good. This is going to be a really challenging game for us."
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