Seahawks Defense: What Went Wrong, Lessons Learned in Losses to 49ers
Looking to avenge two regular season losses to their hated NFC West rivals, the Seattle Seahawks will travel to Santa Clara with hopes of pulling an upset against the heavily-favored San Francisco 49ers in a wild card round rematch on Saturday.
In the two prior defeats, Seattle looked overmatched on both sides of the football against one of the NFC's best teams, losing 27-7 in Week 2 and falling short 21-13 at home on Thursday Night Football last month. While there were more positives defensively while the offense sputtered, linebacker Uchenna Nwosu and company still had issues slowing down a well-oiled, balanced San Francisco attack.
Preparing for what coach Pete Carroll called a "chess match" between two familiar foes, what went wrong for the Seahawks on defense in the first two games against the 49ers? And what lessons can they apply to the upcoming playoff game to help them potentially pull off the upset as underdogs at Levis Stadium?
1. Botching opportunities, Seattle couldn't generate a single turnover to help turn the tide.
What Went Wrong: Rebounding from a down season in the turnover department a year ago, thanks in large part to contributions from rookie cornerbacks Tariq Woolen and Coby Bryant, the Seahawks finished eighth in the NFL with 25 of them in 2022. Woolen led all cornerbacks with six interceptions, turning in a Defensive Rookie of the Year worthy campaign, while Bryant led all rookie defenders with four forced fumbles. Thanks to a second half surge, safety Quandre Diggs picked off four passes for the third consecutive season.
But none of those 25 turnovers came in either matchup against San Francisco, as Seattle lost the turnover margin 4-0 in the two games. This wasn't because Diggs and his co-horts didn't have chances, however.
Back in Week 2, midway through the first quarter, Bryant emulated former Bears legend Charles "Peanut" Tillman by punching the ball out of star receiver Deebo Samuel's hands deep in 49ers territory. A recovery would have set Geno Smith and the offense with excellent starting field position while trailing by three on the scoreboard, presenting a prime opportunity to tie or take an early lead. Unfortunately, the ball took a friendly bounce off the turf right back into Samuel's hands, preventing the visitors from having any shot at securing the fumble. On the ensuing play, Samuel broke through an arm tackle by Darrell Taylor and sprinted 51 yards, setting up another 49ers field goal to extend the lead to 6-0.
In the Thursday Night Football rematch last month, the Seahawks failed to capitalize on another crucial turnover opportunity in 49ers territory with two minutes left to play in the first half. Down 7-3 after a field goal by Jason Myers, Diggs jumped a route by Jauan Jennings out of a two-deep safety look perfectly and rookie quarterback Brock Purdy threw him a gift-wrapped interception. But uncharacteristically, the Pro Bowl safety didn't see the ball clearly into his hands and allowed the pass to bounce off of his chest for an incompletion. Though San Francisco punted on the next play, if he would have secured the pick as expected, he had a lot of room to operate in front of him and Seattle likely would have had incredible field position to either cut the deficit to a point or take the lead before halftime.
Lessons Learned: Facing a superior team loaded with star power, including extraordinarily versatile weapons like Samuel and Christian McCaffrey, the Seahawks have minimal margin for error and need every break they can get. When granted a chance to flip the field on a turnover and position themselves for a quick change in plus territory, they can't squander the opportunity as they did on Bryant's forced fumble and Diggs' dropped interception.
But if there's a silver lining, Seattle has demonstrated a proficiency for snagging interceptions and forcing fumbles all season long. With an untested rookie quarterback in Purdy making his first career playoff start instead of a postseason tested veteran such as Jimmy Garoppolo and Carroll having plenty of film at his disposal to aid efforts scheming against him a second time, there's reason for optimism that the defense can coax him into a bad decision or two throwing the football. The key, of course, will be executing and finishing when those opportunities arise.
2. Regardless of the quarterback, a near non-existent Seahawks pass rush made life easy for the 49ers offense.
What Went Wrong: Struggling to harass quarterbacks has been a consistent problem for the Seahawks most of the 2022 season, finishing 28th in ESPN's Pass Rush Win Rate as a team (34 percent) and 27th in Pro Football Focus' pass rush grade (66.5). Those concerns were magnified against a quality 49ers offensive line headlined by All-Pro tackle Trent Williams in the two previous matchups, as Carroll's defense mustered only two sacks, seven quarterback hits, and 18 total pressures in eight quarters of play against their bitter rivals.
With the exception of Nwosu, who contributed five pressures in Week 2, Seattle couldn't even make San Francisco's quarterbacks sweat at Levis Stadium. Before exiting with a season-ending ankle injury, Trey Lance completed two of his first three pass attempts for 30 yards and two blitz attempts didn't come close to getting to him. Once Garoppolo checked in, the steady veteran picked apart the secondary with minimal resistance coming from the pass rush, completing 13 out of 21 passes for 154 yards and a touchdown while only being sacked once by rookie linebacker Boye Mafe. Not surprisingly, the Seahawks received their fourth-lowest pass rush game grade from PFF (56.8) in the 20-point defeat.
Somehow, Seattle was even less productive pressuring Purdy in the Week 15 prime time rematch. Out of the gate, "Mr. Irrelevant" completed each of his first 11 pass attempts for 98 yards and a touchdown to tight end George Kittle on a fake double screen, unphased by the loud crowd at Lumen Field with an eternity to read through his progressions in the pocket. When not under pressure, he completed 15 out of 21 passes for 197 yards and a pair of touchdowns to Kittle, posting a stellar 134.2 passer rating. With Williams and the rest of the 49ers offensive line in lockdown mode protecting the pocket, the Seahawks managed to only hit Purdy three times in the entire game, receiving a dismal 49.1 pass rush grade from PFF.
Lessons Learned: Against a brilliant play caller of Kyle Shanahan's pedigree, opposing coordinators have to be cautious about becoming too blitz happy. The 49ers have been an excellent screen team throughout his tenure on the sidelines and feature numerous weapons who can create after the catch, making it a risky proposition to send five or more rushers frequently.
With that said, the Seahawks found their greatest success against Purdy last month when they sent extra rushers after him. Unlike Garoppolo, who didn't throw an incomplete pass against the blitz in Week 2, the rookie quarterback misfired on both of his pass attempts when Clint Hurtt dialed up additional pressure. While he has been decent against the blitz in six starts with three touchdowns and a 64 percent completion rate, his yards per attempt has plummeted from 8.6 to 6.8. Mixing in timely blitzes could speed up the young quarterback's internal clock and potentially force him into some rushed decisions, playing into the goal of creating a turnover.
It's also possible Seattle may not have to rely on sending extra rushers given improved performance from the defensive line to close out the regular season. Over the past two games, the unit has racked up 9.0 sacks, nine quarterback hits, and a whopping 56 pressures, receiving its two highest pass rushing grades of the season from Pro Football Focus. The emergence of Taylor, who produced 6.5 sacks in the final six games, coupled with Mafe's ascendance and Nwosu's consistency could lead to far better success rushing four, especially with simulated pressures sprinkled in.
3. A season-long trend allowing too many explosives in the passing and run game doomed Seattle.
What Went Wrong: Much like their dormant pass rush, the Seahawks have also been plagued defensively by explosive plays, particularly defending the run. Based off of Carroll's criteria, any run of 12 yards or more and any pass of 16 yards or more is considered an explosive. Along with allowing 82 explosive pass plays, his team yielded 47 runs of 12-plus yards this year, seventh-most in the NFL according to Pro Football Reference charting.
Six of those runs, or more than 10 percent of them, came in the two games against the 49ers. In Week 2, Taylor had a chance to bring Samuel down at the line of scrimmage for no gain, only for the elusive runner to slip past him and accelerate for a 51-yard gain. In that same game, Jeff Wilson, who was traded to the Dolphins before the deadline, had two runs of 12 or more yards and rookie Tyrion Davis-Price ripped off a 20-yard gain as San Francisco rushed for 189 yards on the afternoon. In the Week 15 rematch, McCaffrey nearly broke loose for a long touchdown on a 23-yard run through a semi-wide crease and Jordan Mason put the finishing touches on an NFC West-clinching win in the final minute with a 54-yard run to ice the game.
The Seahawks struggles allowing chunk plays against the 49ers hasn't been limited to only the run game, however. Lacking a pass rush and dealing with a mad scientist on the sideline in Shanahan, they surrendered eight explosive pass plays of 16 or more yards through the air in the two losses to their rivals. In the first matchup, reserve tight end Ross Dwelley caught his only touchdown of the season and scampered 38 yards for the score with no defenders picking him up in coverage. Fast forwarding to Week 15, Purdy hooked up with Kittle for a 28-yard touchdown down the seam after Seattle bit on a fake double screen and later connected with the star tight end for a 54-yard touchdown against busted coverage. The rookie quarterback completed three other passes of 16 or more yards guiding his team to a division title.
Lessons Learned: Statistically, it's not a favorable matchup for Carroll's squad, as the Seahawks rank 30th in run defense and 31st in yards after the catch allowed. On the flip side, the 49ers rank seventh in rushing offense and first in yards after the catch, and this discrepancy was demonstrated in both prior matchups. Along with Samuel's long run in Week 2 that should have gone for minimal yardage, both of Kittle's long touchdowns in Week 15 could have been stopped short of the goal line if not for shoddy pursuit angles and tackling efforts by linebacker Cody Barton and Diggs, but they failed to bring him down. Facing a multi-dimensional offense featuring several elite playmakers at the skill positions, they will have to bring their hard hat as tacklers, wrap up, and swarm to the football to have a fighting chance on Saturday.
In addition, Seattle can't have any mental lapses in coverage this time around. While Kittle's first touchdown really should be chalked up as a phenomenal play call by Shanahan at the perfect time, Woolen's failure to execute his zone drop in Cover 3 led to the tight end coming wide open down the sideline for his second score on a mistake that shouldn't happen in mid-December. The defense must be assignment sound and communicate well at all three levels to ensure the busts that hurt them in the first two games don't occur again this weekend.
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