All 22 Review: Breaking Down Seahawks Sack Fest vs. Eagles

Where is the pass rush? That’s been the troubling question that too often has lacked an answer in this 2019 Seahawks season.

The decision to trade for Jadeveon Clowney was a no-brainer, yet it left Seattle without a pure speed rusher after Jacob Martin and Barkevious Mingo were moved as part of the deal with the Texans. Clowney wins tight and the Seahawks inability to field a balanced unit of quarterback hunters has resulted in poor spacing. Yet last week, Seattle still managed to put up seven sacks against the Eagles.

That production was surprising. Per Sports Info Solutions, Seattle’s pressure rate ranked 31st in the NFL in 2019 and their sack rate placed 31st. The only team worse at rushing the passer was the supposedly tanking Dolphins. Yes, the regular season numbers are grim reading. Watching a Pete Carroll defense without a pass rush is like buttering toast with a fork.

How did this display at Lincoln Financial Field happen then? Sacks are a somewhat luck-based figure. There is a certain mystery to them, as they can arrive in a cluster and vanish just as fast. Pressure percentage tends to be a more stable figure and therefore a more reliable indicator of quality. Was this seven sack Wild Card performance from the Seahawks due to excellent pass rush? Or are there other factors at play? I investigate below:

SACK #1

Doug Pederson’s game plan was intelligent in design. As opposed to the first matchup between the two sides, Pederson called every Seahawks beater in the book. The Eagles coach had clearly watched the tape, looking to test Seattle with plays their scheme and/or players had been scuppered by throughout the year.

One instance was jet motioning into a post-wheel route combination. I have previously detailed in an earlier article how Seattle was losing this tactical battle. On this play, though, buzz defender Cody Barton played it far better than Mychal Kendricks, widening with the jet, recognizing the route threat and subsequently staying over the top of the wheel, leaving Tre Flowers free to squeeze the post. Nothing was open.

The first sack can therefore be logged as a coverage sack. Carson Wentz’s main concept was taken away. My sack timer has him given four seconds by his offensive line. It was only after Wentz tried to scramble from his pocket and gain some yardage that he was taken down for a loss of one.

SACK #2

The second sack the Seahawks’ defense registered again came versus something they’ve been beaten on previously. Pederson faked the jet and outside zone one way, then called a play action bootleg slide the other way, with an intermediate over route as the high option. The 49ers have hit this multiple times to great success.

However, Wentz going out with a concussion left Josh McCown in the game, a man whose slow processing is just one reason why he has amounted to nothing more than a career journeyman backup quarterback in the NFL. McCown missed an opportunity here, with Bradley McDougald beat in man trying to cover the intermediate over route.

Perhaps McCown lacked the confidence to not throw it to Cody Barton. Soon, it was Barton going to take the rolling out passer down, a heads up play from the rookie after he realized K.J. Wright had the slide route covered. McCown was left naked by design and once more it is the pass coverage that we should thank for this sack.

SACK #3

One of the fronts Seattle likes to get into when in clear pass rush situations is called “Green.” It is a four-down front that aligns the two defensive tackles in 3-techniques (outside shoulder of the guard) and the two defensive ends in 9-techniques (very wide). The basic premise is to get one-on-ones for each of their pass rushers, plus create wide angles for rushes and games.

The third sack arrived after the Seahawks came out in their Green front. This one can largely be chalked up to slow Josh McCown processing. Yes, the Eagles did call more of a two-high coverage beater looking to high-low a cloud cornerback. However, McCown still had the opportunity to find the open target if he had processed Seattle’s Cover 3 pass defense quicker. He had enough time.

Clowney does deserve credit though. He got excellent push. Carroll, when asked Wednesday on what he attributed the sack numbers, brought up Clowney’s contribution as the main factor.

“I thought Clowney had a big factor. I thought Clowney had a big factor. You know? Just his presence, his activity, it was reminiscent of games we’ve seen," Carroll said. "The San Francisco game earlier, and there’s been a couple of those games, where he’s just a problem."

"Everybody’s still working and all the other guys were clawing and scratching to get there, but I think that was the factor that was the difference maker," Carroll continued. "So, he’s a big factor for us and we’re hoping he’s gonna be there again."

On this play, Quinton Jefferson was there to clean up.

SACK #4

The fourth sack of the game is yet another one that can be attributed to sound coverage. Philadelphia shifted into a 2x2 formation that told them Seattle was in zone defense. The Seahawks’ Red 2, a heavily zone-matching Cover 2 variant tuned for the red zone, totally locked up the Eagles’ pattern.

Maybe Seattle got away with more defensive contact than refs usually allow. Whatever. McCown had a slight window to try and thread the ball in to a curl route, but by the time he had hitched, Ugo Amadi had closed this opportunity.

Wright, as the backside curl defender, made an excellent play. Not needed in coverage due to the pattern distribution, Wright read the eyes and legs of McCown, firing downhill to halt McCown’s attempted scramble in the backfield. On the same side of McCown’s intended direction, Amadi as the opposite curl defender further closed the throwing opportunity and met McCown.

SACK #5

This was risky scheming that paid off for Ken Norton Jr. in a big way. Versus the 3x1 trips gun formation, Seattle ran a Cover 1, five-man pressure that dropped Clowney in coverage with the running back and sent both MIKE linebacker Bobby Wagner and SAM linebacker Cody Barton.

The movement up front confused left tackle Jason Peters, causing the protection to blow up. Expecting Clowney to come, Peters had his eyes outside and assumed left guard Isaac Seumalo was picking up Jarran Reed at 3-technique next to him. This did not happen.

Instead, Reed was left totally untouched for an instant pressure on McCown. Though Reed managed to miss McCown after coming free instantly, McCown was moved totally off his spot and his eyes were no longer looking downfield. In escape mode, the hustle of Jefferson and Barton got to the quarterback as he tried to move upwards and climb the pocket.

It was on this same design that Miles Sanders dropped a sure first down and likely touchdown on 4th and 4 just three plays later. Picking up the same blitz only a few plays later, the Eagles went right to the obvious mismatch the scheme left.

SACK #6

With Philadelphia looking to capitalize after getting a big play via a defensive pass interference call on Tre Flowers, Pederson guessed wrong and called a crappy concept. He first attempted to confuse Seattle by aligning in a muddle huddle before shifting into an under center trips bunch.

The route design looked better suited to the Seahawks’ Red 2 pass defense after the play-fake. Instead, Seattle was in Cover 3 and the deep 1/3 corners and free safety had a routine job covering this.

McCown was left trying to improvise and ended up sacked on his scramble by Rasheem Green. Again, this was more of a coverage sack than a pass rush sack. McCown had the time to read his two receivers downfield and was forced to scramble with nobody open.

SACK #7

The final sack was similar to the fourth. Seattle’s Red 2 locked up the initial play call. McCown was given the protection to go through his progressions and read that nothing was open. The quarterback saw daylight open to his left and decided to take off thinking he could get to the first down marker. Then Clowney closed in for the sack.

In conclusion, the unfortunate truth is that the seven sack performance by the Seahawks is more likely to be a mirage than a pass rush transformation. The coverage is always going to be better with Quandre Diggs back at free safety, yet Josh McCown is obviously a very limited quarterback and that was the main reason Seattle could get to him seven times. Philadelphia was also depleted to the point of exhaustion. The offensive line ranks 19th in ESPN’s Pass Block Win rate metric.

Heading into the NFC Divisional Round matchup against the Packers, an opponent with an o-line ranked first in ESPN’s Pass Block Win Rate, it’s highly likely that the Seahawks struggle to get pressure on Aaron Rodgers and consequently, they'll have trouble defending the crossing routes that have plagued this defense off play action. For Seattle to get close, Clowney must ball out as he did last week—dealing with a brutal core injury, that's far from guaranteed.

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