Carroll: Seahawks Pass Rush Ready to Bust Out

Seattle hasn't consistently pressured opposing quarterbacks, but according to Carroll, better days are on the horizon.

In a thriller at CenturyLink Field on Thursday night, the Seahawks were able to hang on for a monumental 30-29 victory over the visiting Rams despite another second half disappearance act from their pass rush.

During the first two quarters of action, Seattle found ways to consistently fluster quarterback Jared Goff, forcing him into several rushed throws and registering three quarterback hits. Two of those came courtesy of defensive tackle Quinton Jefferson, with both hits coming on third down to create crucial stops.

While it’s likely little more than a coincidence, the Seahawks suddenly couldn’t generate much pressure after defensive end Ziggy Ansah drew a roughing the passer penalty on the Rams final drive of the first half. Instead of forcing a short field goal attempt, the flag extended the possession and two plays later, Goff threaded the needle to connect with Cooper Kupp for a nine-yard touchdown.

From that point on, Goff found a rhythm with tons of time to operate in the pocket and scan the field. Even when Seattle started to bring extra blitzers in an effort to speed him up, they were rarely able to get to him, as Jadeveon Clowney recorded the only two quarterback hits in the final two quarters.

Through 60 minutes of action, the Seahawks failed to record a single sack for the second time in three weeks, as they were also shutout in this category in a loss to the Saints.

But sacks aren’t the only valuable pass rushing statistic and after reflecting on Thursday’s win, coach Pete Carroll isn’t worried about the state of Seattle’s pass rush. In fact, he believes the group is finally on the verge of a breakthrough.

“I think the pass rush is going to come alive here in the next few weeks,” Carroll said on Friday. “I’m really excited about that. It’s the first time I really could see enough and feel like we’ve seen these guys out there enough to make some evaluations to make the kind of tweaks and stuff so we can help them out. “

As Carroll has reiterated on numerous occasions over the past month, the Seahawks knew the defensive line as a whole would be a work in progress at the start of the season.

First and foremost, Clowney and Ansah both missed training camp and the preseason albeit for drastically different reasons. Each player needed to learn a new defensive scheme while getting back into football shape, so expectations had to be tempered.

Along with Clowney and Ansah getting their feet back under them, first-round pick L.J. Collier has been playing catchup mode after being sidelined the entire preseason with an ankle injury. He’s been held out as a healthy scratch in two of the past three games, preventing him from making an impact on the field.

Additionally, star defensive tackle Jarran Reed received an unexpected six-game suspension in late July, forcing Seattle to play nearly half of the 2019 schedule without its top returning pass rusher from a year ago. In his absence, veteran Al Woods entered the starting lineup and Jefferson received more playing time reduced inside.

Seattle hasn’t made any excuses for the sporadic production from its pass rush, but after watching film, Carroll sees tangible progress that may not be showing up on the stat sheet. Specifically, he thought Clowney wreaked havoc and fell just short of a monster outing.

“Clowney was so close to having a huge night, he was all over. Arms up, just missed probably four different times to knock balls down to be a factor on the plays. He was wild with his rushes. I thought he did a great job, it just didn’t show up numbers wise. But he had an effect.”

The first month of the season has been an exercise of patience and acclimation for the Seahawks. New faces tried to learn a new defense on the fly, while Carroll and his coaching staff attempted to figure out how to best utilize their unique skill sets.

Now with five games in the books, Carroll has seen enough from Ansah and Clowney blending in with returning players such as Jefferson and Rasheem Green to have a strong grasp on maximizing their talents within the confines of Seattle’s scheme. As they continue to become more comfortable, he has no doubts about a breakthrough performance coming in the very near future.

“We’ll be able to help those guys more. I think this was the game I now can see some things that we can do better, and we can utilize our guys a little uniquely for their strengths. They’re playing really hard, with really good consistent effort.”