Seahawks Punchless Pass Rush Emerging as Legitimate Concern

For weeks, Seattle has waited patiently for its pass rush to come to life. But after yet another disappointing performance on Sunday, the clock is ticking for Jadeveon Clowney and company to figure things out.

Nearly halfway through the 2019 season, the Seahawks haven’t been able to successfully awaken their dormant pass rush, at least when it comes to generating quarterback hits and sacks.

Following Sunday’s 30-16 loss to the Ravens, Seattle currently ranks 26th in the NFL with 11.0 sacks. According to Pro Football Reference, the team also ranks 25th and 31st overall in pressures and quarterback knockdowns respectively while posting an 18.5 percent pressure rate, the fourth-worst mark in the league.

Regardless of whatever metric used, the Seahawks have been as ineffective as any team in the league pressuring opposing quarterbacks. Even after trading away Frank Clark and losing Jarran Reed for the first six games due to suspension, the lack of production through seven games has been quite disappointing.

When pressed about his team’s lingering pass rushing woes, coach Pete Carroll didn’t seem to be overly concerned and looking at Sunday’s game specifically, indicated the game plan was built around trying to contain elusive quarterback Lamar Jackson in the pocket rather than rack up a bunch of sacks.

“I think this is something you guys are going to worry about a lot more than I am, really.” Carroll told reporters on Monday. “We’d love to get more sacks. We’d love to have more hits on the quarterback whenever because that gives us the ball for the most part. We just want to keep battling away.”

Maintaining status quo, Carroll’s optimism won’t waver, at least publicly. He’s going to keep insisting better days are coming, especially with Reed back in the lineup.

But after producing zero sacks in three of the past five games, it’s getting to be late enough in the season where Seattle’s perpetual inability to pressure opposing quarterbacks should be alarming for a team with plans on contending in the wide-open NFC.

Before the season, the Seahawks expected some growing pains with several new faces, including Jadeveon Clowney and Ziggy Ansah, acclimating to new defensive scheme on the fly. Getting off to a slow start under such circumstances wasn’t going to be a cause for concern.

After being acquired from the Texans, Clowney only had a couple of practices under his belt before being thrown into action for the season opener. Recovering from shoulder surgery, Ansah missed all of training camp and the preseason and would need to be eased back into game action.

But heading into Week 8, Seattle hasn’t gotten the bang for its buck with the Clowney trade and Ansah signing, at least from a pass rushing standpoint. While Clowney has been a disruptive force defending the run, the two former Pro Bowlers have combined to record just 2.0 sacks and five quarterback hits.

Clowney has shown flashes as a rusher and he’s been close numerous times to landing hits on the opposing quarterback. But close doesn’t cut it in this league. Ansah hasn’t been able to stay healthy, as he missed his third regular season game with an ankle sprain last weekend, and Carroll doesn’t know if he’ll be ready to return against the Falcons in Week 8.

“He’s going to want to come back Wednesday/Thursday or so and see if he can get back out there. We’re going to need to see him, see that he can get off and put some pressure on it.”

Away from Clowney and Ansah, the Seahawks have gotten minimal pass rushing production from most of their defensive line. Quinton Jefferson has been the most consistent performer with a pair of sacks and seven quarterback hits, while Branden Jackson and Rasheem Green each have 2.0 sacks apiece in a reserve role.

Additionally, first-round pick L.J. Collier has basically been non-existent during his rookie season, playing in four games and producing a single tackle so far. He hasn’t done anything on the field, let alone contribute as a pass rusher.

With the Seahawks unable to consistently create pressure with their front four, defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. has had to rely more on blitzing than previous seasons to compensate.

In 2018, Seattle blitzed just 18.4 percent of opposing dropbacks according to Pro Football Reference, the fifth-lowest rate in the NFL. But through seven games this year, Norton has brought the blitz 28 percent of the time when quarterbacks drop back to pass, a 33 percent increase.

The increased aggressiveness bringing extra defenders has produced mixed results and ended up backfiring a few times against the Ravens. As Carroll stated, the Seahawks were able to disrupt the pocket a few times, but Jackson still managed to break contain and bringing the blitz left the defense vulnerable once he escaped the pocket.

“We pressured a number of times and got good disruption out of it.” Carroll remarked. “We found a way into chasing the quarterback when we pressured. We got him out of the pocket. We broke him down and knocked him out of the spot. That wasn’t the best thing that can happen, but you needed to do it. You’ve got to go after him and change the rhythm.”

When it’s all said and done, that’s what this Seahawks squad must be able to do to reach its potential. It’s not about the sacks or even necessarily quarterback hits, but consistently collapsing the pocket and forcing the quarterback into rushed throws, something Carroll’s unit hasn’t been able to accomplish to this point.

There’s still plenty of time for Seattle to right the ship, and as Jackson astutely pointed out on Sunday, the Seahawks still haven’t played a game with the quartet of Clowney, Ansah, Jefferson, and Reed together. That can’t and won’t be used as an excuse, but continuity matters along the defensive line.

“Our core group, everyone knows our pass rush group is going to be Ziggy, JD [Clowney], Q [Jefferson], and J. Reed. That group hasn’t rushed together yet. At the end of the day, it’s time to let them get that going.”

Until that group has a chance to play together, it may not be fair to assess the state of Seattle’s pass rush. But the clock is ticking, and if the Seahawks can’t figure it out soon with a tough upcoming schedule on tap, a potential division title and possibly even a playoff berth could slip from the team’s grasp as Jackson did so many times on Sunday.