Seattle didn’t make the playoffs
Bruce Smith Jersey , but its defense essentially did.The scheme that carried the Seahawks to consecutive Super Bowls (2013-14) has become increasingly popular around the league. It helped Atlanta get to the big
game last year and was the catalyst for Jacksonville’s stunning turnaround this
season. It also got rave reviews down the stretch in Los Angeles and San
Francisco.
In a copycat league, this is the one being emulated right now.
And for good reason. The Seahawks rode the scheme to six straight playoff berths between 2012 and 2016, and as more of Pete Carroll’s defensive assistants
moved on to become coordinators and head coaches elsewhere, they brought it with
them.
Now, it spans coast to coast.
”It really takes on the flavor of the coaches that are doing it, so they have their uniqueness,” Carroll said. ”But there are a lot of similarities.”
Similar results, too.
The Jaguars ranked second in the NFL in yards and points allowed this season, relying on their defense to mask offensive deficiencies. The Chargers ranked
third in scoring defense, allowing just two opponents to top 21 points in their
final 11 games. The Falcons (eighth) and the injury-riddled Seahawks (13th)
weren’t far behind. The 49ers finished 25th at 23.9 points a game, but were
considerably better over the final five weeks of the regular season. They
allowed 19.9 points during a five-game winning streak that included victories
against three playoff teams.
Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator Gus Bradley, Atlanta defensive coordinator Marquand Manuel, San Francisco defensive coordinator Robert
Saleh
Austin Seferian-Jenkins Jersey , Atlanta head coach Dan Quinn and Jacksonville defensive coordinator Todd Wash all spent time in Seattle under
Carroll.
Bradley, Manuel, Saleh and Wash were on the same staff in 2012. Former Oakland defensive coordinator Ken Norton also was there and had the Raiders
playing the Seattle scheme until he was fired in late November.
”It’s good. It’s nice,” Carroll said. ”I love that the guys are getting the opportunities and they are doing stuff.”
Seattle players don’t seem as ready to credit anyone for doing it as well as they did while picking up the ”Legion of Boom” nickname in 2012.
”There is only one Seattle Seahawks,” linebacker Bobby Wagner said.
Maybe so. Seattle allowed the fewest points (14.4) and yards (273.6) in the NFL during the 2013 season and forced a league-high 39 turnovers. The Seahawks
emphatically stated their case as a generational defense – right up there with
the 1985 Chicago Bears and the 2000 Baltimore Ravens – with a 43-8 drubbing of
Denver in the Super Bowl. The Broncos shattered an NFL record with 606 points
during the regular season but were overmatched on the NFL’s biggest stage.
That same season, thousands of miles away, Bradley and Wash were building the foundation for Jacksonville’s current defense.
Two years later, Quinn was implementing it in Atlanta with some help from Manuel. Quinn’s offensive coordinator at the time was Kyle Shanahan, who saw the
defense every day in practice and knew he wanted it to be part of his rebuild
with the 49ers this season. He hired Saleh. And former Jaguars head coach
Bradley resurfaced with the Chargers.
”It’s a very sound scheme that starts with stopping the run,” Shanahan said. ”It makes you work all the way down the field, so it’s extremely tough to get
explosives on. It’s tough to go against. They make you work for everything, and
it’s something that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every week. It’s
something that if you just do over and over and over again, it’s hard not to get
better at it.”
The premise of the Seattle defense is that it uses an eight-man box to stop the run (one safety positioned close to the line of scrimmage) and a single-high
safety who can get sideline to sideline in ”cover three” (a three-deep zone in
which defensive backs split coverage areas into three sections). Cornerbacks
play a lot of aggressive
Rashard Higgins Jersey , bump-and-run coverage that works best when the four defensive linemen are pressuring quarterbacks. Linebackers are usually
undersized and fast.
It’s a 4-3 base defense that incorporates many elements of the popular 3-4.
”We are all different in our own ways,” Manuel said. ”But … just the understanding of methodically making a team have to go 13, 14 plays to score and
play with great red-zone defense and understand that taking the ball away is the
most important thing. Plays are going to happen that are big, but if you
eliminate the ones that you know are about to happen, offenses have to do
something else.
”You call plays that guys understand. You can get exotic (and create) paralysis by analysis; guys are overthinking on the field. That’s part of what
you see in this defense. I guarantee you in each one of these
(Seattle-influenced) defenses, guys are flying around and playing fast because
they’re not thinking.”
Regardless of the schematics and subtleties, the common thread is solid – more like star – players.
Seattle has Wagner, cornerback Richard Sherman, free safety Earl Thomas and strong safety Kam Chancellor, among others.
The Chargers boast disruptive pass-rushers Melvin Ingram and Joey Bosa, linebacker Denzel Perryman and cornerback Casey Hayward. They tied for fifth in
the NFL with 43 sacks.
The Jaguars had the second-most sacks (55) in the league thanks partly to Pro Bowl defensive linemen Calais Campbell and Malik Jackson and budding star
Yannick Ngak As promised, former Louisville quarterback and Heisman Trophy
winner Lamar Jackson spent Saturday at the NFL scouting combine slinging it and
not winging it.
Jackson didn't show off a big arm like Wyoming's Josh Allen, the other prime prospect in his throwing group Saturday.
But nobody else did
Tavon Austin Jersey , either: Allen wowed the coaches with a 66-yard pinpoint pass at one point during the first of two sessions with the
quarterbacks and wide receivers at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Jackson, though, was much more explosive than Allen was in his drops, consistently getting 7 yards deep on five-step drills whereas Allen made up for
his poorer footwork with his superior arm strength.
Widely considered the best running quarterback since Michael Vick but a thrower who still needs polish, Jackson shook off some apparent jitters to show
off a good enough passing prowess to justify his reticence to switch to wide
receiver.
Jackson never caught a single pass at Louisville, where he threw for 9,043 yards and 69 touchdowns, ran for 4,132 yards and 50 TDs in 38 games. On Friday,
he dismissed widespread speculation about him running routes with the receivers
here.
"No sir. I'm a quarterback," he said.
The buzz began building when former Colts executive Bill Polian told ESPN he thought Jackson should switch to receiver because he's not as accurate, tall or
strong as the other hopefuls in this year's deep class of college quarterbacks.
Polian suggested Jackson should make the switch sooner than did Terrelle Pryor,
the ex-Ohio State QB who switched to wide receiver at age 26.
Such a notion was met by skepticism from several teams this week
T.J. Yeldon Jersey , and Jackson said he won't switch positions even if asked.
"No sir," he said, "I'm a quarterback."
And he said he's not interested in just running wildcat plays, where he'd take the direct snap and zip around the tackle, either.
"No wildcat," Jackson said. "This is not the Dolphins with Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams. No sir."
While USC's Sam Darnold chose not to throw at the combine because he'd rather show off his arm with his own receivers at USC's upcoming pro day, Jackson
decided not to run the 40-yard dash.
"Film speaks for itself as far as showing off my speed and showing I can make people miss," Jackson said. "I've just got to show off my arm ??because that's
where they're doubting me."
He assuaged some of those concerns Saturday.
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