The Seattle Seahawks are the kings of unexpected excellence so far in the 2022 NFL season. If you expected Geno Smith to play exactly like an NFL MVP candidate, raise your hand.
Okay, put it back down, because you’re lying.
Now, let’s move to Seattle’s defense, which started the season out very young, and with linebacker Bobby Wagner, the last player left from the legendary Legion of Boom defense that terrorized the league in the early aughts, cast away to the Los Angeles Rams. The Seahawks were going with a new defensive coordinator in Clint Hurtt (elevated from defensive line coach and assistant head coach), all the new attendant concepts with a new coaching staff, and a group of new players and young veterans. Again, nobody expected anything special from a team seemingly rebuilding from the studs.
It started out pretty roughly on the defensive side of the ball. Through the first five weeks of the 2022 season, Seattle ranked 31st in Football Outsiders’ Defensive DVOA metric (opponent-adjusted efficiency) — 29th against the pass, and 26th against the run. Overall, only the Detroit Lions were worse.
Then, starting with Seattle’s 19-9 Week 6 win over the Arizona Cardinals, that same defense became an entirely different animal. Over the last four weeks, the Seahawks rank second in Defensive DVOA behind only the New England Patriots — fifth against the pass, and third against the run. Early Sunday, Seattle will take on Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Germany, and while that offense doesn’t present the same challenges it did over the last two seasons, Brady is still capable of creating explosive plays out of very little.
No matter who the Seahawks have faced over the last four weeks and four straight wins, they’ve created serious problems for each opponent offense.
The short-term improvements are... astonishing.
Through the first five weeks of the season, Seattle’s defense was pressuring quarterbacks at a reasonable level. The primary difference over the last four weeks is that their pass-rushers are getting home.
| Sacks | Hits | Hurries | Knockdowns | Pressures | |
| Weeks 1-5 | 8.0 | 35 | 36 | 18 | 97 |
| Weeks 6-9 | 18.0 | 36 | 34 | 11 | 99 |
Seattle’s 8.0 sacks tied for third-worst in the league with the Panthers, Raiders, and Falcons. Their 18 sacks since is first in the league. So, when your pressures are about the same, and your sacks go through the roof, that’s pretty good.
Another distinct positive is how the Seahawks’ coverage has improved.
| Tgts | Comp | Comp% | Yds | Y/A | TD | INT | Rating | |
| Weeks 1-5 | 151 | 101 | 66.89% | 1,350 | 8.94 | 9 | 4 | 106.7 |
| Weeks 6-9 | 154 | 98 | 63.64% | 895 | 5.81 | 4 | 2 | 82.6 |
Seattle’s run defense improvements over that space of time might be the most graphic.
| Att | Yds | Yds/Att | TD | 1stDwn % | MT | YAC/Att | |
| Weeks 1-5 | 169 | 851 | 5.04 | 9 | 26.0% | 8 | 3.1 |
| Weeks 6-9 | 92 | 397 | 4.32 | 2 | 20.7% | 5 | 2.1 |
Communication was a problem early on.
This week, Hurtt was asked about the improved efforts of linebacker Jordyn Brooks, who the Seahawks selected with the 27th overall pick in the first round of the 2020 draft. Brooks was trying to find his way in previous systems. Hurtt wanted him to grow into the best version of himself, and that took a couple minutes in a defense that was very different than what Brooks, and the other existing defensive players, were used to. Hurtt took the opportunity to speak about Brooks, and made it about the global picture.
“The first couple of games, we went through that. Between learning a new defense, new levels of communication, everyone understanding their roles, responsibilities, and whatnot, it was a transition time. It was something new for he and everybody collectively as a unit. Now to see all of those things come together, again, it feels good and it’s exciting to these guys because even with us getting better and improving, we know that there is still so much more that we can get accomplished, continue to get done, and get better.”
Hurtt then turned to Brooks as an example of how he’s teaching his players to play both faster and more deliberately.
“In the first game, we play Denver, and make a huddle call to him. He is holding his ears and he’s out there kind of hurrying up, he wants the huddle call to come and I’m like hitting the button, ‘Jordyn, there are only nine guys on the field, I’m pretty sure they aren’t going to snap it.’ I was like, ‘Slow down, everything is good,’ because he is looking at me and he can see his teammates, but behind him, he has no idea who is in the huddle and how fast they are getting on the ball. If it’s your first time doing it, you just feel the pressure and the angst of, ‘I want to hurry up and get this thing out, so I can go line up and go play,’ which is all understandable for a first-time guy doing that. Even for myself, going through some of those, so it has been a learning process and transition. Like I said, from game one to where he is at now, it’s night and day. It’s a credit to him.”
It’s a delicate balance, but the Seahawks have found it.
The pass rush is coming from everywhere.
Through Week 5, free-agent acquisition Uchenna Nwosu was the only Seahawks defender with more than one sack — he had two. Over the last four weeks, five different defenders — Nwosu, Darrell Taylor, Shelby Harris, Darrell Taylor, and Quinton Jefferson — have at least two. Nwosu has become one of the league’s best edge-rushers, with five sacks, nine hits, eight hurries, and two knockdowns over that four-week period.
Nwosu has tremendous speed to the quarterback whether he’s beating a tackle around the edge…
…or looping inside multiple gaps to affect protections.
Shelby Harris, acquired in the Russell Wilson trade, has been Seattle’s second-most effective pass rusher in the last four weeks, with two sacks, five hurries, five hits, and a knockdown. The 6-foot-2, 290-pound Harris was an underrated factor mostly on the inside of Denver’s defensive line, but in Hurtt’s fronts, he’s become a full-blown force. Harris has great speed for his size, good power, and active hands. Against the Cardinals last week, he picked up his second sack of the season by just rolling through Arizona’s offensive line until he found the open space.
It isn’t a heavy blitz pass rush. The Seahawks have blitzed this season on just 16.8% of their snaps, but they’re pressuring quarterbacks 22.2% of the time.
“He had rush tools and there were certain things he had to continue to clean up as a young guy,” Hurtt said this week of Nwosu. “He’s still going to continue to get better, but you can see the instincts, the awareness, the physicality, and strength in the run game is there. When he got here and he was able to understand our difference, some people teach ‘crash nine’ techniques differently than others. I’m a big believer as a ‘crash nine’ guy, the outside linebackers in this defense are the star position. That’s what it is.
“Those guys are the ones that set edges in the run game whether they stay outside the tight end, the tight end ‘over’ blocks, and they can come back inside. And obviously, they generate everything with the pass rush. Don’t get me wrong, the big guys are inside. You have to always collapse the pocket, but outside backers in this system are the deal. Those guys have to roll for you. Obviously, he’s doing that at an extremely high level. His ability now where he got the handcuffs taken off, where now you have the freedom to play inside and outside. That makes it really hard on tight ends and offensive line to block you on the edge because of the freedom that you have is not just, ‘Well this guy is aligned here, and he’s going to stay here every single snap.’ He has more freedom than that.”
That’s how this pass rush has evolved — the combination of responsibility to one’s assignment, and the freedom to improvise when the occasion arises. That’s also how they’ve also worked more stunts and games into their pass rush.
The run defense is for real.
Similarly to the blitz numbers, the Seahawks don’t need to stack the box to stop the run. They’ve stacked the line on just 17% of their snaps, but they rank third in Negative Play Rate allowed when doing so. Seattle’s primary personnel groupings are 3-3-5 and 2-4-5, so they’re firmly in hybrid fronts these days under Hurtt.
16 of the 92 rushing attempts the Seahawks have faced in the last four weeks have either been stopped at the line of scrimmage for no gain, or have resulted in negative yardage. And they’ve allowed just six runs of 10 yards or more.
It’s not just the guys inside stopping the run. Nwosu has created tackles for loss in the run game in addition to all his sacks. This showed up in Week 8 against the Giants, when Nwosu blew through the blockers, read Saquon Barkley’s rushing attempt, and snuffed it out.
Safety Ryan Neal has been quite the opportunist against the run in the last month — he’s tied for third in the NFL with 21 run tackles, and he’s forced two fumbles on those tackles. Linebacker Cody Barton has allowed the second-lowest Positive Play Rate against the run (25.6%) among any NFL defender — only Aaron Donald (25.0%) has a lower PPR. Jordyn Brooks ranks fourth (26.9%), tied with Neal and cornerback Tariq Woolen.
Brooks, who has some problems with overspilling run gaps in college and early in his NFL career, has been playing both faster and with a more deliberate tone. The run plays he used to cruise past like a cat on a freshly waxed kitchen floor are the run plays he’s now stopping.
For Hurtt, as he said this week, Seattle’s improved run defense is absolutely tied to the pass rush, and vice versa.
“You want to make teams one-dimensional if you can, and make them play left-handed so to speak, so that you can pin your ears back and go and get after people, he said. “That’s part of what has helped out the pass rush this year. Now, I think over the last four games, we have had double digit leads, so in the fourth quarter, your guys are able to pin your ears back and go after the passer. But you have to earn the right stopping the run first in order to get that done.”
Coverage is on lock.
The Seahawks went young at their cornerback group this season, with fourth-round rookie Coby Bryant and fifth-round rookie Tariq Woolen as immediate impact starters. Woolen has been the star so far, with his interceptions in every game from Week 3 through Week 6. He hasn’t had a pick since, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t still putting some of the NFL’s best receivers on lockdown.
Ask DeAndre Hopkins of the Cardinals about that.
Tariq Woolen vs DeAndre Hopkins 🔒 pic.twitter.com/7Si2xZd4gV
— NFL Rookie Watch (@NFLRookieWatxh) November 7, 2022
The Seahawks have been a zone-based coverage defense this season, and they’ve gotten a lot better at that of late, as well. In Weeks 1-5, they played zone on 59% of their snaps, and ranked 21st in opponent Positive Play Rate. Over the last four weeks, they’ve played zone on 67% of their snaps (second-highest in the NFL), and they rank second in opponent PPR.
Knowing your identify, and matching it to your personnel, is important. On the 100 attempts Cover-2, Cover-3, Cover-4, and Cover-6 since Week 6, the Seahawks have allowed 61 completions for 617 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 73.6. They’ve been a bit more vulnerable in man coverage over that time, allowing 18 completions on 32 attempts for 196 yards, one touchdown, no interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 84.9, which is about the middle of the NFL pack.
Woolen has been the interceptor. Bryant has been a turnover machine in his own right, with a league-high four forced fumbles. Michael Jackson, a fifth-round pick of the Cowboys in 2019 out of Miami, has been the Secret Superstar of this secondary. He’s allowed 26 catches on 47 targets for 222 yards, 50 yards after the catch, one touchdown, no interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 75.0.
The “no interceptions” part is one reason Jackson doesn’t get talked about as Woolen and Bryant do, but when you look at Jackson’s seven pass breakups this season, it’s clear that he also understands his role in the system. Jackson is the team’s outside/slot hybrid guy, and he was especially effective against the Giants in Week 8, with three of those breakups. Woolen is more of a dead-red press cornerback, but Jackson can play off-coverage at a high level because he reads routes, and knows how to time his entry into the passing play with well-placed hits and deflations.
Bryant has been the team’s primary slot defender, and this deflection against the Cardinals last Sunday (which was almost his fifth forced fumble of the season) shows how he does things from there.
And in another example of teamwork, here’s Bryant forcing a Kyler Murray fumble in Week 6, with Woolen picking it up.
Finally, when you have perennially underrated safety Quandre Diggs patrolling the deep third, that’s the cherry on top. Cardinals tight end Zach Ertz surely thought he had this completion last Sunday on the boot crosser until Diggs came out of nowhere (which he does quite often) to break it up.
Everybody is finally on the same page.
If this keeps going, and Hurtt isn’t careful, he might find himself the subject of head coach rumors once the regular season is over, and Black Monday happens. He finally got his shot as defensive coordinator, and it’s worked like a proverbial charm after those early rough spots.
Hurtt has preached patience, especially for himself.
“That’s something that it may seem that I’m good at, but I would say I’m definitely not,” he said this week. “So, just take a deep breath, take a step back, see things from a bigger picture, see things from a player’s point of view; things that can be difficult for them and how can we make their job easier without compromising everybody else, or if we have to, then make sure the other guys around them know that we need to pick up slack in this area because this team is doing this that we want to make sure we eliminate. There’s different stuff like that.
“So, just being patient, I would say. I have to give kudos again. The players have been awesome; their work ethic, their attention to detail, and their effort and just staying the course through the transition, but also to the coaching staff between ‘Doc’ or Sean Desai, K-Scott (Karl Scott), (Aaron) Curry and D-Lew (Damione Lewis). Those guys are doing the guys up front. It’s been awesome, John Glenn, with the linebackers, give credit to the staff. They’ve been incredible in helping me out through this whole process too.”
At 6-3, the Seahawks are humming on both sides of the ball, and they’re preparing to face the Buccaneers’ semi-broken offense on Sunday morning in Germany. Not a great get-well game for the Bucs as it might have been in the first few weeks of the season, because this defense is suddenly among the NFL’s best.
Who’da thunk that at the start of the season? Pete Carroll’s Seahawks are the NFL’s kings of surprise at the halfway point.
