A Brief Look at Seattle's Crumbling Defense

by John Morgan on Oct 19, 2009 2:50 PM PDT Comment 9 comments

More photos » Elaine Thompson - AP

Seattle's defense has weathered injuries too. That didn't stop it from an impressive game against the Cardinals.

Tim Ruskell has invested fewer resources into the offense and so when things get bad, it's invariably the defense that suffers the worst criticism. Seattle allowed a team that scores 22.4 points a game to score 27 points yesterday. The first drive was especially demoralizing. Arizona drove 80 yards on fifteen plays and chewed nearly 11 minutes of game clock. That drive was almost twice as long as any other drive Arizona would accomplish.

That is because when Seattle's defense wasn't hamstrung by the offense or special teams, it played well. In the 11 drives excluding Arizona's Hail Mary interception and the Matt Leinart led drive to kill the clock in the fourth, the Cardinals averaged 26.36 yards a drive. That is a hair better than Airzona has averaged for the season and a hair worse than Seattle has allowed for the season. The Cardinals rank 23rd on offense and the Seahawks rank 6th on defense. A top ten defense played like a top ten defense -- at least according to drive stats.

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funny that the kelly jennings hate is coming back

from the masses. I thought he played well given the circumstances and facing the all mighty one himself. Defensive line didn’t get enough pressure on Warner throughout the game it seemed like.

by Hancock.Brett on Oct 19, 2009 2:58 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Just watching highlights

makes me feel what I suspected before the game, that pass rush wouldn’t be the problem. Just a QB who knows how to get rid of the ball. On the highlight plays, the rush was getting there fast. Warner would be just as fast, and the receivers seemingly getting downfield faster. More disruption from the middle was what was lacking. But mostly offense was lacking.

by jacobstevens on Oct 19, 2009 3:02 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I agree..

I said it yesterday while people were ripping Kelly Jennings. Considering the situations the Offense and Special Teams put us in I thought our D stepped up. That 1st drive was horrible but I blame our scheme on that first drive more then our talent. We played on our heels early on. Our D is a Trufant and Berry/Mays away from being dominating. I actually think we should play even more agressive on Defense. I thought at times when we played off of there WR’s Kurt exploited it for 6-7 yd gains. Our WR’s don’t get that same respect. Either way, well said.

by Mr. Blache III on Oct 19, 2009 3:39 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

not only was the first drive demoralizing

but once our ST failed to recover that kick the game was decided in my eyes.

by Hancock.Brett on Oct 19, 2009 3:45 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I thought the scheme was ok

by Will Kier on Oct 19, 2009 4:56 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

crap, more to say

i thought the scheme was ok, given the personnel we had. what personnel we had perhaps falls on Mora or Ruskell, but Bradley giving the receivers space I thought was a workable concession. the feeling really didn’t strike me that it was conceding too much.

admittedly, I missed the opening drive, which evidently was pretty significant.

by Will Kier on Oct 19, 2009 5:01 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'm Glad You Said That

I was a victim of The Great Baseball Blackout too, so I missed the game and haven’t seen any lowlights. But just reflecting on the historically poor showing of the offense I thought to myself, “27 points seems like a small amount to give up when your offense is so bad.”

I’m glad some stats warrant that thought.

by Kumar on Oct 19, 2009 7:24 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Defense played well enough to win

Offense and special teams hung them out to dry.

by ASeahawkfan on Oct 20, 2009 1:20 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Thank you for posting this

Watching the game, it felt like the classic situation of the offense beating the defense, not the defense beating itself. Wisenhunt had a conservative, but correct and effective game plan that worked to perfection and robbed the Seahawks defense of its biggest strengths.

by kearly on Oct 20, 2009 2:46 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs