The First Wrinkle of the Seahawks West Coast Defense

by John Morgan on Aug 16, 2009 1:53 PM PDT Comment 17 comments

Bold statements demand bold action.

San Diego sets 2 WR (left), 2 WR (right), RB, shotgun.

Seattle starts in a 4-2 nickel.

Seattle's front four is Patrick Kerney, Brandon Mebane, Cory Redding and Darryl Tapp defensive left to right. Mebane is opposite the one gap. Redding is in a three or four technique. Tapp is wide. Before the snap, Tapp stands up, moves between Mebane and Redding and Redding slides over Marcus McNeill. Tapp is standing at the snap. Seattle rushes three. Tapp drops into a hook zone almost directly over center. It's a confusing look. Seattle has zones across the field and especially concentrated around the first down marker. The front three, the most personnel appropriate three man rush possible, gets moderate pressure. Mebane attacks the middle and Kerney and Redding extend the tackles. The extended tackles plus the feigned blitz by Tapp creates an illusion of pressure.

Philip Rivers is a heck of a quarterback. He finds a crack in the zone and zips it to Malcolm Floyd. But it's only a crack. Lofa Tatupu closes from the offensive left, begins to wrap and simultaneously Deon Grant darts from his cover shell. They pinch Floyd and force the incompletion. Good play design all around: Right personnel to rush, creative use of talent (Tapp), concentration of zones around the marker and putting the right players, Tatupu and Grant, in the right place to force the incompletion.

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Mora said before the game that they were pretty much only going to play vanilla defense.

Makes me wonder what else they have planned.

Did you notice if they did the same setup, but rushed Tapp? Obviously they’ll have to have quite a few wrinkles out of the same look, otherwise teams will catch on and it’d be like a play action pass while never using the running play.

by B.B.Finnegan on Aug 16, 2009 2:10 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

That was exactly what I was thinking.

If this was their “vanilla” defense, what do they really plan on doing when the regular season comes rolling around?

I’d really love to see how they utilize Leroy Hill

Sam Bradford, future Seattle Seahawk.

by Carl Shinyama on Aug 16, 2009 2:29 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Sounds like a 3-4

by Nate Dogg on Aug 16, 2009 2:30 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Oh, nickel package

So not really I guess.

by Nate Dogg on Aug 16, 2009 2:37 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

It's the 4-2/3-3 package I love

further realized.

by John Morgan on Aug 16, 2009 2:42 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Tapp's New Role

So this is not just something that they’re flirting with. I saw in limited film of camp footage, Tapp doing exactly what we saw him doing last night. I also saw it in action when was actually at the VMAC a week or so ago. I really like what I see so far, and I liked the results. I’m actually a little shocked to see how adept Tapp appears to be in coverage.

I guess my question then at this point is who’s our backup behind Tapp? If this is going to be a regular wrinkle to the defense, what happens if say Tapp’s injured or something? Nick Reed, based on the type of player he is and his physical build would seem to be closer to being a Tapp clone than any other d-lineman on the roster. I suppose Curry might fit into that niche as well in a pinch situation.

by Catoblepas on Aug 16, 2009 3:14 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Or Leroy Hill.

I still hold out hope that what he did some of in his rookie year will be reprised. My hope is that with Hill, Curry, and Tapp on the field, rather than using just Tapp to do that, any one, two, or all three can go or drop back, which is certainly a 3-4 principle that I think could be excelled at with these players if used right.

by cashless on Aug 16, 2009 3:59 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Kerney, Tapp & Curry have dropped back, from the end down position

in practice. I don’t remember if I saw anyone else than Tapp drop back, but Curry did also, from the standup 4-3 Under SLB position.

by jacobstevens on Aug 17, 2009 10:25 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Jackson did it in the preseason last year

by Nate Dogg on Aug 17, 2009 10:51 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

So where's the wrinkle?

Maybe I’m dumb and I don’t get it. Sounds like a well designed play that worked as planned

The demise of the Broncos in '09 is our future. Pray hard.

by Nick Andron on Aug 16, 2009 6:01 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

The wrinkle is that it's an unusual play

with an unusual look that looks confusing to the opposing offense.

by Fear on Aug 16, 2009 6:29 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I love that Tapp looks to be heavily involved going after the passer.

He has been killing guys in camp, and it seemed that he was under-utilized last year with Holmgren/Marshall running things.

I also am looking forward to Hill being unleashed.

Early prospect watch: RB C.J. Spiller, QB Jevon Snead, OT Ciron Black, DT Gerald McCoy, S Eric Berry, DT Ndamukong Suh, CB Ras-I Dowling 6'2, 200, RB Jonathan Dwyer

by Misfit74 on Aug 16, 2009 8:02 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Hill won't be the SSLB

So I don’t see him don’t a lot of damage to QBs this year. The only year he was an effective pass rusher was his rookie year as SSLB. The year after, JP was signed and took over those duties.

The demise of the Broncos in '09 is our future. Pray hard.

by Nick Andron on Aug 17, 2009 12:39 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I expect him to be sent more frequently than Curry, actually

last night was to see what Curry can do, and sort of solidify the playbook further. Both of them will likely be placed on the line a couple snaps a game, mostly standing up. Or so I expect.

by jacobstevens on Aug 17, 2009 1:02 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Hill is switching back to his original role, Curry is taking over Hill's role

Hill will be involved more in pass rush and less in coverage than he was the last year or two.

And, as I remember it, the Sam played opposite the TE and RT (behind the RDE) while the Will played opposite the LT (behind the LDE). I could be wrong, though.

by ninjasocks on Aug 17, 2009 1:03 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

creativity

going to be a welcome addition to our defensive schemes in 2009. It seemed that whenever Kerney was on the field you could count on Marshall to throw any sort of creativity out the window. As soon as he was out we started seeing some interesting looks for once.

by Hancock.Brett on Aug 17, 2009 10:00 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I am very excited

I really enjoyed watching and studying this front seven. Overall, the pressure wasn’t what I was hoping, but it’s true that the additional imagined pressure from the confusion can help. For that much blitzing, by which I mean more than 4, regardless of who’s sent, they weren’t getting to the QB fast enough.

But I’m still excited. I think it can be really good, and so far didn’t look to be any sort of compromise against the run, perhaps almost more of a strength there than pass rush. The reserves were impressive, too, Walker, Bennett, Reed were surprisingly relentless. Bryant looked good. Atkins. Not Jackson, though. Yeesh.

Cole seemed to do his job quite adequately, except he couldn’t keep extra blockers off Mebane and Redding and others. They just wouldn’t put a second man on him. So that might be a concern, but for what he faced, I liked what I saw, ish.

I feel like the front seven might end up being the strength of the team.

by jacobstevens on Aug 17, 2009 10:33 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs