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.