Building a new defense

[Palmegranite]

Pete Carroll tried and tried to sign or draft the second coming of Michael Bennett.

That dude was so fun to watch. So fun that I could forgive his numerous offsides.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

He did have a really good knack for making up it.

 

[Chawker]

If Mac is going to run multiple fronts, this going to take a lot of personal to do that. Drafting Robinson fits a multiple roll, first his size and pass rush abilities, he has a lean frame and long arms. With his strength allows him to play the DT3 spot.

 

[Lords of Scythia]

When we had Holmy, our O was a sophisticated scheme and when run well was pretty much unstoppable (except refs could stop it at will, of course). With Pete, we had whatever O would get us by and our D scheme was simple but ran with unique athletes who couldn't be stopped (except by rule changes, of course, along with the fact that unique athletes don't grow on trees). When we played the ravens last, post-game Pete marveled at the sophisticated D schemes that had our O powerless to do pretty much anything. I gotta say, I'm excited to see us (correctly) run a sophisticated D scheme now that we have the architect as head coach. I have a hunch some of our D players will turn out to be a lot better than they've shown in the previous iterations of Seahawks D... If we also end up with a good O scheme, that's just doubleplusgood!

It helped when coach holmes had hofers at lt and lg.

 

[Superbowl 48]

Below is a direct quote from Reddit.​

​

A Ravens Fan's Guide to Mike Macdonald and his Defense:​

Discussion

I have the unique perspective of being a Ravens fan whose NFC team is Seattle (y'all have known me for ages but still), so this should be a very interesting & informative post for the 12s.
INTRO: Macdonald comes from the Dean Pees/Rex Ryan system, lots of disguises and simulated pressure. Heavily reliant on getting pressure with 4-5, blitzed less than most teams. Base defense is a 3-4 nickel zone. Our run defense however was not great, overall kinda above average but not amazing top 5 elite like everyone expects. We're only average in rush yds allowed, and allowed the 7th highest YPC. I expected CMC to run through us in the SB (RIP). In the Christmas game, Shanahan didn't run CMC as much as he normally does, and he still hit over 100yds and a TD. Our pass defense is the star, our run defense was not as good. *Keep in mind I'm a Ravens fan whose NFC team is Seattle- I know these teams better than anyone. That being said, Seattle's clearly prioritizing DL heavily and run defense is a top priority, so I'd expect a lot invested in overhauling the run defense. Hard to predict how Seattle's run defense will look, but it can't possibly get worse and should benefit from MM + a lot of resources.

MM's Background:​

• 36yo, born in Boston but grew up in Georgia. Did play football in high school but not much due to injuries.
• Undergrad: U Georgia studying finance, graduated summa cum laude. RB & LB coach for a high school team while in college (2008-09)
• Graduate assistant at Georgia (2010)
• Defensive quality control assistant at Georgia (2011-13)
• Ravens coaching intern (2014)
• Ravens defensive assistant (2015-16)
• Ravens DB coach (2017)
• Ravens LB coach (2018-20)
• DC at Michigan (2021)
• Ravens DC (2022-23)
• Seattle HC (2024-)

Clarifying Misconceptions about Macdonald:​

Macdonald didn't invent the current Ravens scheme: his Dean Pees/Rex Ryan scheme goes back literally decades for the Ravens- Pees was our DC during our 2012 SB through 2017. Before that, he was a LB coach. But Pees' defensive philosophy goes back a long time: he was John Harbaugh's college coach at Miami OH way back in 1983. Pees got on the Harbaugh radar cuz he went to Bowling Green like Jack Harbaugh did way back in the late 50s. Pees & the Harbaughs are all from the same northern Ohio area. Ravens got Macdonald as an intern 10 years ago, and we trained him in our philosophy ever since. Once he was ready, we sent him to Michigan in 2021. Guess who his Michigan HC was- Jim Harbaugh. Point is, Macdonald's a smart guy but he's not some wunderkind we got lucky with like everyone mistakenly thinks. The Ravens defense you're watching now has been good for a while, and we spent a decade teaching Macdonald how to run this scheme. Big reason why he's good at adjusting is he's been trained for 10 years on how to run this specific scheme. Ravens have planned this for a decade, long-term planning like this is why we're good every year. Macdonald's 10 years of training with the NFL's best defensive team + an already good defense roster + excellent FA signings by a top GM + his own talent are why the 2023 Ravens defense was so good.

MM's Scheme: 3-4 nickel zone with tons of pre-snap motion and changes after the snap​

Macdonald's defense is a base zone defense, heavily reliant on versatile players that can do a lot. It's a difficult scheme to run, and you need players that can consistently do it at a high level. Most of what makes him good is how he uses disguises and weird looks- it's creative, but you also need the roster to pull it off. The key players were Roquan and Hamilton, Roquan leads the defense (like our version of Bobby) and Hamilton's uniquely versatile.
The Importance of the Hamilton Role:

• Hamilton's a safety, but he plays a ton of slot corner. He was slot corner nearly all of his rookie year in 2022 and excelled at it. He's big and built like a box safety that can wipe out TEs and blitz, so he does everything. Hamilton's basically a SS + Sam LB + FS + slot corner all in 1, extremely rare player. Pete would've loved him, Hamilton's like what Jamal was supposed to be if he could also play slot corner. Hamilton's an amazing athlete, he'll be in the box looking like he's gonna blitz then quickly shift to man covering a WR/TE. Very hard to pull that off, let alone at a Pro Bowl level. Safeties very rarely get taken early, Hamilton went 14th overall and is truly a rare unicorn. He'd be amazing on any team but his versatility fits MM's scheme perfectly. Without Hamilton, the looks & disguises Macdonald could use get a lot smaller.
• Macdonald relies on good safeties to keep the offense in front of him. Defenses the last couple years are playing more 2 high & quarters than they used to, everyone's trying to prevent big plays and are willing to give up yds underneath. The reason I'm concerned is that safety is 1 of Seattle's biggest weaknesses, considering Jamal's contract has been an albatross for years. Imo both Quandre & Jamal are overpaid, I'd cut both to clear cap space- we need that for front 7. You don't want 2 new safeties as a DC, esp not vs Kupp/Puka/Aiyuk/Kittle etc. Bengals had 2 new safeties this year, and their defense nosedived despite Anarumo being a good DC. I'd guess Jamal's gone this year, he'd be amazing with MM but I highly doubt John's willing to gamble $27m of much-needed cap space on a guy that's only played 10 games in the last 2 seasons combined. I'm sure moving on from Jamal's contract is 1 of the first things John wants to do as GM. Quandre's overpaid but at least he's healthy, he'll stay this year then be gone next offseason. Everyone focuses on Hamilton's versatility (which they should), but Macdonald's very zone-heavy, safeties matter a lot.

Pass Rush:

• Macdonald's not super blitz-heavy like Wink was. We were 25th in blitz rate, at 21.9%. For context, the average was the Rams at 24.3%- it's not a big difference though, only 5 plays separate 25th from 16th. We did however lead the NFL in sacks, and this is an area I like about Macdonald. He's big on having rushers stunt around OTs and swim inside, and will use LBs to move OL out of the way to free the edge rushers. It's good coaching, but you also need to have the players that can do it. Both our LBs are Pro Bowlers, other teams don't have Roquan.
• Queen's a fast will LB, great at shooting gaps and blitzing. A fast will LB like him is important for executing the disguises but MLB is a lot more important. Roquan's our version of Bobby- Seattle has needs at LB and needs its own version of Bobby. Could bring Bobby back, but he's older and Hawks need a younger player in that role.
• MM also tends to rely a lot on pressure getting home, vs a decent OL our defense starts to get a lot worse. Best example of this is our Rams game, they have a good OL. Stafford is old and not mobile, we only got him twice and only won that game from a crazy lucky return TD by our WR6/backup returner in overtime. We let Puka get 84 yds, Kupp torched us for 115. Kyren also dropped 114 yds on us, our run defense wasn't that great this year.

Some creative plays that show MM's scheme getting sacks:

• [Using Queen to block OL and clear a path for Madubuike:] ()
• [Queen again moving OL out of the way for Madubuike:] ()
• [Video of MM's disguises and pre-snap motion:] ()

DL in Macdonald's Pass Rush Scheme:​

• Macdonald relies on athletic DL that can use a variety of rush moves, old school bull rushes aren't his thing. He uses a lot of inside stunts and swims to get sacks. He won't blitz constantly like Wink, but relies on athletic players able to execute consistently to win matchups. He's a film nerd and will put players in favorable matchups- that's why Madubuike's absurd 13 sacks as a DT isn't sustainable, nearly all have been vs backup/rookie QBs and backup/rookie OL. That's a key detail most people don't know. MM will put his best DL in the most ideal matchups vs an opposing team's weakest OL, which is logical, but don't expect DL putting up crazy sacks. The "baby Aaron Donald" thing is a lil exaggerated, and I say that as a Ravens fan that loves Madubuike. Even with the Ravens' stacked defensive roster, Madubuike wouldn't repeat the sack numbers he had this year. That's why his sack number was crazy high but his double team win rate was kinda low, great player but did get pretty lucky with his matchups. Still a great player though, will be quite expensive.

Complementary Defense- the Real Strength of MM's Scheme:​

This part is super important. Everyone always focuses on the Ravens' sack numbers when it comes to MM's scheme, and that's a very narrow-minded, surface-level understanding. MM's main experience as a position coach was with LBs but it's his zone schemes that allowed the sack numbers to happen.
People always say "MM made the Ravens pass rush great without any star rushers" (not entirely true), but the reason he was able to do this was his secondary & LBs executing the zone coverage well. It forced QBs to hold onto the ball a lot longer than they wanted to, and the NFL's best ILB duo of Queen & Roquan sealed the edge to prevent rollouts and minimize scrambles. The result was panicked QBs keeping their eye on WRs waiting for them to get open, not being able to leave the pocket, then the rush finally broke through and QB got sacked. This is the real reason the sacks happened. Combined with constantly moving defense players around in different disguises + stunting DL inside, QBs got sacked because the zone covered WRs and there was too much going on for the QB to leave the pocket.
MM didn't elevate the sacks by personally coaching their technique, he improved the sacks by the secondary consistently executing the zone well + using disguises and DL stunts to buy enough time for pressure to get home. LBs & secondary consistently executing a complex zone scheme at a high level are the real reason the pass rush was so good. But you'd never know that unless Ravens fans told you, cuz we're the only ones that really understand this defense- the rest are casuals that just googled the sack numbers.

What does Seattle need to run MM's defense?​

• Most importantly, DISCIPLINE. The scheme works cuz it's hard for QBs to process, but it's also a challenge for his players to execute so many motions, disguises, etc. This is a very complicated scheme with a lot going on in every play. Seattle was 10th in defense penalties this year. On top of that, Seattle needs some serious work on the missed tackle problem- Hawks were 3rd in defense missed tackles this year. Had we missed another 4 tackles, we would've led the NFL. Calling perfect coverage won't mean shit if the defense keeps missing tackles. A complicated scheme like this really requires players to not **** up, if someone's out of position in a disguise-reliant zone scheme, you'll get WRs wide open and we can't have that. Improving the safety room is also critical, MM's scheme depends on good safeties to prevent TDs and YAC. Seattle has the advantage of already having Spoon & Riq, but with Spoon in the box and blitzing more to fill the Hamilton role, the other DBs will need to step up to make sure WRs aren't open. Remember- Ravens got sacks because their talented secondary consistently covered receivers and bought the DL time to get home.
• Spoon will fill the Hamilton role. Kyle Hamilton famously is a very rare unicorn of a player, but Spoon is 1 of only a few DBs that can fill that role. Spoon staying healthy will be incredibly important, his versatility is what allows you to use so many different looks that confuse QBs.
• Coby might blitz occasionally. Ravens used corner blitzes with Maulet sometimes, MM will like Coby's corner/safety vibe.
• Versatile safeties: Seattle will almost certainly be replacing both Jamal & Quandre in the next 2 years, and safeties are super important to MM's scheme. Macdonald wants players to be as versatile as possible, so focus on safeties that can do a lot in the draft. Size+speed combo would be very appealing.
• Patrick Queen is NOT the linebacker you want in FA. Yes he's good, but Seattle needs a middle LB in FA more than a will. Queen was a bust before Roquan, we had him playing mike and he was awful. Couldn't read the play at all, terrible in coverage. He didn't improve cuz MM unlocked him, he improved cuz we moved him to will where he should've been playing all along. Queen was improving a bit in '22, but he improved a lot once we added Roquan. Wills are far easier to draft, you just need a fast athletic LB that can shoot gaps. I'd rather keep Brooks than overpay on Queen. A field general MLB is a harder position, that's the one Seattle needs and should spend on in FA if the MLB class isn't great. LB is less important since the base D is nickel, but MLB is extremely important. Roquan is the one running the Ravens defense. Seattle needs its own Roquan- disciplined, good tackler, good communicator. MM's scheme is difficult to execute, you need MLB to keep everyone organized. Obv they won't be Roquan, he's a top 3 LB, but you get the point.
• Big DT in the middle, ideally athletic: Edges are already pretty decent, Nwosu & Boye should improve under Macdonald. Mone seems like an obvious cut. Seattle needs DT help in the middle- you need the big guys to take on double teams so the OLBs/DEs can swim around to get to the QB. Ideally, DT is athletic and isn't just a run stuffer, you want someone big but not lethargic. Shoring up DT is also essential to fixing this awful run defense.
• You need fast DBs to run Macdonald's scheme. It's zone, but they need to be able to flip hips, run backwards etc very quickly. Prioritize 3 cone & splits more than 40 times for drafted DBs, long speed is less important since the corners will have safety help behind them. Agility matters a ton. Ravens have Marlon Humphrey and Brandon Stephens- Stephens has no name recognition but was phenomenal this year. Seriously, he was shutting down Jamarr Chase. Riq's speed will be very valuable here- Spoon will fill the Hamilton role, but Riq's closing speed is also really important. Hamilton fell out of the top 10 (barely, he was 14) for a slow 40 & positional value, but his rangy game speed & length is what makes him so good. Riq's got the size & speed to excel in Macdonald's scheme.

TLDR: Macdonald's scheme is a Pees/Rex Ryan 3-4 nickel zone, tons of pre-snap motion and disguises. He's heavily reliant on getting pressure with 4, good DL matter a lot. His sack numbers were high largely from a disciplined, talented secondary executing the zone consistently to force QBs to hold the ball and give the rush time to get home. Biggest needs: middle LB, safeties, DT. Prioritize athletic players with versatility in the draft.​

 

[WmHBonney]

^^^ Awesome post above.

 

[Chawker]

I'm on the fence with Murphy, i love the fact that the Seahawks are committed to fixing the run defense issues. Yet, part of a defensive tackles job is to have the ability to swat down passes, Murphy's height and short arms detracts his ability to do this but, never the less the Seahawks are working on the run problem. Me personaly I was hoping for them to draft Darius Robinson who I believe would of offered more "flexibility" to our defensive line. Now we'll have to face him twice a year.

Cheers

 

[Scout]

Murphy is going to see snaps all over the front as a rookie.

 

[Chawker]

I just hope they keep to this theme when selecting a MLB and not a Cody Barton clone. Lord help us !

Cheers