NFL.com Bucky Brooks breaks down LOB struggles.

NFL.com Bucky Brooks breaks down LOB struggles with clips. Some good details discussed.

Seattle Seahawks' defense must adjust to vulnerabilities
1) The blueprint is out on how to attack the Seahawks' coverage.
2) The mass exodus of blue-chip cover corners has hurt.
3) The defense is still adjusting to new coordinator Kris Richard.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap30...ahawks-defense-must-adjust-to-vulnerabilities

This is not going to be a popular explanation here, since it directly challenges the popular narrative that this is all the result of an ineffective offense keeping the defense on the field too much and that the last defensive play against Carolina was a simple breakdown in communication and ignores earlier struggles. Actually, the TOP in these games have been pretty much in the Seahawks' favor up to the point that the defense starts giving up long drives where they keep themselves on the field too long. The problem is not one of an overworked defense losing a step as much as a defense not being able to adjust to opponents changing tactics to exploit the defensive style.

BadgerVid":38vrvnjp said:

This is not going to be a popular explanation here, since it directly challenges the popular narrative that this is all the result of an ineffective offense keeping the defense on the field too much and that the last defensive play against Carolina was a simple breakdown in communication and ignores earlier struggles. Actually, the TOP in these games have been pretty much in the Seahawks' favor up to the point that the defense starts giving up long drives where they keep themselves on the field too long. The problem is not one of an overworked defense losing a step as much as a defense not being able to adjust to opponents changing tactics to exploit the defensive style.

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Hummmm....Is that like...Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

The Seahawks secondary is probably one of the best in the NFL in normal game situations, but has been a Chernobyl-class meltdown when playing against offenses in comeback mode. The offense going punt-punt-punt when they need to be putting games away is also exaggerating how bad things have been late in games.

kearly":vhp3shf9 said:

The Seahawks secondary is probably one of the best in the NFL in normal game situations, but has been a Chernobyl-class meltdown when playing against offenses in comeback mode. The offense going punt-punt-punt when they need to be putting games away is also exaggerating how bad things have been late in games.

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Agreed. It's lost 14 4th qtr leads since 2012, which is worst in the NFL. I'd love to say they shouldn't go to prevent and be able to blame it on that, but they didn't do that these last two losses. So it's even more frustrating to watch. Yeah, the offense needs to get its shit figured out, but the defense does too.

Bigpumpkin":avkjjv28 said:

BadgerVid":avkjjv28 said:

This is not going to be a popular explanation here, since it directly challenges the popular narrative that this is all the result of an ineffective offense keeping the defense on the field too much and that the last defensive play against Carolina was a simple breakdown in communication and ignores earlier struggles. Actually, the TOP in these games have been pretty much in the Seahawks' favor up to the point that the defense starts giving up long drives where they keep themselves on the field too long. The problem is not one of an overworked defense losing a step as much as a defense not being able to adjust to opponents changing tactics to exploit the defensive style.

Click to expand...

Hummmm....Is that like...Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

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Maybe it is...or, more to the point, "Is the chicken responsible for the egg or the egg responsible for the chicken?". I will not blame the offensive struggles late in the game on the defense, while it is true that the long drives given up by the defense can have SOME effect on the offensive rhythm, I think the base problems with both units come down to play calling...the province of the coordinators. Kris Richard can be excused a little (though the excuse is running a bit thin at this point) due to his inexperience at calling the plays...he seems to come into the game with a philosophy and plan that holds up well until the other team adjusts to it, but is seemingly unable to make adjustments to changed attacks. The offensive play calling is what it is...Bevell seems to waver between pure vanilla and gratuitous trickiness, but with no real rhyme or reason.

Both sides of the ball have functioned well enough through 3/4 of the game to provide substantial leads, but neither coordinator seems to have the answer to holding those leads in the face of changed tactics by the opposing teams. I readily admit that I don't have the answers...if I did I would be challenging Pete for the title of the oldest head coach in the NFL rather than a broken down retired cop anxiously looking forward to each game to see if the best team in football has gotten their act together...I am just speculating based on what I see and hoping to see the real discussion that has kept me mostly reading as opposed top posting for some years now.

BadgerVid":2pqxd2ln said:

This is not going to be a popular explanation here, since it directly challenges the popular narrative that this is all the result of an ineffective offense keeping the defense on the field too much and that the last defensive play against Carolina was a simple breakdown in communication and ignores earlier struggles. Actually, the TOP in these games have been pretty much in the Seahawks' favor up to the point that the defense starts giving up long drives where they keep themselves on the field too long. The problem is not one of an overworked defense losing a step as much as a defense not being able to adjust to opponents changing tactics to exploit the defensive style.

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Bucky Brooks is one of the very few columnist I respect. He writes great articles and has always been fair to the Seahawks. I'm one of those people who put the weight on the offense but this article is about our defense and I don't disagree with anything he's says. My issue with the offense is not finishing by getting a few more first downs ( redzone TD% as well). We are probably 4 first downs away from being 4-2. Any defense will break if you give the oposing offense enough shots.

The argument of saying the defense stops their offense we win is lazy. That's like me saying if the offense scored more points we would have won, no duh. The defense has played at a fairly high level most of time. The offense has not. Only flashes and some well played drives.

kearly":eb4o5svz said:

The Seahawks secondary is probably one of the best in the NFL in normal game situations, but has been a Chernobyl-class meltdown when playing against offenses in comeback mode. The offense going punt-punt-punt when they need to be putting games away is also exaggerating how bad things have been late in games.

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Exactly. Our defense has proven that it can and does shut down offenses on a consistent basis. But our offense has "NEVER" really proven that it can or has the ability to finish an opposing team off whether at the beginning, middle or in the 4th quarter of games.

One can pick on many areas of our defense if that is all you wish to look at in games. But it means nothing to me until PC and Bevell start making the offense a dominant part of the game, instead of on too many occasions and afterthought.

seahawkfreak":35uim01a said:

BadgerVid":35uim01a said:

The argument of saying the defense stops their offense we win is lazy. That's like me saying if the offense scored more points we would have won, no duh. The defense has played at a fairly high level most of time. The offense has not. Only flashes and some well played drives.

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Hmm, so, the argument of saying that THEIR Defense stops our Offense/// OUR Defense stops THEIR Offense is somehow not the same argument?
All this, AND, keeping in mind that we've blown a few substantial leads ^
It's a two edge sword.

scutterhawk":1bdtezvo said:

seahawkfreak":1bdtezvo said:

BadgerVid":1bdtezvo said:

The argument of saying the defense stops their offense we win is lazy. That's like me saying if the offense scored more points we would have won, no duh. The defense has played at a fairly high level most of time. The offense has not. Only flashes and some well played drives.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Hmm, so, the argument of saying that THEIR Defense stops our Offense/// OUR Defense stops THEIR Offense is somehow not the same argument?
All this, AND, keeping in mind that we've blown a few substantial leads ^
It's a two edge sword.

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I think my statement that our defense has played well most of the time and the offense has played ok some of the time was pretty competent and relevant.