why is it always one or the other's fault. the DC or the front 7. both things can be bad. it seems ignorant and dimwitted to suggest the scheme/playcalling/gameplan can't and shouldn't be upgraded. it seems the only time the defense held their own is when PC got involved and "fixed" the clint hurtt / desai approach
clint hurtt / desai are inadequate and so is the front 7. upgrade both. rewarding clint hurtt with ANOTHER year sends a sign of arrogance by PC. what did ken norton do? kris richard? find a top DC that has handled a DC position before, give him the keys, let them operate.
I got bad news. It's Pete's defense at the end of the day. No established DC will take the job.
It would be like asking Holmgren to hire a new OC and ask him to be hands off on his baby. It isn't going to happen.
No. What we witnessed this year was a Fangio/Pete abomination, where the new guys came in but had to adhere to Pete's philosophy. The worst of both worlds. Next year it will be terrible again. Even if they were to substantially upgrade the pass rush by some miracle. That is not enough to overcome their predictable coverages, lack of desguise, and terrible tackling. Pete's soft, easy to read coverage, allows the opposing QB to check the ball down for an easy 8 yards at the first hint of pressure. So even if the pass rush technically wins, the ball is still being completed, and the chains keep moving for the other team.
Their ceiling is 20th in the league with elite talent. Hard to develop elite players, when players are consistently so poorly utilized.
Examples:
-Playing Brooks on passing downs. Poor Coaching.
-Playing Poona at 4i-5-Tech. Poor Coaching.
-Taking way too many games to figure out Darrell Taylor is a DPR. Poor Coaching.
-Not moving Nwosu around, finding ways to scheme him to get more 1-v-1's, stunts/twists to free him up, once teams started keying on him. Poor Coaching. Same for Darrell Taylor for that matter.
-Bobby Wagner going to another defense and looking better than he has in 3 years despite being well into his 30's on an injury decimated unit.
-Pete has done a good job developing DB's. But not enough to offset selling the farm for Adams. Which ties in nicely with their overarching issues that has plagued the Seahawks for years.
-Lack of development for YEARS in the entire front 7. Despite the picks and money thrown at it. Poor Coaching.
-No ability to mask coverages, or pressures. Everything is telegraphed.
-Consistent regression collectively as a defense, despite heavy investment in both draft capital, and $$$$$.
-So terrified of getting beat deep, sit back in shell coverage allowing the defense to bleed out on the field.
-Poor 3rd down defense.
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My question I'd pose to the peanut gallery is, at what point do you point to coaching as the issue? How much draft capital, and $$$$ has to be flushed before the fingers get pointed at coaching and scheme? Understanding that JS has only been drafting the players Pete wants for his defense. Like how they used to with Cable and the O-Line. Had to strip Cable of that power and then eventually give him the boot to get the O-Line trending in the right direction.
Their asset expenditure is incredibly high already.
https://www.seahawks.net/threads/the-hawks-d-vs-the-top-8-d-asset-expenditure.184749/
Imagine thinking that throwing MORE assets alone at the defense will fix it. Couldn't be me. The Seahawks issues on defense are systemic. The same issues plague them season after season, and more keep getting added to the pile.
They now cannot tackle, and their run fits are awful. Something I thought I'd never see from a Pete Carroll defense.