Watching games, I've been trying to figure out what defense the Seahawks are running. I played football from 1965-1981 and I know things have changed a bit, but many of the fundamentals are still the same.
I decided to look at snap counts and this is what I found:
IDL (NT - Reed, Young); 85%
IDL (DE - Jones, Morris, Edwards, Adams); 122%
EDGE (OLB - Nwosu, Mafe, Taylor, Hall, Clark); 193%
TOTAL DL/EDGE; 400%
Which means we average exactly 4 DL per snap. 2.07 IDL and 1.93 OLB/EDGE. In regards to the DL, we are basically running a 4/3, but using 2 down lineman (hand in the dirt) and 2 OLB (standing up). I have noticed that it is extremely rare for either OLB to drop into coverage, so it's not really 3/4 (or 2/4) principals. I would call it a 4/3 using 3/4 techniques, and that also matches the alignment technique groupings I've been seeing (minus the lack of 0 technique usage). There's been no 2-gapping I've seen but some 1.5-gap here and there. I think you could call the line scheme either a 4/3 or a 2/4 since it's somewhere in the middle. Either way, it's definitely a hybrid and using the old 4/3 vs 3/4 makes no sense anymore.
ILB (Wagner, Brooks, Bush); 188%
When combined with the DL, this means we average nickel 94% and dime 6% of snaps.
Safety (Adams, Diggs, Love, Bryant, Reed Tabor); 252%
CB {Woolen, Witherspoon, Brown, Jackson, Burns); 260%
I thought we were running mostly heavy nickel (3 safety) but it looks like we're split almost 50/50 between regular and heavy nickel as our base defense. We also aren't running dime nearly as much as I thought.
All in all, the snap counts came out about like I thought. imo, the best description for this hybrid base defense is a 2/4/5 with an even split between regular and heavy nickel. Most likely they're in heavy nickel if there's a possibility of a run play, with Adams playing as a 3rd ILB. On pass plays they're going regular nickel or dime with 3 CB and 2-3 Safeties.
Overall it is working well. I expect to see steady improvement as the DBs (especially the younger ones) dial it in with more experience in the schemes. My only concern is what will happen with adjustments going forward as we address scheme changes which will be necessary to defend against the screen game. Cleveland exposed the weakness and other teams will try to use it against us now. It's hard to make that big of an adjustment without creating other weaknesses to be exploited, and it takes the DBs a little while to settle into those adjustments.
Hurtt has impressed so for this year. If he's up to the challenge this could be the best defense we've seen in 10 years.
I decided to look at snap counts and this is what I found:
IDL (NT - Reed, Young); 85%
IDL (DE - Jones, Morris, Edwards, Adams); 122%
EDGE (OLB - Nwosu, Mafe, Taylor, Hall, Clark); 193%
TOTAL DL/EDGE; 400%
Which means we average exactly 4 DL per snap. 2.07 IDL and 1.93 OLB/EDGE. In regards to the DL, we are basically running a 4/3, but using 2 down lineman (hand in the dirt) and 2 OLB (standing up). I have noticed that it is extremely rare for either OLB to drop into coverage, so it's not really 3/4 (or 2/4) principals. I would call it a 4/3 using 3/4 techniques, and that also matches the alignment technique groupings I've been seeing (minus the lack of 0 technique usage). There's been no 2-gapping I've seen but some 1.5-gap here and there. I think you could call the line scheme either a 4/3 or a 2/4 since it's somewhere in the middle. Either way, it's definitely a hybrid and using the old 4/3 vs 3/4 makes no sense anymore.
ILB (Wagner, Brooks, Bush); 188%
When combined with the DL, this means we average nickel 94% and dime 6% of snaps.
Safety (Adams, Diggs, Love, Bryant, Reed Tabor); 252%
CB {Woolen, Witherspoon, Brown, Jackson, Burns); 260%
I thought we were running mostly heavy nickel (3 safety) but it looks like we're split almost 50/50 between regular and heavy nickel as our base defense. We also aren't running dime nearly as much as I thought.
All in all, the snap counts came out about like I thought. imo, the best description for this hybrid base defense is a 2/4/5 with an even split between regular and heavy nickel. Most likely they're in heavy nickel if there's a possibility of a run play, with Adams playing as a 3rd ILB. On pass plays they're going regular nickel or dime with 3 CB and 2-3 Safeties.
Overall it is working well. I expect to see steady improvement as the DBs (especially the younger ones) dial it in with more experience in the schemes. My only concern is what will happen with adjustments going forward as we address scheme changes which will be necessary to defend against the screen game. Cleveland exposed the weakness and other teams will try to use it against us now. It's hard to make that big of an adjustment without creating other weaknesses to be exploited, and it takes the DBs a little while to settle into those adjustments.
Hurtt has impressed so for this year. If he's up to the challenge this could be the best defense we've seen in 10 years.
