Can someone please explain the 3 LBs at all times approach

[Tamerlane]

Agreed, though it's difficult to weigh the relative impact of talent vs gameplanning. In my view McVay has had the much more talented roster overall up until now, thanks in part to the relative QB cap advantage and the years of high draft position, but the Rams are entering cap hell soon.

The primary roster advantage the Seahawks have had is obviously at the QB position. But if Goff is not under heavy pressure, he is not half bad with all the assets at his disposal. And if Wilson is under seige, holding the ball and facing receiver drops, as on Sunday, then that QB advantage is further diminished. The offensive gameplanning actually compensated quite nicely last year, running rampage over the Rams and making for tight game despite a big talent gap overall.

Sure Carroll will be continually re-evaluating defensive strategy against different opponents but more impactful will be rebuilding that defensive line. To attack the Rams' unique weakness (and incidentally help against all teams). I expect considerable resources to go there in the offseason. That and finding a true nickelback.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/SheilKapadia/status/1204477370566135808[/tweet]

 

[hawksfansinceday1]

Ouch ^^^

Yeah the Hawks have the assets in cap space and draft picks to attack the deficiencies on the d-line. It would be nice to get an impact guy or two with those expenditures.

 

[bbsplitter]

The linebacker coverage issue is not overblown. Even just re-watching the highlights of the game tells a simply story of "have random receiver run crossing route against over matched LB, gain big yardage." See images below. These are only two examples, if anyone wants more instead of re watching the highlights, I have a list. It's quite extensive.

 

[Tamerlane]

I didn't really comment on linebacker coverage in general. What I said was overblown was the knee jerk reaction that Seattle should run nickel at league average rates, when in Seattle's case this actually means putting a worse player and athlete on the field. Kendricks may well be better in coverage than Akeem King, who is the other option right now, but he is definitely better in the run game and blitz role, which has become absolutely vital for the Seahawks this year with its inconsistent pass rush. That weak pass rush was a key factor in the Rams passing success on Sunday by the way.

Against the Rams no one played well in coverage, linebackers included. Griffin admitted to blowing an assignment and giving up a touchdown. Wagner had an especially bad game, yes, although half of the yards he gave up in coverage were to tight ends and running backs, which are typically not covered by cornerbacks on any team even when in nickel. I doubt anyone wants to take Wagner off the field. As for the other linebackers on Sunday, KJ gave up only 27 yards and Barton only 24 yards in coverage according to PFF.

Every off-ball linebacker in the league has to cover and Seattle's linebackers have been considered among the best at it over the years. Leaving aside the Rams disaster for one moment, since Diggs arrived, the entire pass defense has actually been rather good, despite running 4-3 at the same rate as before. This stat below indicates #6 in the league in passer rating allowed (although it is numbered backwards):

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[Ozzy]

People are defending Pete here but it was dumb to think your linebackers and a first time starter at linebacker would be successful against this Rams team. Michael Bumpus said after watching the game that when they did go to Nickel/Dime looks they got the Rams off the field. Watching Higbee, a lumbering TE run away from Bobby was when I knew this was going to be a long night. Why not give Amadi a chance in nickel? What we were doing wasn't really working. Diggs bailed us out a couple of times or it could have been a real ugly night.

I was confident that in the future we would do something different but Pete's comments post game lead me to believe he's just being stubborn and unwilling to waver on his beliefs. I still think this team can win it all so its not the end of the world. Hopefully a couple of easy games to get back on track.

 

[Largent80]

My first post on this was deleted by the mods. I guess they didn't like my wording. I don't care. It's utterly foolish to keep this defensive scheme in place. Every good team is going to pick us apart if it continues even with Kendricks in there.

It doesn't matter at this point who plays nickel, and for the life of me I cannot figure out why they didn't trade for Mycah Fitzpatrick when he was available earlier this year.

Get RID of this idea that we have superior LB's. We have very good LB's, and that is the end of it. We have very good and young db'S, LET THEM PLAY.

 

[Tamerlane]

Hey, I appreciate there is a difference of opinion here, with strong opinions on both sides. All I will say is it's not cut and dry and it should have nothing to do with blindly defending or critiquing Carroll/Norton. It should be about the facts.

I wish we had Justin Coleman still so that we would have an appropriate nickel option against shifty receivers. But we don't. Instead we have Akeem King who is a liability in most coverage situations and is utterly incapable of playing in the slot against this kind of opponent.

Also we all know the formula: defending the pass = pressuring + covering. As far as pressuing the QB, by some metrics including one I just posted above, Seattle is at the very bottom of the league. But its blitz effectiveness is #4 in the league, thanks to Kendricks, who has become as vital to Seattle's pass rush as any of its defensive linemen. Kendricks actually has almost double the pass rush productivy of Clowney for the season, using PFF's signature statistic in this area (12.7 versus 6.5).

If the pass rush was getting there with four and there was a good nickel option against shifty receivers, we probably wouldn't be having this debate because you would see more nickel usage. Having said all that, in the interests of compromise and for the next game or two only, I am switching sides :lol: . I am (naively) hoping there is enough cushion of victory to risk getting Amadi out for another really good look.

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