Is the Seahawks' 2nd-string defense playoff caliber?

[kearly]

We have some good depth players.

But the end of the Minnesota and Jacksonville games would suggest that no, as a unit the 2nd team is not that good.

I got the sense in the Jacksonville game that Pete was trying to help Bradley avoid utter embarrassment at the end. That 2nd half defense was incredibly soft. Cecil Shorts had a buck fifty and didn't look special doing it.

Minnesota is a different story, but if we are going to judge the second unit, we shouldn't compare them to the first unit, we should compare them to the first unit in garbage time situations. Pete worships at the altar of win probability in garbage time: even 7 yards per offensive play is acceptable if comes 7 yards at a time.

Think back on that first Cardinals game when Seattle's starting defense allowed some long TD drives late in the game to make it look closer than it really was. Pete didn't care, because he knew 8 minute TD drives wouldn't be enough to erase 20+ point lead.

My answer to the OPs question is "inconclusive". But I do think it would probably be a pretty good defense, and it was statistically a very good defense in the preseason. With all the rotating Pete does at all three levels, we have so few players that are true backups on the defense.

 

[plyka]

Assuming everyone on the roster was available (I.e. not factoring in current injuries, suspensions, etc.) the Hawks' 2nd-string defense looks like what you see below. Note that I'm including M. Bennett because even though he plays starter-level snaps, Red & Avril are the official starting DE's.

So the question is....would this defense be good enough to take a team with a solid offense to the playoffs if it were it's starting D? While I think there would some issues up the middle, I think it's plausible.


5-tech DE: Michael Bennett
NT: Clinton McDonald
3-tech: Jordan Hill
Leo: Chris Clemons

WLB: Malcolm Smith
MLB: Heath Farwell
SLB: Mike Morgan (or O'Brien Schofield)

CB: Walter Thurmond
SS: Jeron Johnson
FS: Chris Maragos
CB: Byron Maxwell
Nickel: Jeremy Lane

Um...not even close. I would say they are at best one of the worst 2-3 starting defenses in the league. Forget about "playoff caliber."

Maragos/Jeron Johnson as your safeties? God, I hope Earl and Chance are bubble wrapped. Farwell/Morgan as two of your LBs? The d-line is damn good though.

 

[Pandion Haliaetus]

If all those players came in with the mentality of knowing they would be starting and playing the whole game, they would be a middle of the pack defense.

Part of the reason why Seahawks are the best defense in the NFL is because those guys on that list are depth players.

But it would definitely be a play-off caliber defense if and only if every single player on the Seahawks Offense would have stayed relatively healthy: McCoy, Harvin, Robinson, Rice, Okung, Miller, Giacomini, Unger and others plus everyone else who has been relatively healthy were 100% healthy in 90% of their games.