The defense is starting to come together

[keasley45]

In a very important way. Great article on .com about how they've changed their mentality and ratcheted things up some in terms of accountability...

LOB style...

All bodes well moving forward.

Seahawks Defense Tries To Instill ‘Legion Of Boom’ Mindset In Practice

 

[pittpnthrs]

I agree. I knew it was going to take time and some shuffling. It's getting better and hopefully will be good to great in the next season or two with a few more additions.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

Great post, Keasley. Seeing improvement mid-season, exactly what many of us were hoping for. I think adding Jones at LB has changed the defense even more than it may seem.

 

[SeaWolv]

I was just reading an article on The Athletic (paywalled) a couple of days ago about this very thing:

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5929054/2024/11/18/seahawks-49ers-defense-mike-macdonald/

But shaking up the inside linebacker room seemed to make a huge difference in Seattle’s 20-17 win over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium, as Ernest Jones IV and rookie Tyrice Knight combined for 23 total tackles while leading the charge in one of the team’s best defensive efforts of the season.

In his third game as a Seahawk and first as the defensive play caller, Jones had a game-high 13 tackles. Knight, the new weakside linebacker following Tyrel Dodson’s release, had 10 tackles in his third start of the season. Jones had one tackle for no gain and three more stops on runs that gained only 1 yard.

San Francisco running backs Christian McCaffrey (19 carries, 79 yards) and Jordan Mason (two carries, 13 yards) combined for 92 yards and averaged 4.4 yards per attempt. Sunday marked the first time since 2021 that the Seahawks have held San Francisco’s tailbacks under 100 rushing yards in a game. The 49ers had just one explosive run (12 or more yards), and it was a 13-yard scramble by quarterback Brock Purdy. McCaffrey’s longest run went just 11 yards.

Whiners held under 100 yds rushing with CMC? F'ing A right!

If Olu can continue to make improvements and Lucas gets back to form we could make a legit push for the NFC West title.

 

[Seahawks fan]

The old saying "Once is a Fluke, Twice is a coincidence, Three times is a pattern, 4 times is the standard" this is how I'm taking it with the Hawks defense this year.... If the defense comes out on Sunday and shuts down the Cards run game (120yds or under) then I'll start to really believe the past 2 games weren't just "getting lucky" and this defense is starting to turn the corner....

 

[projectorfreak]

The new lbs were very patient containing their gaps and that made almost all the diff , kinda like having extra D tackles so going to the game and holding out hope cuz at this point they are our biggest hurdle
Pretty sure we can beat the lambs now even with kupp n nacua so the cards are it.
Lucky for us we always play them better than the other 2 bi+@#es in our division

 

[Ozzy]

I love it. I think Macdonald is starting to show his worth and hopefully they can build on it.

 

[olyfan63]

MacDonald's D finally slowed down the 49ers O. Yes, game 10 of the season, but that's what we brought him here for.

 

[Ozzy]

MacDonald's D finally slowed down the 49ers O. Yes, game 10 of the season, but that's what we brought him here for.

But after 3+ years of it not getting better I’ll take it lol

 

[sutz]

MacDonald's D finally slowed down the 49ers O. Yes, game 10 of the season, but that's what we brought him here for.

I sure hope it is repeatable next season.

 

[Seahawks Guy]

It was really nice seeing the middle of the field well covered, getting hands on those passes including one that was tipped for an interception. They have killed us throwing in the middle of the field finding soft spots in the zone. I'm sure it helped having Kittle out, but it's not like we don't have injuries of our own.

The next step is to stop letting Purdy scramble and make big plays. Maybe I'm asking too much.

The defense was the real hero of that game. They put the offense in a position to win it at the end.

 

[keasley45]

I sure hope it is repeatable next season.

If the players 'own' the system, the process and the preparation and the accountability for it, that is 100% repeatable.

 

[Appyhawk]

Considering that MacDonald got a relatively late start for his first season as a head coach I think results have been, to a certain extent, predictable. Who didn't expect an up and down nature to rate of progress? I expect the same going forward but in an overall upward trajectory. These next 3 games will likely tell the story for this season in our push for a divisional title but I feel our direction will continue to escalate after our season is over, into the offseason and during the season next year.

 

[CalgaryFan05]

Think the termination/trade smartened everyone up?

 

[toffee]

"Once is a Fluke, Twice is a coincidence, Three times is a pattern, 4 times is the standard"

This!!!

 

[hawks85]

The most important defensive position is Coach Mikes defense is the LB's. I very confident we have our 2 LB's to make our defense a force to be reckoned with. I also believe very strongly that if we had Jones and Knight during TC up to this point right now we'd be 8-2 or 7-3

 

[Seahawk_Dan]

Today is a test. If the defense contains Murray and the Arizona run game, improving from the last two weeks, then Macdonlds Message is getting through to them.