Looking at the snap counts from Pro Football Reference, it appears the Seahawks lined up almost entirely in Nickel. Woolen, Diggs, Love, and Wagner all played 100% of the defensive snaps.
Snap Counts by Personnel:
3-4-4 (three interior linemen, two off-ball linebackers): 6 (8%)
2-5-4 (two interior linemen, three off-ball linebackers) 10 (12%) [SEE EDIT]
2-4-5 (two interior linemen, two off-ball linebackers): 48 (59%)
2-3-6 (two interior linemen, one off-ball linebacker): 17 (21%)
EDIT: Just realized after re-watching parts of the game, there were downs when Wagner, Brooks, and Bush were all out there at the same time, which I didn't initially factor in to my calculations above (I didn't chart plays, I just counted up snaps by position). That personnel grouping may happen less once Adams is back. Regardless, the amount of times when three interior lineman were played together was minimal.
It's only one game against the Rams, but based on this, the preseason, and the offseason personnel moves, it doesn't really look the the Seahawks are a 3-4 team (or a traditional 4-3 team) in terms of personnel (not talking about positioning, alignment, etc). It appears they are playing mostly in nickel (2-4-5) on base downs, with some 2-5-4 thrown in against 12 personnel and dime (2-3-6) on 3rd and long. They really only played 3-4-4 on the Rams' last drive when they were running down the clock.
The lack of urgency to fill the NT (0-tech/1-tech) position makes more sense here - they don't need a huge 2-gapper in the middle for the majority of plays. The good news is they looked capable of playing decent run defense with this personnel grouping. The bad news is that it didn't seem to help much with pressure, coverage, or generating turnovers. Again, this is the first game of the season against the Rams, so all this comes with a grain of salt. Still, it gives us an even more clear idea of where they want to go with the defense, and where it will need to improve.
In terms of pressure, aside from getting better production from the front-4, one thing that will need to improve is blitzing. Whether it was a four-man rush with an OLB dropping into coverage, or bringing extra men, instant pressure was non-existent and Stafford never seemed fooled. Bobby managed 6 sacks last season but he was a non-factor in this game, and he's limited in coverage so the temptation is probably to use him as a the extra man in the pass rush more often than not. Bryant I think made one good play off of a blitz (the Rams tried a flea flicker) but was also generally ineffective.
Adams and Witherspoon, with their instincts and aggression, should help improve the blitz along with the overall talent level. One big question is whether Carroll and Hurt will wean themselves off of Wagner on likely passing downs. Taking Wagner and Bryant out for Adams and Witherspoon should help, and allows the defense to be more "multiple" and perhaps the results will start living up to the vision.
I think "multiple" generally means being able to play different alignments and coverages out of the same personnel, but in order to do that your personnel must also be "multiple" - able to play in different positions with different responsibilities. Interior linemen that can play the run and pass, and can potentially play either 1 or 2 gaps. Outside linebackers that can set the edge against the run, pass rush, AND occasionally cover. Safeties that can play in the box or deep. Nickel-safety hybrids, etc.
One-dimensional players limit this and players like Woods, Poona, Jefferson and Barton were seemingly let go in favor of players who hypothetically can play well vs both run or pass. Unfortunately at this point Bobby, aside from his ability to call the plays and get people lined up properly, looks more and more like a run down specialist. To be fair that's a needed talent, but for the defense to progress we may need to see Brooks and Adams eating into his snaps.
For this to happen, we need to see Adams and Witherspoon replacing Love and Bryant on base/mixed downs, and Bobby coming off for Love on obvious passing downs (with Adams moving into the nickel off-ball linebacker spot next to Brooks). With Brooks, Adams, and Witherspoon in and around the box behind the front four there's a lot of potential for blitzing along with better coverage talent on critical 3rd and long situations.
Again, it was just one game, but it will interesting to see how the defense evolves once all of the pieces are back and the system has had time to gel.
Snap Counts by Personnel:
3-4-4 (three interior linemen, two off-ball linebackers): 6 (8%)
2-5-4 (two interior linemen, three off-ball linebackers) 10 (12%) [SEE EDIT]
2-4-5 (two interior linemen, two off-ball linebackers): 48 (59%)
2-3-6 (two interior linemen, one off-ball linebacker): 17 (21%)
EDIT: Just realized after re-watching parts of the game, there were downs when Wagner, Brooks, and Bush were all out there at the same time, which I didn't initially factor in to my calculations above (I didn't chart plays, I just counted up snaps by position). That personnel grouping may happen less once Adams is back. Regardless, the amount of times when three interior lineman were played together was minimal.
It's only one game against the Rams, but based on this, the preseason, and the offseason personnel moves, it doesn't really look the the Seahawks are a 3-4 team (or a traditional 4-3 team) in terms of personnel (not talking about positioning, alignment, etc). It appears they are playing mostly in nickel (2-4-5) on base downs, with some 2-5-4 thrown in against 12 personnel and dime (2-3-6) on 3rd and long. They really only played 3-4-4 on the Rams' last drive when they were running down the clock.
The lack of urgency to fill the NT (0-tech/1-tech) position makes more sense here - they don't need a huge 2-gapper in the middle for the majority of plays. The good news is they looked capable of playing decent run defense with this personnel grouping. The bad news is that it didn't seem to help much with pressure, coverage, or generating turnovers. Again, this is the first game of the season against the Rams, so all this comes with a grain of salt. Still, it gives us an even more clear idea of where they want to go with the defense, and where it will need to improve.
In terms of pressure, aside from getting better production from the front-4, one thing that will need to improve is blitzing. Whether it was a four-man rush with an OLB dropping into coverage, or bringing extra men, instant pressure was non-existent and Stafford never seemed fooled. Bobby managed 6 sacks last season but he was a non-factor in this game, and he's limited in coverage so the temptation is probably to use him as a the extra man in the pass rush more often than not. Bryant I think made one good play off of a blitz (the Rams tried a flea flicker) but was also generally ineffective.
Adams and Witherspoon, with their instincts and aggression, should help improve the blitz along with the overall talent level. One big question is whether Carroll and Hurt will wean themselves off of Wagner on likely passing downs. Taking Wagner and Bryant out for Adams and Witherspoon should help, and allows the defense to be more "multiple" and perhaps the results will start living up to the vision.
I think "multiple" generally means being able to play different alignments and coverages out of the same personnel, but in order to do that your personnel must also be "multiple" - able to play in different positions with different responsibilities. Interior linemen that can play the run and pass, and can potentially play either 1 or 2 gaps. Outside linebackers that can set the edge against the run, pass rush, AND occasionally cover. Safeties that can play in the box or deep. Nickel-safety hybrids, etc.
One-dimensional players limit this and players like Woods, Poona, Jefferson and Barton were seemingly let go in favor of players who hypothetically can play well vs both run or pass. Unfortunately at this point Bobby, aside from his ability to call the plays and get people lined up properly, looks more and more like a run down specialist. To be fair that's a needed talent, but for the defense to progress we may need to see Brooks and Adams eating into his snaps.
For this to happen, we need to see Adams and Witherspoon replacing Love and Bryant on base/mixed downs, and Bobby coming off for Love on obvious passing downs (with Adams moving into the nickel off-ball linebacker spot next to Brooks). With Brooks, Adams, and Witherspoon in and around the box behind the front four there's a lot of potential for blitzing along with better coverage talent on critical 3rd and long situations.
Again, it was just one game, but it will interesting to see how the defense evolves once all of the pieces are back and the system has had time to gel.
Last edited:
