What’s up with Seahawks’ remade pass rush?
Opposing quarterbacks are getting the ball out so quickly the Seahawks’ pass rushers can’t get to them.
Seattle’s counter to that?
Jumping jacks.
Actually, they are jumping Ziggys, jumping Jadeveons, jumping Quintons, Poonas and Brandens.
“The biggest thing is trying to get your hands up,” Seahawks defensive line coach Clint Hurtt said while preparing this week for another quick passer, Kyler Murray, Arizona’s rookie top-overall draft pick.
“Just because you are not getting a sack or not getting a quarterback off his spot doesn’t mean you can’t affect the game. So you try to get your hands up, bat some balls, which we had some success doing against Cincinnati (in Seattle’s opening win Sept. 8). Pittsburgh (in week two’s victory), we got one or two of them. So there are other ways to get it done.
“But, obviously, you want to keep rushing so when the opportunities are there, we are getting to the quarterback and affecting him.”
The thing is, so many of Hurtt’s guys are, well, hurt right now.
Ziggy Ansah did not practice Thursday, for the second consecutive day. The 30-year-old sack man Seattle signed this spring to a one-year contract potentially worth up to $9 million has a new injury: a bad back.
He’s just 18 snaps into his Seahawks career. His debut last weekend in the home loss to New Orleans was his first game in 10 months, after shoulder surgery last winter then a groin injury last month.
Quinton Jefferson has been the Seahawks’ most consistent pass rusher this month. He has two of their six sacks. He was the only defender to hit Saints quarterback Teddy Bridgewater on his mostly quick, one- and two-step throws last weekend. But Jefferson has a new hip injury that kept him from practicing Wednesday and Thursday.
Tackle Poona Ford remains limited by a calf strain he’s had for weeks.
Tackle Jarran Reed, second on the team with 10 1/2 sacks last year, is only halfway through his six-game suspension by the NFL for an alleged domestic-violence incident.
Jadeveon Clowney, the Pro Bowl end Seattle traded to get from Houston on Sept. 1 to be Ansah’s bookend pass rusher, is comparatively healthy. But he has just one sack in three games. His debut against the Bengals was occasionally dominant. Since then, he’s been handled: by Steelers left tackle Alejandro Villanueva in Pittsburgh and by Saints chipping with backs and tight ends helping tackles.
These are Clowney’s first times on the field since January. His holdout with the Texans before his trade kept him out of workouts for all the offseason and preseason.
Opponents using quick passes
Hurtt knew foes would seek to neutralize Clowney and Ansah by using the quick-passing game. Cincinnati’s Andy Dalton used it to throw for 418 yards against the Seahawks. Bridgewater did it last weekend to beat Seattle.
Clowney and Ansah played together for 15 snaps against the Saints. New Orleans used a running back against one of them and a tight end against the other on the same pass plays to “chip” block. The back and tight end sometimes stayed in to help the tackles on each side and other times released on to delayed pass routes after the chip.
Clowney and Ansah had no sacks and no quarterback hits in their first game together.
Hurtt said “them playing together; there’s still some stuff to iron out”—namely, pairing Clowney with Jefferson inside him and Ansah with Jefferson or Branden Jackson inside him. The Seahawks have been using all four ends as their down linemen, no tackles, in passing situations. Their coach says it’s taken time for the pairings to know each other’s moves.
Couple that with opponents getting the ball out quickly and the extra attention Clowney and Ansah have been getting from blocking schemes, and the Seahawks’ pass rush remains the issue they had after their traded top sack man Frank Clark this spring. Seattle’s six sacks in three games is tied with Pittsburgh for 21st in the NFL.
“Yeah, I mean, the chip protections, the quick game, getting the ball out, those are going to be all the things to counteract who you have. That’s going to be a part of it,” Hurtt said.
“But you are still going to have your opportunities. You can’t miss them. It’s not an excuse.”
Especially Sunday.
If Clowney, Ansah (if the plays) and the Seahawks’ front isn’t getting to Murray in the desert, there will be concern entering next week’s short turnaround for the Thursday night game against the Los Angeles Rams. The Cardinals (0-2-1) have allowed their prized rookie to be sacked a whopping 16 times in three games. Murray is getting sacked on 11.7 percent of his drop backs. That’s the worst rate in the league.
“We all have to be better,” Murray told reporters in the Phoenix area this week. “I think that’s what it comes down to: getting the ball out, protection, everything.”
Hurtt said Carolina last week in its 38-20 win at Arizona, plus Baltimore and Detroit (which the Cardinals tied) defenses have forced Murray to hold onto the ball longer. The rookie has seen mixed coverages. He’s seen blitz looks that have become drop-offs into extra coverage after the snap. Those tricks are designed to confuse the rookie QB, or at least make him have to hold the ball to decipher the defense.
Corners work on press coverage
Cornerback Shaquill Griffin said the Seahawks have been working on more press coverage this week in anticipation of short routes by Cardinals receivers and quick throws by the rookie.
“We’re just going to play a little tight coverage; we’re just going to play a lot tighter,” Griffin said. “That’s something that we’re just looking forward to, is the challenge. We know what (Murray) can do. He’s good at extending plays. Those little short passes that are really quick and that he tries to hit, at the end of the day he can extend those plays. ...
“I feel like the main thing we need to do is play tight. Like I said before, we’ve got to win our one-on-one battles and I feel like that’s what it’s going to come down to. Just be ready for extended plays.
“We know exactly what’s going to happen, and what’s coming. So we just have to be ready for it.”
If Griffin, recently targeted cornerback Tre Flowers and the defensive secondary do their jobs in that tight coverage, Murray may be holding the ball again. That should make Clowney and friends up front more productive than they’ve been overall this month.
The Seahawks gaining a big lead Sunday would help, too. Five of the Panthers’ eight sacks of Murray last weekend came after they went up by 15 points at Arizona.
Seahawks defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. would rather not blitz out of the base 4-3 defense he’s using more than nickel this season. The team’s iffy secondary needs the extra help with linebackers in pass coverage underneath instead of sending them on blitzes.
Hurtt says Murray, regardless of his sack numbers, has been good at reading and beating the league’s blitzes.
“To the young kid’s credit, he does a nice job of seeing the pressures and knowing where to go with the ball,” Hurtt said of last season’s Heisman Trophy winner at Oklahoma. “I see why they are excited about him there. He’s a talented player.”
A player the Seahawks’ battered defensive front may have to end up jumping up in front of to affect him, and affect Sunday’s game.
“The opportunities are going to be there to rush the passer,” Hurtt said. “Not everybody is going to constantly leave two additional blockers to try to knock (Clowney and Ansah) every down.
“So you’ve got to maximize the opportunities that are there.”
This story was originally published September 27, 2019 at 7:00 AM.
