Bobby Wagner, Seahawks finally get to blitz. Now Seahawks are getting Jamal Adams back
Finally, they blitzed again.
It was like Jamal Adams was back.
This week, he will be.
Coach Pete Carroll said following the Seahawks’ unleashing a far more aggressive defensive game plan that dominated Jimmy Garoppolo and the San Francisco 49ers in Seattle’s 37-27 victory Sunday that Adams is playing next week for the Seahawks (6-1) at Buffalo (6-2) in a match-up of division leaders.
It will be the first time the All-Pro safety has played since Sept. 27. Adams strained his groin in the fourth quarter of his team’s win over Dallas that day.
“I thought it added to everything. The pressure that we added helped everybody,” coach Pete Carroll said after his Seahawks blitzed far more than they did while Kyler Murray and Arizona shredded them in a 37-34 overtime loss last week.
The Seahawks sacked Garoppolo three times. They hit him seven times. They limited him to just 84 yards passing. They intercepted him once and knocked him out of the game early in the fourth quarter.
It was 30-7 Seahawks by then.
“We just decided to take a little turn,” Carroll said. “We are still trying to figure some things out to get better, and we just put it on the fellas. We have a great attitude group, and they want to play tough and physical and go after it. And we just looked for opportunities to make sure and show those guys.
“And with Jamal coming back next week, it’s going to happen some more.”
Adams is still the Seahawks’ co-leader in sacks with Bobby Wagner and Benson Mayowa (two each). And Adams hasn’t played in more than a month. He missed his fourth consecutive game Sunday with a strained groin.
To blitz or not to blitz?
Adams was blitzing around 10 times per game in September. The Seahawks were sending blitzers on upwards of half their defensive plays when their new star strong safety started the first three games of this season.
It was something of test-driving Adams. He was playing his first three games for Seattle. He had 6 1/2 sacks blitzing from all over last year for the Jets. The Seahawks acquired him for veteran starter Bradley McDougald and two first-round draft choices in a splashy trade this summer.
Carroll by his defense-first nature does not like to blitz. He prefers to drop deep into coverage, keep plays in front of his cover guys and rely on his front four defensive linemen to force quarterbacks to get passes out before they want to, into tight coverage by the secondary off the line.
Why does Carroll normally eschew blitzing? Because of what happened in those first three games with Adams blitzing so much.
Seattle allowed 19 plays of 20 or more yards in those three wins to begin the season.
Atlanta’s Matt Ryan threw for 450 yards in Seattle’s opening win, 38-25. New England’s Cam Newton passed for 397 yards in the Seahawks’ 35-30 victory on the final play. Dallas’ Dak Prescott threw for 472 yards, most against Seattle in a game in team history, as the Seahawks hung on to win 38-31 on the next-to-last play.
Adams missed the team’s games against Miami, Minnesota and Arizona. Carroll instructed defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. to have Wagner, fellow linebacker K.J. Wright, his cornerbacks, his safeties, everyone except the front four pass rushers drop deeper in coverage.
It worked against since-benched Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Dolphins. They kept gaining yards but methodically, and kept stalling in the red zone. Miami kicked five field goals, Seahawks cornerback Shaquill Griffin had two huge plays and Seattle took a 31-15 lead in the fourth quarter of an easier win.
Minnesota’s Kirk Cousins couldn’t fully exploit Seattle’s softer defense, either. Wright had a key interception dropping deep in coverage against the Vikings, and the Seahawks won 27-26.
But in the final game of October at Arizona the Seahawks saw what a brilliant quarterback and opportunistic play caller can do to their dropping-back, no-blitz defense. Kyler Murray and coach Kliff Kingsbury shredded Seattle for 360 yards passing and three touchdowns. Murray dropped back to pass 48 times. The Seahawks never hit him let alone sacked Murray. The Cardinals rallied three times from double-digit deficits to hand Seattle its first loss, 37-34 in overtime.
Seattle entered Sunday with just nine sacks in six games. It was on pace for fewer than it had in 2019 when it was next to last in the NFL in sacks. The Seahawks began week 8 having allowed the most yards in league history through seven games. They were ranked last in the NFL in pass defense.
They were basically needing Russell Wilson to be nearly perfect throwing to win. For the first five games, he was. He tied Peyton Manning’s league record for most touchdown passes to begin a season. But the day he made mistakes—his first three-interception game in three years—the Seahawks lost, at Arizona.
Carroll said after that game he erred in not adjusting during the game and blitzing Murray and the Cardinals more.
“We have to give our guys a chance,” the veteran coach said, meaning coaches with their schemes.
They capitalized on their new chances against San Francisco.
The “little turn”?
After San Francisco running back Tevin Coleman (three rushes, 20 yards) went out injured following a first quarter the 49ers dominated, the Seahawks sensed the Niners couldn’t run. They starting blitzing. They sent Wagner and speedy rookie Jordyn Brooks on multiple blitzes up the middle, over the guards and center.
Wagner’s thought?
Finally!
“I always talk to them about blitzing more,” he said.
The idea was to force Garoppolo, weeks removed from a high-ankle sprain, to run outside to escape pressure. The Seahawks believed they could run him down.
They were right.
Wagner had two of Seattle’s three sacks, which was one-third the defense’s season total coming in. Rookie defensive end Alton Robinson had the other, the second of the impressive fifth-round pick who should play more’s career.
The beaten Garoppolo limped off to the 49ers’ locker room injured. Nick Mullens replaced him for the fourth quarter.
Seattle led 30-7 by then.
“I feel like we were a lot more aggressive and we were able to get in the backfield and get their quarterback off his spot,” said Wagner, who was noticeably steamed after his and his defense’s performance and loss to the Cardinals the previous week.
“Obviously, we still have things to work on, but I think it was a step in the right direction.”
“We were a lot more aggressive and blitzed a lot more. ...I think it was important for us to get the quarterback off his spot and not let him sit back there and pick us apart.”
Exactly.
This defensive line needs help. It is missing Bruce Irvin, who is out for the year after knee surgery. Top rookie pass rusher Darrell Taylor still hasn’t practiced let alone played for Seattle; the second-round pick had leg surgery in January the Seahawks thought he’d be recovered from months ago.
Rasheem Green, last season’s team sack leader with just four, hasn’t played in more than a month because of a pinched nerve in his neck.
Seattle had to covert rookie tight end Stephen Sullivan weeks ago to defensive end. He hadn’t played the position since high school in Donaldsonville, Louisiana. Yet there was Sullivan in the 49ers’ backfield making plays in the first half Sunday, in his first NFL game.
Carroll has a decision to make going forward with Adams returning. Continue blitzing more, risking not getting to the quarterback and giving up the huge plays—particularly against the veteran, elite quarterbacks Seattle will have to beat to get to the Super Bowl? You know, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees?
Or stay back, play conservatively, even perhaps with Adams, and take their chances that they will—as Seattle’s coaches like to say—be better longer than the other team’s offense to win? You know, against Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees.
Sunday strongly hinted the former choice. That Carroll is convinced the blitz is back on.
And here comes Adams. Plus, the Seahawks expect two-time Pro Bowl defensive end Carlos Dunlap, acquired last week in a trade with Cincinnati, to debut for the team at Buffalo this week.
“Really playing to the nature of our guys,” Carroll said. “I thought it added to everything. The pressure that we through at that helped everybody. We just decided to take a little turn. ...
“We just wanted to make sure that we’re giving our guys a chance to play the way the way they want to play, and play aggressive and all.
“We’ve been reeling a little bit, with the guys coming in and out. We’ve been waiting. ...
“I have all the expectations in the world that we’re going to really be able to compliment what this offense is doing and make us tough to beat.”
