Ken Norton Jr., son of a heavyweight champ, counter-punches criticism of Seahawks’ defense
Ken Norton Jr. has been criticized across the Pacific Northwest this fall more than its rain.
He’s the coordinator of the NFL’s last-ranked defense. Seattle allowed the most yards through the first half of a season in league history. Many wanted Seahawks coach Pete Carroll to fire his trusted deputy, one who began coaching defense for Carroll at USC 16 years ago.
For Norton, criticism is old hat.
Way-back-when-he-was-6-years-old hat.
The 54-year-old coach is the son of former heavyweight champion of the world Ken Norton. His dad once beat Muhammad Ali and broke Ali’s jaw while winning the first of their three fights in the mid-1970s.
“I mean, going back to, I was 6 years old, my father gets knocked out, they are always talking,” Ken Norton Jr. said while he and his Seahawks (7-3) continued preparing for their game Monday night at the Philadelphia Eagles (3-6-1).
“I’ve been dealing with criticism in family issues through my father’s career, through his friends’ careers.
“So when it comes to me, I have a certain way of dealing with it. I understand, and I get it. Everybody loves a winner. And everybody has all the answers for the guys who aren’t playing well.
“It’s a matter of us taking care of our business. If we take care of our business, we do our work, we play the way we are supposed to, then you quiet the noise.”
Norton’s defense quieted the noise last week.
Carroll said Norton was why.
The night before the Seahawks played Kyler Murray and the Cardinals, who had already shredded his defense in a Seattle loss the previous month, Norton led a meeting with his players last week.
“The best I’ve ever seen,” Carroll said.
Carroll is 69 years old. He began coaching in 1973 — the year Norton’s dad broke Ali’s jaw and gave “The Greatest” only his second career defeat, in a split decision in San Diego.
The Seahawks’ defensive coordinator went from player to player, first-, second- and third-teamers alike the night before the Arizona game. He had them detail what their responsibilities are for each play in Seattle’s base defensive schemes. The focus was on the players taking ownership and accountability of their so-far-below-standard play.
“It’s just making sure everybody knows that what they’re doing, understanding their job,” All-Pro safety Jamal Adams said Friday. “You know, you got to handle your job first before you know you worry about somebody else’s job.”
Carroll is a defensive-minded head coach. He’s a former college defensive back at Pacific. He was a secondary coach and defensive coordinator.
He said Norton organized the meeting expertly.
“The guys had a chance to speak up and show what they knew about playing their spot, responsibility-wise in the base calls that we had,” Carroll said.
“It was just a remarkable meeting of accountability. ...
“It was just a real nice step forward. But it was powerful. We tried to build on that. And the guys played like it.”
The day after Norton’s meeting, the Seahawks allowed their fewest points this season, 21. That was 16 fewer than Arizona scored against them last month. Seattle held the Cardinals to 314 total yards, 134 below their season average coming in — and 205 fewer than they gained in the first game against the Seahawks this season.
Norton’s defense did not sack or even hit Murray while the Cardinals quarterback threw for 360 yards and three touchdowns plus ran for 67 more yards in the first meeting. Last week the Seahawks had three sacks, hit Murray seven more times and limited him to 269 yards passing and 15 rushing.
The Seahawks went from losing three of their previous four games and holding onto the last spot in the NFC playoff standings to back at the top of the NFC West with a reviving, 28-21 victory.
For the first time this season, Norton’s defense — not quarterback Russell Wilson — was the reason Seattle won.
Wagner had Norton as his linebackers coach when the Seahawks drafted Wagner in 2012. He said the defense’s performance in the win over the Cardinals didn’t validate anything about Norton to him and his teammates.
To them, Norton was already more than valid.
“We have a huge confidence in him, you know. We believe in him,” Wagner said. “We don’t necessarily listen to the noise because the noise is going to be the noise. It’s noise every season, whether it’s offense, defense, it’s always, you got to talk about something. You can’t talk positive about everything. And obviously we haven’t played as well on defense. So they’re going to try to figure out how to single one person out.
“But it’s not really one person, you know, it’s a collective group ... So, you can’t just pin it on one person.”
Norton explained his thinking on the meeting that seems to have put the Seahawks’ defense back on track — or at least on a better track.
“Throughout the season, you kind of feel, as a coach, what your team needs. You try to fill in the blanks with some things that you feel like are important to them,” he said. “We are meeting every week. We are constantly doing different exercises to make us better, to make us closer, to understand the scheme, understand what the roles are.
“This was a meeting where you kind of feel, hey, guys need to pretty much talk about things that they have to do, and how it’s connected to what the guy next to him has to do. It was a meeting of the minds, a meeting of the responsibility. Just open discussion.
“Let’s speak out, exactly what we have to do.”
As for the players’ response and performance after his meeting?
“The way we reacted, the way people responded, is something, obviously, that we need to continue to keep doing,” Norton said.
“I’m not quite sure exactly what was exposed to everyone (about the meeting). But it was just a way for everyone to speak through the mission, and your responsibility for the mission, before the mission even happened.”
For one game, mission: accomplished.
Monday night in Philadelphia and their playoff race through December will determine if the change is real.
This story was originally published November 27, 2020 at 4:49 PM.
