Seahawks defense meets, vows to ‘get this sh** together’ after failures in loss at Vikings
Coach DeShawn Shead walked the length of the field with Tre Flowers, right down the middle of it, during the timeout between the third and fourth quarters. Shead appeared to do most of the talking. He had his arms out wide, his palms facing the stadium roof while looking at his cornerback.
Flowers was shaking his head.
Quandre Diggs was barking. Jamal Adams was stomping. The Seahawks’ defense was absolutely malfunctioning.
Again.
When their latest breakdowns all over the field had ended, after they allowed 23 unanswered points and 453 total yards allowed in another loss, a 30-17 ransacking by the previously winless Minnesota Vikings without injured star tailback Dalvin Cook, the Seahawks’ defense had a meeting.
They talked among themselves at U.S. Bank Stadium. Multiple players are unhappy — particularly with the schemes of coach Pete Carroll and defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr., and communication issues galore.
The tone of the meeting?
“We’ve got to get this sh** together,” cornerback D.J. Reed said.
“That’s what it is. And we’ve got to all come in. No pointing fingers. Blame yourself. Look at your mistakes, and bring it forward to the team.”
“(Defensive end Carlos) Dunlap, we just talked about it as a whole defensive unit,” Reed said on his way from the locker room to the Seahawks’ bus for the longer-than-normal flight home Sunday night. “And we are all in. We’ve just got to learn from it, get better from it, learn from the tape, learn from the mistakes, and just get better from it.”
Some, such as cornerback Tre Flowers, feel caught in what Flowers called “a gray area” between making plays and adhering to the assigned scheme, particularly in zone coverages and when Seattle blitzes.
“We threw everything at them,” Carroll said.
Nothing worked.
So what’s next? They’ve tried five defensive linemen and two linebackers. They’ve tried their usual 4-3. They’ve tried nickel defensive with an extra defensive back. They’ve tried to rush only four, cover with seven. They’ve tried to bring one, two and three blitzers. That didn’t work, either. The Vikings, much like the Tennessee Titans the week before in beating the Seahawks 33-30 in overtime in Seattle, beat all the defensive schemes.
Asked about the play of his cornerbacks Reed and Flowers, Carroll said: “I was disappointed late in the game. We needed to challenge (the ball) to get some wins, to see if we could get off the field that way. And their receiver beat us.”
Are personnel changes, new starters, next? Former University of Washington Husky star Sidney Jones, acquired last month, as a new starting cornerback?
“We’re looking at everything,” Carroll said.
Reed said his Seahawks (1-2) got out-schemed — which, of course, by extension means out-coached.
“They schemed our ass up,” the starting cornerback said of the Vikings. “I mean, it just felt similar to the Bills game last year (in November when Buffalo rolled to 44 points, the most allowed in the Carroll era). Whatever we were doing, just getting schemed up.
“The man-to-mans though, like the man I gave up to (Justin) Jefferson (for a touchdown pass from Kirk Cousins that gave Minnesota the lead for good at 21-17), though, that’s on me. When I am in man to man, there is nobody to blame but myself. I had bad eye discipline. ...
“That’s on me. I take that to the chin.”
The Vikings’ touchdown before Jefferson beat Reed with a double move, a slant then out route, came earlier in the second quarter. Adam Thielen ran an inside, “Dino” route from the slot inside and up the seam. He ran past Reed in zone coverage, cover 3, four defenders underneath and three (Reed, Flowers and safety Diggs) in thirds of the field deep. It’s a staple of Carroll’s defense in Seattle.
Reed said the Vikings (1-2) knew it was coming, and had the perfect answer.
“Shi*, schemed our ass up,” Reed said. “At the end of the day, I’ve got to make the play, but they formed a bunch. I’m playing outside, toward the bunch. And he bent it in.
“Good play. Good catch.”
And another bad day for Seattle’s defense.
This was so bad it wasn’t all just coaching or scheming. It was also playing — and simply talking.
On top of the issues in coverage, in stopping the run, in not pressuring Cousins, Reed said “we had a couple plays where obviously we didn’t communicate and we just gave them a free play. You know, you’ve got to make the offense work for it--especially on third down.”
At the opposite cornerback spot, Flowers is seeing ghosts.
At least one ghost. That of Richard Sherman.
Asked what he needs to do to make the aggressive plays on the ball that will change these results, Flowers said: “More film. More film study. More...
“Sadly, y’all want me to be Sherman.”
As alarming as that statement is, credit to Flowers and to Reed for talking outside the Seahawks’ locker room following the game. They stood up and answered questions about this mess, unlike other veterans who declined to and walked to the bus.
Asked for his assessment through three games, Flowers said: “It’s a schematic thing, I feel like. I’ve got my own questions to ask, and I’m going to fix it. ...
“It’s a little gray area now amongst a couple people. And I’ll fix it, or somebody else will fix it. We don’t know yet.
“Like I said, I’ve got a couple questions myself.”
For the second consecutive week, Seattle blew a two-score lead. Cousins had all day into Minnesota night to throw. Fill-in running back Alexander Mattison, replacing the injured and inactive Cook, romped for 112 yards rushing inside the rockin’ stadium that looks like a Viking Ship in downtown Minneapolis.
Mattison, a third-year veteran, has two career 100-yard games. Both are against the Seahawks. He also romped for 112 in Seattle, last October.
The Vikings became the second team in seven days to score at least 30 points on Seattle. That’s rendering Wilson and first-time play caller Shane Waldron’s new schemes meaningless in the grand scheme of winning and losing.
Seattle’s only win going into October and back-to-back games at San Francisco then home to the Los Angeles Rams four days later? At the winless Indianapolis Colts in the opener. The Colts appear to be one of the NFL’s worst teams.
The Seahawks appear to have one of the league’s worst defenses.
Five-man defensive line. Defensive end Alton Robinson finally getting a start and the playing time he’s earned. Four-man pass rushes. Blitzing three extra pass rushers. None of it mattered Sunday.
The way this Seahawks defense is — and isn’t — the opening coin toss may be the most important moment of games this season. Lose it, the opponent defers, and gets the chance to drive, get first downs and score at will to end first half and again to begin the second.
Sunday, that sequence because of the coin toss produced 14 game-changing points for the Vikings, without Wilson and Waldon getting the ball from 3:14 left in the second quarter until 6:34 remained in the third period.
“You are exactly right,” Wilson said.
It got so bad for the defense that by the third quarter, surrendering three more points to the Vikings like like a massive win. Darrell Taylor broke in on Cousins and forced the ball from the quarterback on Seattle’s first sack and only third pressure in 27 drop backs. That was on a third and 11 in the red zone. The loss of 10 yards forced Minnesota to settle for 43-yard field goal by Greg Joseph.
Somehow, despite not having a chance at a full possession since midway through the second quarter, Wilson and the Seahawks trailed only 24-17 midway through the third period.
But then the Seahawks allowed Everson Griffen to sack Wilson on a four-man rush, resulting in a three and out for Seattle’s offense. The Seahawks stayed behind by seven, then by 10, then and finally by 13.
Minnesota was 9 for 14 converting on third downs. Opponents are 15 for 28 on third down against Seattle the last two games. That’s at 54% success rate. The best team in the NFL converting third downs last season was Green Bay at 51%.
Nickel defensive back Ugo Amadi was burned repeatedly on third downs for easy Vikings catches. Amadi also had a crushing, obvious penalty for holding Minnesota receiver K.J. Osborn in the slot on one of the few times Seattle would have been off the field on third down, in the first half. Instead of Wilson getting the ball back leading 17-7, Amadi’s penalty away from the play and automatic first down led to Cousins’ 15-yard touchdown pass to Thielen easily inside Reed.
That made it 17-14, and the Vikings’ roll over Seattle’s defense was on.
“It’s just frustrating when a team is just driving the ball,” Reed said. “We couldn’t get a stop. It was just frustrating.
“Obviously, we can’t let our frustrations show. We damn sure can’t argue on the field. We’ve got to get to the sideline, communicate like professionals.
“But at the end of the day, we’ve got to get off the field on third down. That’s just what it comes down to.”
Cousins finished 30 of 38 passing for 323 yards and three touchdowns.
Wilson was 22 for 31, 283 yards and a 10-yard touchdown pass to DK Metcalf to end a sharp opening drive of the game for the Seahawks’ offense.
The day looked promising at that point.
Then again, the defense had yet to take the field.
Metcalf’s response
After what he admitted were a shaky first two games, getting into too many head games with opposing defensive backs, Metcalf had an All-Pro game Sunday.
He had four catches for 78 yards in the first quarter. His late block outside left allowed Chris Carson to finish that 30-yard TD run.
Metcalf finished with 107 yards on six receptions.
“He responded all week. Didn’t start today,” Wilson said. “Really started this week. DK responded in a tremendous way. Attitude was right, mentality. He’s a champion. Knows what to do. He’s a pro. You all have up and downs and tough moments, but he was really truly prepared.
“Had one of his best weeks of and practice and it showed in the game. Thought he played really well tonight.”
Metcalf appeared to get injured on the next-to-last series of the game, but jogged back the huddle. He stayed down on the field long enough that officials called for an injury time out. So Metcalf had to leave the field for a fourth and 12.
Wilson threw deep to Penny Hart in the end zone. Minnesota safety Harrison Smith appeared to arrive just before the ball did, then knocked the ball away from Hart as the receiver fell onto his back. The officials ruled incomplete. Wilson ran to the end zone to argue for Hart caught the pass. His teammates wanted pass interference they didn’t get. And Seattle stayed behind 30-17 with 3 minutes left.
The Seahawks had lost this game way before that.
After roaring to a 17-7 lead in a wild first half, the Seahawks didn’t score over the final 41:12 of the 60-minute game. The previous week, Seattle scored just six points over the final three periods, the third quarter, the fourth quarter and overtime against the Titans.
That doesn’t help a defense that could use any and all aid it can find.
Yes, it’s only week three. Fourteen games remain in a long, long season. The Seahawks have been here before. They’ve been 1-2 four times in their 12 years under Carroll. The last time, in 2018, they finished 10-6 and got into the playoffs as a wild card.
They missed the playoffs after a 1-2 start in 2017, was a wild card after starting 1-2 in 2015 and missed the playoffs after going 1-2 to begin 2011.
Carroll’s message to the team in the locker room, either before or after that meeting of the defense, stressed togetherness.
“Yeah, stay together. It’s a long season,” Carroll said. “We don’t know how the stories are going to be written. Right now, you guys will go off and try to figure it out, but we don’t know. We don’t know what’s going to happen with other teams and all of that.
“Just have to keep staying together and connected and keep giving ourselves the opportunity to have a great season. Only way to do that is to hang. On the road next week. Got to get through this start and get rolling.”
Ever the captain and franchise cornerstone, Wilson remained steadfast following this loss that put Seattle two games behind the unbeaten Cardinals and Rams only three games into the season.
“I believe in this football team,” Wilson said, “what we can do—and what we will do.”
This story was originally published September 26, 2021 at 4:31 PM.
