Those who’ve been around Seahawks defense a day or 3 know they are letting down a legacy
Ryan Neal declared what some of the few remaining veterans of Seahawks seasons past have to be thinking.
We are letting down a legacy. We are betraying the brand, the bravado, the championships and the domination of defenses in Seattle.
“You either get the job done, or another person is going to do it,” Neal, the new starting safety playing the spot Kam Chancellor redefined in the NFL, said after the latest awful performance by the Seahawks’ league-worst defense in a 39-32 loss at New Orleans.
“This is just real, you know what I’m sayin’?” Neal said Sunday in Louisiana. “There’s no panicking. Guys have to get the job done. Guys have to execute. If you don’t, you can’t play here. That’s just what it is.
“This organization built itself on that. We’ve had examples in the past, with the L.O.B. (“Legion of Boom” secondary) and the OGs and all those guys.”
Yes, those “OGs”: Chancellor, Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas, Bobby Wagner, K.J. Wright, Michael Bennett, Red Bryant, Cliff Avril. They established a Super Bowl-winning standard in Seattle beginning 10 years ago.
This year’s Seahawks defense is threatening to shame if not erase that legacy in fewer than 10 games.
Seattle has allowed 958 yards and 84 points the last two games. Only the quasi-miracle of quarterback Geno Smith’s career revival has allowed the Seahawks to steal a win in one of those last two defensive meltdowns. Without Smith, the 2-3 Seahawks could be 0-5.
The only reason Seattle isn’t 33rd in the NFL in defense is the league has only 32 teams.
“Guys just have to execute,” Neal said of Sunday’s home game for Seahawks against NFC West-rival Arizona (2-3).
“I’m just disappointed because I feel like I’m letting down the group of dudes that really set the standard here. Even before here before with guys like K.J. or Bobby, there’s a standard that you’ve got to live up to.
“That’s just something that we have to do.
“For me, this is a call to defense, right now. Whatchu gonna do? Because it’s on us. In my mind, it’s on us.”
Running wild on the Seahawks
The Cardinals are likely to do what every other Seahawks foe has done so far: Run, wherever and whenever they darn well please.
Last weekend in New Orleans the Saints kept lining Taysom Hill in the Wildcat formation taking direct snaps and running lead power right at the Seahawks in short-yardage situations. Seattle knew it, yet couldn’t stop it.
Hill romped around and through the Seahawks for his career highs of 112 yards and three rushing touchdowns. He did all that on just nine, obvious and predictable carries.
Hill’s biggest run was Seattle’s most galling play Sunday. Less than 90 seconds after rookie Ken Walker gave the Seahawks a 32-31 lead with his first rushing touchdown of his career, a 69-yard jolt with 5 1/2 minutes left, the Saints had a third and 1 at their own 40-yard line. New Orleans lined up in Wildcat, with the 221-pound Hill taking the direct shotgun snap with 10 teammates blocking for him.
He only needed one or two of them.
Pro Bowl safety Quandre Diggs was the only Seahawks with a chance to stop Hill near the line Hill blew through. He ran through Diggs’ attempted arm tackle like a bulldozer through a bush. Hill’s 60-yard touchdown provided the decisive points in Seattle’s 39-32 loss that wasted another huge day from quarterback Geno Smith and the offense.
“I gotta get him down,” Diggs said.
It left the frustration and futility on the Seahawks defense at five games. And counting.
“I mean, everybody in the stadium knew who was going to get the ball. We knew who was going to get the ball,” Neal said of Hill inside the Superdome. “We’ve just got to fit it up and tackle. Point blank.”
New Orleans ran 48 times for 235 yards.
Before that, San Francisco rushed 45 times for 189 yards on Seattle.
Atlanta romped for 179 yards on 31 carries in winning at Lumen Field last month.
Detroit plowed for 145 yards on 25 rushes in a 48-45 loss to the Seahawks in which Smith and the offense rescued them.
The Seahawks rank last the NFL in yards rushing allowed per game at 170.2. They have allowed nine rushing touchdowns the last four games. They are last in total yards allowed (430 per game).
The defensive line is not holding gaps or tying up blockers. After cutting Wagner this offseason and declining Wright’s ask to play for them in 2022, the team sees its linebackers as its weakest position in the new 3-4 scheme. Jordyn Brooks and Cody Barton, first time starters inside, are getting blocked routinely. Outside, Darryl Taylor has been benched.
The players and coaches have used the same term after each game to describe the problems: “run fits.” That is, guys getting to their assigned gaps and got getting blocked out of them.
Neal said he and his teammates knew power runs by the rugged Hill and running back Alvin Kamara were going to be Saints’ plan last weekend. Starting quarterback Jameis Winston and top wide receivers Michael Thomas, Jarvis Landry and, after the second quarter Sunday, rookie Chris Olave were all out injured.
“And that’s what they came and did, you know what I mean? They ran down our throats,” Neal said.
“That’s something that’s unacceptable.”
Neal said the Saints had a common, predictable strategy with their runs: Away from when Neal came down from safety close to the line of scrimmage as essentially an extra linebacker.
That’s the role Jamal Adams was to have this season. He got a season-ending quadriceps tendon tear in the team’s opening win over Denver.
“Guys have just got to know that,” Neal said.
“Just makin’ plays, man. That’s what it comes down to, just making plays.”
He shook his head.
Changes
Neal was one of three more changes Carroll and defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt tried at New Orleans. That was after other changes failed the week before at Detroit — and after they changed Seattle’s defensive front from a 4-3 to a 3-4 this year.
Carroll has downplayed the scheme change as a large factor in the defense’s issues.
Hurtt has said some of the problems stem from familiarity with new run-gap assignments, but the coordinator’s also minimized that as a factor.
Neal said: “That’s just what it is, guys still learning.
“(But) like I said, no excuses, man.”
Rookie second-round pick Boye Mafe started at left outside linebacker for Taylor, who got benched for the second week in a row. Taylor is now a situational edge rusher on passing downs only.
Artie Burns entered at left cornerback for Michael Jackson in the middle of the game against the Saints. Jackson has started the first five games, replacing 2021 starter Sidney Jones. Jones has been a healthy scratch inactive two of the last three games.
Neal replaced Josh Jones at strong safety at New Orleans, and made multiple tackles short of the line and pass break-ups on third downs. That’s what he did as the team’s sixth, dime defensive back last season.
“It’s no more excuses. It’s no more foolin’ around,” Neal said. “We’ve just got to work and we’ve got to iron it out. And if guys don’t want to get it done, they will find somebody else to do it, know what I mean?
“It’s at that point now where it’s, like, ‘Hey, no more excuses,’ know what I mean? We’ve got to go to practice, we’ve got to get this (stuff) right, and we’ve got to fix it. We can’t go a season doing that. ...
“It’s got to be a turnaround now.”
Carroll said Neal is the starter at safety with Diggs for now.
“I think we should say he is ready. He got to play enough in this game. You got to see him. He got to make his plays,” Carroll said. “You can see how explosive he is. ...
“This is just his time.”
For Neal, this is just the entire defense’s time.
“Defense has got to step up,” he said.
“There’s got to be a turnaround. Now.
“We’ll see.”
