Jarran Reed and his comical Michael Bennett hip thrusts are revitalizing Seahawks’ defense
Once Jarran Reed put his hands behind his helmet, Michael Bennett had to have known.
Everyone else inside Lumen Field with Bennett knew. At least everyone who’s been a Seahawks fan for at least seven years, through their Super Bowls heyday, did.
Reed, Seattle’s increasingly pivotal nose tackle, had just sacked Carolina’s Andy Dalton in the fourth quarter Sunday. His sack sealed the Seahawks’ 37-27 win.
It was celebration day at the stadium for the 10th anniversary of the team’s 2013 Super Bowl-champion season. Bennett was among the dozens of Seahawks from that title season in attendance at Lumen Field Sunday.
Reed had been thinking for hours before — and during — the game how he’d honor Bennett and the Seahawks’ legends if he made a big play. When he did, he performed Bennett’s comical hip-thrust sack dance into the roaring crowd behind the south end zone.
“That’s a shout out to my list, to my OGs of the game,” Reed said. “I thought it was only right.”
Reed had said weeks ago he was motivated this summer getting coached by Bennett a couple days during Seahawks training camp.
Reed was a tad concerned with how skilled his dance would look Sunday.
No matter. The effort alone was the fun.
“I was thinking the whole day (Sunday): If I was getting a sack and I do it, how am I going to look? Because I really didn’t practice it,” he said. “I really didn’t expect to get the sack.
“But I got it, and I just said, ‘I’m going to do it.’”
Seahawks radio play-by-plan announcer Steve Raible, a former wide receiver for the team, described it live on the air: “Dalton goes down in the arms of Jarran Reed, who does a sack dance! And scares every young child in the south end zone!”
Reed’s moves were nearly as funny as the retired Bennett’s all-timer quote after he got fined by the NFL during the Seahawks’ 2016 season for his sack dance.
“Two pumps gets you a baby,” Bennett said. “Three pumps gets you a fine.”
Reed had reason to dance Sunday, beyond the sack.
The 30-year old Seattle drafted in the second round in 2016 had eight tackles, 1 1/2 sacks, one tackle for a loss, plus three quarterback hits and even knocked away one of Dalton’s passes. He had three tackles on Seattle’s first seven defensive plays.
On the third, Reed shoved Panthers right guard Calvin Throckmorton into the backfield. Then he ran across the formation to stop running back Miles Sanders from behind for no gain, all the way in the opposite tackle-end gap.
Reed was relentless deep into the fourth quarter. With 4 minutes left in a two-score game, he recognized a Panthers screen pass. He stopped rushing up the field and ran his 306 pounds far laterally, from over the guard to outside, at the yard-line numbers. When Terrace Marshall cut inside after his catch, Reed ran into the wide receiver’s chest, felling him with a thudding tackle.
Reed celebrated that hit with a Kam Chancellor-like hammer motion. He pounded the air with his arm and fist, toward the same south end zone he’d done the Bennett hip thrusts.
Reed’s value included ripping into his teammates on the sideline after a defensive series. He was angry at trailing the winless Panthers 13-12 into the third quarter.
“J-Reed will let you know about it. If you’re not playing up to your standard, he will let you know about it,” linebacker Jordyn Brooks said. “He did that (Sunday). He felt like we could have been more dominant. And we could have. Him just leading by example, and also a vocal leader, helps us tremendously.
“This is during the game...on the sidelines, defense huddling up. ...He came up and was like ‘Hey, we have got to do better! We got to stuff them, keep them stuffed, don’t let them get anything.’
“Everybody bought into that. And we went out there and performed.”
Brooks had nine tackles against Carolina. He also shared a sack with Reed, on a blitz. Reed sped past Panthers left guard Chandler Zavala, bear-hugged Dalton and slammed the quarterback into Brooks, who then brought him down.
Reed did all that while playing just over half of Seattle’s snaps on defense, 42 of 79.
Reed played hurt
Pete Carroll called Sunday’s game the most impressive performance by Reed in his NFL career. Reed played his first six pro seasons for Carroll and Seattle, then for Kansas City in 2021 and Green Bay in 2022.
He signed back with the Seahawks this spring. The deal is for two years and up to $10.8 million.
That looks like a bargain so far.
“Oh man. That’s the best game he’s played since he’s been with us. At any time,” Carroll said Monday, including Reed’s seasons away.
“That was a complete football game. Run. Pass. Effort. His pursuit out of the pile. Chasing screens on the perimeter. Excellent. He came through in big situations with big plays.”
What impressed Carroll even more was Reed played hurt against the Panthers. He had what the coach on Monday called a “major, legit” groin injury that MRI exams last week showed to be a second-degree strain.
He didn’t practice until Friday. Yet he dominated Carolina’s interior offensive line on Sunday.
“He practiced one day last week. (That) was all he got,” Carroll said. “He, of all the (many Seattle) guys (hurt) had the worst injury.
“We were really fired up about that.”
Reed’s ‘dog’ mentality
Carroll said all preseason re-signing Reed and making him the new nose tackle in the middle of line was the key change to Seattle’s defensive front. The coach said Reed would be pivotal to improving what was the league’s 30th-ranked run defense.
The Seahawks list Reed as a nose tackle in their mixed, partly 3-4 scheme. But Carroll and defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt, the team’s former line coach, have him doing much more. They have Reed head up on the opposing center, as a “zero technique” nose tackle. They have him shading to either shoulder of the center. They have him holding gaps on some plays, shooting them by charging up the field at the snap.
They also have him sometimes playing between the guard and the tackle as a “three-technique,” more outside. That’s more like he was as a 4-3 tackle in Carroll’s Seahawks defense from 2016-20.
So far, so right.
The Seahawks (2-1) enter their Monday night game at the New York Giants (1-2) third in the NFL allowing just 2.9 yards per rush. Run-first Carolina had just 44 yards on the ground against Reed and Seattle Sunday.
“I definitely think we are taking the steps in the right direction,” Reed said. “We can’t get complacent. We have to stay hungry.
“We know last year that was a point of emphasis, and this year it was a point of emphasis. We just want to play together. We just want to play as hard as we can and to have a complete game, period. Not just on the run, but in the pass game as well.”
The Seahawks still have work to do, of course. The Giants and quarterback Daniel Jones, specifically, will test Seattle’s pass rush and the ability to keep him contained from running after dropping back to pass.
If the first three games are an indication, Reed will be in the middle of that job, too.
What specifically has Reed brought to the Seahawks’ defense?
“Toughness. Just a ‘dog’ mentality,” Brooks said. “That was another reason having that type of guy. He was here my first two years and then went off the last year, and that was a big piece that was missing. I think the toughness and his mentality as far as just playing ball, period.
“I think he definitely is the forefront of stopping the running game right now.”
This story was originally published September 26, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
