Heaps: Seahawks are improving on defense, but must get Adams more involved

After, once again, starting the season historically poor on defense, the Seahawks have been able to turn things around the last few weeks and head into the bye on a high note on that side of the ball.

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After allowing over 450 yards in four straight games from Week 2 to Week 5, the Seahawks have been a lot better defensively, allowing an average of 319.33 yards per game the last three weeks.

What’s improved?

Well, for starters, the Seahawks are getting better in coverage with their linebackers as well as their cornerbacks.

But what can improve?

One area is pass rush, where the Seahawks are again ranking near the bottom of the league in terms of sacks.

Former NFL quarterback Jake Heaps thinks that in general, though, one area the Seahawks can improve is by utilizing one of their star players better, including in the pass rush. He explained why during Thursday’s edition of Jake and Stacy on 710 ESPN Seattle.

“The biggest thing is the usage of Jamal Adams,” Heaps said of the team’s star strong safety. “What are you doing to get this guy more involved? What are you doing to accentuate his strengths and make him the impact player that he is?”

After trading two first-round picks, a third-round pick and safety Bradley McDougald to the New York Jets for Adams and a fourth-round pick, the Seahawks used Adams all over the place and he rewarded them with a team-high 9.5 sacks in 12 games as well as second-team Al-Pro honors.

But Adams hasn’t had nearly the same type of impact this year, and Heaps hopes to see that change after the bye week.

“He is 100% a weapon, a dynamic player that can take over games and you can instantly feel his impact,” Heaps said. “So his numbers in terms of tackles for loss are down and he has not registered a sack. He hasn’t even registered a quarterback hit yet … That to me is the biggest problem that you see with this defense right now.”

Heaps said fellow safety Quandre Diggs is supplying a lot of playmaking and he’s keeping the defense disciplined on the back end, but he wants to see more big plays on that side of the ball.

“Where’s the playmaking? That’s what you brought Jamal Adams here to do is to make plays, cause havoc, cause disruption,” Heaps said. “You’ve got to put him in better positions to do so more frequently.”

Listen to the second hour of Thursday’s Jake and Stacy at this link or in the player below.

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