Why the Seattle Seahawks’ defense has Daniel Jeremiah raving

Sep 11, 2024, 10:23 AM | Updated: 3:35 pm

Seattle Sports

On Sunday night, after the Seattle Seahawks had won head coach Mike Macdonald’s debut by a score of 26-20 over the Denver Broncos, NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah had to weigh in on what he was seeing as he broke down film from the game.

Schlereth says Seahawks did one thing better than he’s ever seen in NFL

There was one player in particular who jumped out to Jeremiah, a former NFL scout who now co-hosts the Move the Sticks podcast.

“I’d like to buy all of the Boye Mafe stock that’s available. He’s on the cusp of being a superstar. He plays at a different speed and he’s starting to learn how to rush the passer,” Jeremiah wrote on social media about the Seahawks’ third-year outside linebacker.

A few days later during Jeremiah’s weekly conversation with Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk, he was asked by Mike Salk about his comments on Mafe. Jeremiah didn’t spend much time in his response talking about Mafe, however, because it turns out there’s a lot more that he likes about the Seahawks’ new defense.

“I came out looking at the whole tape and I was like, OK, this defense is really, really fun,” Jeremiah said.

“… One of the things that I do early on Monday mornings is I’ll go through the sortable statistics and I’ll say, OK, these are the guys who had the most pressures during the week, and I’ll go watch all those players because I’m curious not only to see how they’re individually playing but what teams are doing to free some of these guys up. (Mafe) showed up near the top of that list, so that was one of the first things I watched was just a cut up of his pressures. Then I go back and get a chance to watch the whole game in the ‘All-22,’ and it’s like, I don’t know where you stop the list of impressive players for the Seahawks on defense.”

“I don’t know where you stop the list of impressive players for the Seahawks on defense.”

Daniel Jeremiah (@MoveTheSticks) shares his thoughts on what stood out from the #Seahawks D in Week 1 w/ @BrockHuard and @TheMikeSalk. pic.twitter.com/e1ed89jOxD

— Seattle Sports (@SeattleSports) September 11, 2024

Those impressive players were all over Seattle’s defense, not just limited to one position group.

“(Seahawks defensive end) Leonard Williams was awesome. Obviously, the coverage in the back end, they had two picks, they dropped two more – I mean, they could have easily had four interceptions in that game,” Jeremiah said. “You look at what they do at the line of scrimmage all the way across the board, they did a nice job of generating pressure. (Defensive end) Dre’mont Jones got some push. They were impressive with what they did.

“The secondary, (safety Julian) Love was all over the field. We talked about it last week, but (cornerback Devon) Witherspoon in this defense, being able to insert him not only as a blitzer but someone who can fit the run as well… You go to the first-round rookie on the defensive line in Byron Murphy and that same funky little go-to-a-knee technique that he (used in college at Texas) against the run and anchors down that’s like one of the more unique things I’ve ever seen, he’s doing the same thing to NFL players.”

The first look at Mike Macdonald’s defense. pic.twitter.com/PaeFcsI9Yq

— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) September 9, 2024

Is this really real?

OK, the Seahawks had a great day on defense. But does there need to be a reality check on account of Seattle playing a Broncos offense led by unproven rookie quarterback in Bo Nix?

“Well, I think the Seahawks thing is real,” Jeremiah said. “They have real players at all levels, so there’s nothing about that performance that I would say was given to them. Bo Nix didn’t play great by any stretch. (The Broncos) didn’t really have any vertical passing game. … I didn’t come away from that thinking (Nix) was terrible, especially considering all of the rookie quarterbacks (who played in Week 1). Look at all of these rookie quarterbacks, it was not a great showing across the board. But I would lean more towards just give your Seahawks credit on defense. The defense looked great.”

That being said, what about when the Seahawks have to defend against a stronger offense?

“(The Broncos) creased (the Seahawks) on one run inside, and that was kind of it,” Jeremiah said. “Maybe they see a team with an elite, elite offensive line, maybe they can try and get them a little bit in the run game, but that’s nitpicking because there literally are legit players at all levels. And they’re all fast, man. They all can run.”

Catch the weekly conversation with NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah at 8:30 a.m. each Wednesday on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk. Listen to this week’s edition in the podcast at this link or in the player near the top of this post.