How Seahawks’ pass coverage differs in Macdonald’s scheme

It’s only one game, but the Seattle Seahawks’ season-opening win over the Denver Broncos this past Sunday provided the first real glimpse of new head coach Mike Macdonald’s cutting-edge defensive scheme.

Why the Seattle Seahawks’ defense has Daniel Jeremiah raving

The results certainly were impressive.

The Seahawks allowed just 231 total yards. They kept the Broncos out of the end zone for the game’s first 57 minutes. And they surrendered just 3.3 yards per play, their fewest since the 2018 season.

From a schematic perspective, what did Seattle do differently compared to recent years? One difference is how frequently the Seahawks mixed up their pass coverages. NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah, a former NFL scout who now co-hosts the Move the Sticks podcast, touched on that Wednesday during his weekly appearance on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk.

According to Jeremiah, the Seahawks on Sunday spent 21% of their defensive snaps in quarters coverage, 17% in Cover 1, 14.5% in Cover 6 and 10% in Cover 2. Seattle was much less varied in its coverage schemes last season, playing Cover 3 defense 38% of the time, according to former NFL quarterback Brock Huard.

“They mixed their coverages up throughout the entire game,” Jeremiah said. “… They’re constantly changing, so you can’t really get a beat on what they’re doing defensively.”

Versatility and unpredictability were staples of Macdonald’s league-best defense in Baltimore last season, when he was the Ravens’ defensive coordinator. Heading into this year, much of the discussion about Macdonald’s scheme centered on mixing pressures up front. But as Sunday appeared to show, Macdonald also is mixing things up quite a bit on the back end.

That unpredictability likely made Sunday even more difficult for Denver rookie quarterback Bo Nix, who completed 26 of 42 passes for just 138 yards, no touchdowns, two interceptions and just 3.3 yards per pass attempt in his NFL debut. Nix’s 3.3 yards per attempt is tied for the sixth-fewest from any quarterback with at least 40 passes in a game since the 1970 NFL merger.

“We all could see what (the Seahawks’ pass coverage) was Sunday – it was awesome and it was a blur and it confused Bo Nix and it made him edgy and rattled and uncomfortable,” Huard said during Thursday’s Blue 88 segment on Brock and Salk. “Well, what about last year? Is it really that much different than a season ago? Do you realize last year they played Cover 3 38% of the time? That was the fifth-highest total in the league.

“They would mix and match some of those things (last year),” he added. “They would carry it out a little differently. There were details and nuance within it. But by and large, you knew what they were going to do. … (Opponents) knew, like, here was their tendencies. This is basically what you were going to play. … That is not the case this year.”

Listen to the full conversation with Daniel Jeremiah at this link or in the audio player near the middle of this story. Hear the Blue 88 segment at this link or in the audio player near the bottom of this story.

More on the Seattle Seahawks

• Seahawks Injury Report: Walker doubtful, two players out vs Patriots
• Rost: Two keys for Seahawks vs Patriots in Week 2
• Mike Macdonald previews Seahawks’ Week 2 matchup vs Patriots
• How Seahawks’ new linebacker duo impressed Wyman
• Lefko: Why you should be encouraged by Seattle Seahawks’ offense

Follow @CameronVanTil