The positive change Huard saw in Seahawks’ defensive scheme

Nov 4, 2024, 9:27 AM | Updated: 9:30 am

Boye Mafe of the Seattle Seahawks reacts during the fourth quarter of a 2024 game. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

(Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

Seattle Sports

A lot went wrong for the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams, but very few of the mistakes came on the defensive side of the ball.

JSN has breakout game Seattle Seahawks have been waiting for

In fact, the Seahawks played one of their best defensive games of the season against a quality opponent that features an offense with plenty of talented playmakers.

Seattle slowed down Los Angeles’ run game and held an opponent under 100 rushing yards for the first time since Week 3 against a banged-up Miami Dolphins offense. And it was able to get consistent pressure on standout quarterback Matthew Stafford to keep the veteran signal-caller from getting clean pockets to throw from.

During the FOX broadcast of the game, color analyst and former NFL linebacker Jonathan Vilma said he didn’t see the Seahawks doing anything different schematically and that the improved play was simply a result of players getting off their blocks, which has been a problem for the team.

However, former NFL quarterback Brock Huard disagrees with Vilma’s take. He sees some truth to what the former linebacker said, but also saw Seattle doing different things defensively, which he explained Monday morning during his Blue 88 segment on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk.

“I didn’t appreciate the ‘They haven’t done anything different. They’re just getting off blocks.’ There’s some degree of that. And he’s a linebacker, so I’m not going to sit here and challenge that throughout,” Huard said.

The example Huard gave of why there was something behind what Vilma said in terms of beating blocks was when the Seahawks held the Rams to a field goal in a goal-to-go situation late in the third quarter.

With the Los Angeles facing second-and-goal from Seattle’s 1-yard line, linebacker Ernest Jones IV made a tackle for a 2-yard loss, and the Seahawks broke up a pass on the next play.

“There were absolutely times that Ernest Jones, instead of sitting back, was like, ‘Nope, I’m pulling the trigger, I’m gonna shoot the gap.’ And what an unbelievable play,” Huard said. “… So there is absolutely some truth in what Vilma was saying, but I don’t know, man. That first half I saw some new pressures, I saw some new stunts. I saw some people moved around on that D-line in some new ways.”

Why Seahawks could show new pressures

Head coach Mike Macdonald last week said the Seahawks would be simplifying their schemes when he joined Brock and Salk for The Mike Macdonald Show, yet the team did appear to do some new things on defense.

Huard said that was a result of the improved run defense, which kept the Rams from advantageous positions on third down and forced them into obvious passing situations.

“So there’s some truth on both sides of it, but I don’t think they just were vanilla like they had been at times,” Huard said. “I don’t think it was, ‘Well, we can’t call the other stuff because we’re not putting ourselves in position.’ No, they put themself in position to earn the right to rush the passer. And then when they did, guess what you could get to? Chapter five and six and seven of the playbook that had some cool stuff in it, that just absolutely got to Stafford, absolutely rattled him and absolutely forced both inaccuracy and a bunch of throwaways.

“So I thought there were some significant steps of improvement schematically, and they earned the right to get to that.”

Tune in to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.