Leonard Williams’ ‘dominant’ day powers Seahawks’ surging defense

Nov 24, 2024, 8:11 PM | Updated: Nov 25, 2024, 7:15 am

Seattle Seahawks Leonard Williams celebrates sack Arizona Cardinals 2024...

Leonard Williams of the Seattle Seahawks celebrates a sack against Arizona on Sunday. (Rio Giancarlo/Getty Images)

(Rio Giancarlo/Getty Images)

Seattle Sports

SEATTLE – Seattle Seahawks defensive lineman Leonard Williams woke up with a good feeling about Sunday afternoon’s pivotal NFC West clash.

His intuition proved spot-on.

Williams compiled the best performance of his nearly 13-month tenure with the Seahawks, serving as a massive game-wrecking force in Seattle’s smothering 16-6 victory over the previously division-leading Arizona Cardinals at Lumen Field.

The 6-foot-5, 300-pound Williams, known as “Big Cat,” provided a tenacious presence all day long in the trenches and the Arizona backfield. He totaled 2.5 sacks, three quarterback hits, four tackles for loss and a pass deflection, while also impacting numerous other plays that didn’t show up on the stat sheet.

It highlighted a five-sack day for Seattle’s surging defense, which held dual-threat quarterback Kyler Murray and the Cardinals to a season-low six points and just 298 total yards. The victory vaulted the Seahawks into first place in the wide-open NFC West.

“Pretty much everyone I approached before the game, I was just like, ‘I got a good feeling about this game. I got a good feeling about this game,'” Williams said. “And it wasn’t directed toward my personal success. It was directed toward the team success. I just had a great feeling about it. I just had great energy out there today and it showed.”

Williams’ 2.5 sacks were tied for the second-most in a single game over his 10-year career – including the most he’s had with the Seahawks since being acquired from the New York Giants in an October 2023 trade.

Williams now has five sacks, seven tackles for loss and 18 quarterback hits in 10 games this season. He entered the day ranked fourth among defensive tackles in ESPN’s pass-rush win rate and could very well move up after Sunday’s performance.

“He was dominant,” Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald said. “I knew he played great and then I looked at the stat line – I mean, he played out of his mind. … There’s not many like him walking the planet and I’m glad he’s on our team. He’s a heck of a guy and he’s leading the charge in the defensive front room.”

LEO IS ON ONE. pic.twitter.com/jHVcbDVrlz

— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) November 24, 2024

Williams led a pass rush that tormented the speedy and elusive Murray, who is on track for the best season of his six-year career. Seattle’s five sacks of Murray were the most he’d taken all season. Entering the day, Murray had been sacked just 15 times over Arizona’s first 10 games.

Edge rusher Boye Mafe recorded his fifth sack of the season, rookie linebacker Tyrice Knight had his first career sack and Jarran Reed teamed with Williams for a half-sack. Seattle finished with seven QB hits and five tackles for loss.

Coby Bryant makes Beast Mode ode on pick-six

And on the game’s defining play, star cornerback Devon Witherspoon pressured Murray into an errant fourth-and-1 throw that safety Coby Bryant intercepted and returned for a 69-yard pick-six.

“It was just a collective effort as a pass-rush group,” Williams said. “… Although I had a great game and some of those sacks, I don’t take full credit for them. It was a group effort.”

Big Cat’s big plays

Williams’ massive day began late in the first quarter, when he forced an incompletion by hitting Murray’s arm right as he was releasing the ball. The play was originally ruled a fumble, with rookie linebacker Tyrice Knight scooping up the loose ball and returning it for a touchdown. But after replay review, the call was changed to an incompletion.

Early in the second quarter, Williams bull-rushed an offensive lineman to the ground and pressured Murray for a third-down incompletion. Later in the half, Williams and Reed plowed through Arizona’s offensive line and combined to sack Murray.

Williams’ biggest sequence came midway through the third quarter. On first down, he engulfed running back James Connor in the backfield for a 4-yard loss. Then two plays later, Williams raced around the edge and threw down Murray for a third-down sack and an 11-yard loss.

Early in the fourth quarter, Williams helped chase down Murray and was credited with another sack for being the nearest defender as Arizona’s dual-threat quarterback slid to the ground.

“There’s times where you just get in the zone as an athlete,” Williams said. “There’s certain games where it just kind of slows down for you at times.”

BIG CAT. 😤 pic.twitter.com/ICpNp4iJIM

— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) November 24, 2024

Williams sat out practice Wednesday and Thursday with a foot injury, though one would never know it with his play Sunday. He said the downtime during the week allowed him to watch more film, which benefited him on his takedown of Conner on a tackle for loss.

“That specific play, I (could) tell when those two guys were pulling and it just slowed down for me,” Williams said. “That’s one of those moments when you’re just in the zone and you’re letting people feed off of you. I was feeding off of the crowd. The 12s were just really loud out there today, so it was great energy all around.”

At the center of it all was Williams.

“Everybody sees it – his energy out there, the stuff he brings to the table,” Witherspoon said. “I mean, he’s Big Cat. He’s Leo. So man, I don’t think there’s a word to describe it. I just know we appreciate it.”

Seahawks’ defensive run continues

After a rough first half of the season, the Seahawks appear to be hitting their stride on defense under their first-year head coach and his cutting-edge defensive schemes.

In an overtime loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Nov. 3, Seattle allowed just 13 offensive points and 283 total yards in regulation. Then after a bye week, the Seahawks held the 49ers to season lows of 17 points and 277 total yards in a dramatic victory last week. And on Sunday, they followed with their best showing yet.

A constant theme for Seattle’s defensive turnaround has been its ability to stop the run. After being gashed on the ground over the first half of the season, the Seahawks have held opposing running backs to just 200 rushing yards and 3.6 yards per carry over their past three games.

On Sunday, they held Arizona running backs to just 40 yards on 12 carries – including just 8 yards on seven carries from leading rusher James Conner. The Cardinals entered the day ranked fifth in the NFL with 149.4 rushing yards per game.

“The biggest part (of our defensive turnaround) is being able to handle the run, because if you allow teams to run the ball, then they’re staying on their terms down the stretch of the drive,” Williams said. “(If we stop the run), we’re putting them in backed-up situations. … And that’s when we’re allowing Mike (Macdonald) to call his plays.

“There’s been times we just haven’t been able to get to the plays we want to run, because we’re not in the situations to run them. It all starts with stopping the run on first down and getting them in manageable situations.”

Race for NFC West: Seahawks’ win over Cards not the only good news

Seattle also contained Murray, keeping the speedy QB from escaping the pocket for big plays with his legs. Murray, who entered with 371 yards rushing this season, had just two runs for 9 yards.

“It was all about collapsing the inside of the pocket,” Williams said. “I feel like it’s like that for any scrambler, but Kyler specifically, because he’s a little bit shorter. If you put an offensive lineman on his toes, it’s kind of hard for (Kyler) to see over that guy and get the ball out. That’s when he pumps the ball and has to step back sometimes. So that was allowing us to get to him.”

The result was another impressive game from Seattle’s suddenly formidable defense, which has turned in back-to-back-to-back standout performances against its three division rivals.

“I just feel like that collectiveness, that cohesion is just growing more and more on this defense,” Williams said. “You could tell when we look each other in the eyes that it’s like, ‘OK, we’ve got this.’

“There were times in the beginning of the season when I didn’t feel that same thing when I would look a teammate in his eyes. There’s times where we were in a game and we were kind of down and I would look someone in the eyes and they didn’t have that same fight in them.

“And I feel like now we’re on that track.”