Brock Huard on Seahawks: What’s sustainable, and what’s not

With back-to-back victories over division rivals, the Seattle Seahawks have vaulted from last place to first place in the wide-open NFC West.

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The Seahawks rallied for a 20-17 win over the San Francisco 49ers on Nov. 17 and then shut down the Arizona Cardinals for a 16-6 triumph on Sunday, completely flipping the trajectory of their season in a span of just eight days. Seattle now sits atop the NFC West alongside Arizona at 6-5, but technically holds the division lead due to the head-to-head tiebreaker.

With the Seahawks on the upswing, what’s sustainable and what isn’t? Former NFL quarterback Brock Huard was posed that question during Monday’s Blue 88 segment on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk.

What’s sustainable

Huard is a believer in the front seven of the Seahawks’ defense.

After allowing 23.1 points per game over the first eight weeks, Seattle’s defense has turned things around in a major way. The Seahawks’ defense has allowed just 14 points per game over their past three contests, limiting the Los Angeles Rams to just 19 offensive points in an overtime loss on Nov. 3 before shutting down the 49ers and Cardinals in back-to-back weeks.

This three-game run on defense is particularly notable in that it came against all three of Seattle’s division rivals, including two of the league’s most highly-regarded offensive minds in Rams head coach Sean McVay and 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan.

The biggest difference has been in run defense. Over the first eight weeks, the Seahawks surrendered a jarring 148.4 rushing yards per game and 4.9 yards per carry. But over their past three contests, those numbers have plummeted to just 82.7 rushing yards per game and 3.8 yards per carry. Seattle’s pass rush also came alive on Sunday, sacking Arizona dual-threat quarterback Kyler Murray five times.

“This front seven playing together is just a pack animal right now,” Huard said. “They are trusting one another. … When a front seven plays together the way they have the last three weeks against a McVay, against a Shanahan, against an offense that was rolling in the run game – to me, that feels pretty sustainable.”

Huard highlighted the steadying presence of recently acquired middle linebacker Ernest Jones IV.

Seattle acquired Jones in an Oct. 23 trade that sent season-opening starting linebacker Jerome Baker and a future draft pick to the Tennessee Titans. It was part of a complete makeover of the Seahawks’ inside linebacking corps, with the team then releasing season-opening starter Tyrel Dodson on Nov. 11, clearing the way for rookie fourth-round draft pick Tyrice Knight to start alongside Jones.

Huard compared Jones to an experienced quarterback staying poised in the pocket.

“There’s QBs in the pocket that, even though there’s chaos around them and the house is burning down, they’re just calm,” Huard said. “Their feet are calm, their eyes are calm, they create a little space. Obviously (Tom Brady) was the best in the world at doing it. Tom just had a sense of poise in there.

“It’s not too different when I watch these linebackers. I’m like, ‘Man, look at this guy.’ All this chaos around him and he’s just ‘wait, hold.’ And then when you pull the trigger, you just go and finish. And I think (with) some of the patience that Ernest has brought, he settled down Tyrice Knight next to him. That group is playing pack defense.”

What’s not sustainable

While Seattle’s run defense has done a complete about-face, the team’s rushing attack on the other side of the ball has continued to struggle.

For the season, the Seahawks rank 28th in the NFL in both rushing yards per game (89.1) and yards per carry (3.9). And over their past three contests, they have mustered just 88.7 rushing yards per game and a mere 3.3 yards per carry.

“If you run for 3.3 (yards per carry) over the next six weeks, you’re probably at best going to go 3-3, even if your defense is totally phenomenal,” Huard said. “And at 3-3, is 9-8 going to get you in the playoffs? I don’t know. I think it’ll be a flip of the coin.

“But over the long haul, look in the history books of teams that rushed for 3.3 yards a carry over the course of a season,” he added. “They usually are the ones picking in the top 10 in the draft. That number has got to improve.”

Listen to the full Blue 88 segment on Brock and Salk at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Tune in to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.

More on the Seattle Seahawks

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• Rost: Seattle Seahawks’ defense may have played its best game in years
• Observations from Seattle Seahawks’ big NFC West win over Cardinals
• Instant Reaction: Seattle Seahawks’ defense shines in big win over Cards
• Race for NFC West: Seattle Seahawks’ win over Cards not the only good news

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