Baldinger: How Seahawks’ defense can continue to evolve

After watching the Seattle Seahawks ride their top-ranked scoring defense to a Super Bowl title, the rest of the NFL has no doubt spent the offseason searching for answers to Mike Macdonald’s cutting-edge scheme.

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How can Macdonald continue to evolve and stay one step ahead? NFL Network’s Brian Baldinger was posed that question Wednesday on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk.

“I think you saw some of it in the Super Bowl,” Baldinger said. “They disguised some coverages, and (then) on second down they’re coming with a blitz zero at Drake Maye and they get home.”

As Baldinger referenced, Macdonald dialed up the Seahawks’ blitz rate to 33.3% in the first half of their suffocating 29-13 Super Bowl triumph over the New England Patriots. That was a big uptick from their 19.3% blitz rate in the regular season.

The biggest difference involved three-time Pro Bowl cornerback Devon Witherspoon, who blitzed six times in the Super Bowl after logging just 21 blitzes across his other 14 combined regular-season and postseason games last year.

It played out to perfection, with Witherspoon turning those six blitzes into a career-high four pressures, three quarterback hits and a sack, while also keying a defensive score.

“I think the base (defense) is still going to be there – some of the some of the disguises that they showed last year and what they got to,” Baldinger said. “But I think you’ve still gotta heat these quarterbacks up.

“So I could see them getting after it (more with) Witherspoon … and sending some of these blitzes off the slot and trying to get some color in those quarterbacks’ faces as quick as they can.”

Listen to the full conversation with NFL Network’s Brian Baldinger at this link or in the audio player above. Tune into Brock and Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.

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