‘No flinch’: Seahawks’ patchwork secondary steps up in win

The Seattle Seahawks entered Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Falcons without three of their top five defensive backs.

Takeaways finally ‘come to life’ for Seahawks’ defense

Safety Rayshawn Jenkins is on injured reserve with a hand injury. Cornerbacks Riq Woolen and Tre Brown were out with ankle injuries. And to make matters even worse, Seattle was down another cornerback option with Artie Burns, a recent promotion from the practice squad, also landing on IR last week.

That led to a patchwork Seattle starting secondary that included a practice-squad callup (cornerback Josh Jobe), a rookie making his first NFL start (cornerback Nehemiah Pritchett) and a former cornerback making his first career start at safety (Coby Bryant). It seemed ominous, especially against a four-time Pro Bowl quarterback in Kirk Cousins who threw for 509 yards against Tampa Bay earlier this month.

And yet, the secondary fill-ins came through and contributed to a strong defensive performance in the Seahawks’ 34-14 road win over Atlanta.

It was the Falcons’ second-lowest scoring output of the season.

“No flinch,” Seattle head coach Mike Macdonald said. “We were excited to see those guys go perform and they did. I thought they played a great game and they’ll learn from it and keep growing.”

The Seahawks limited Cousins to 24-of-35 passing for 232 yards, one TD and two interceptions while forcing the veteran QB to settle for underneath passes. They allowed just three completions of more than 15 yards and none longer than 26 yards.

“They played great,” Seattle starting safety Julian Love said. “And that’s what we need. That’s what great teams need. You need the guys who are called upon to step up and not drop below the standard that we’re trying to set. And so just a great, all-hands-on-deck game for us.”

Bryant’s first start at safety

As a rookie in 2022, Bryant had two interceptions that were negated by penalties. So when Bryant picked off an overthrown pass by Cousins in the fourth quarter on Sunday for his first career interception, he admitted he was looking around for a yellow flag.

Bryant also said he’d be sending a lighthearted text to former Seahawks safety Quandre Diggs.

“I’m gonna text Quandre today and tell him, thankfully he’s not here because the other two (interceptions) got called back because of him,” Bryant said with a smile. “But no, I’m blessed, that’s the biggest thing.”

Bryant’s fourth-quarter interception highlighted an impressive NFL starting debut at safety. The former cornerback also had a pass breakup and a team-high 11 tackles.

A 2022 fourth-round draft pick out of Cincinnati who won the 2021 Jim Thorpe Award as the top DB in college football, Bryant played outside cornerback in college and was a nickel cornerback during his rookie season with Seattle. He then began transitioning to safety last year, but missed half the season with a toe injury.

When given an opportunity on Sunday, Bryant took the opportunity and ran with it.

“I’m not surprised,” Macdonald said of Bryant’s performance. “He’s just this guy who just keeps playing at a high level. And the game, it’s slow for him and he just sees how plays progress. … He’s such a smart player.”

COBY 🎱

The third takeaway from our defense! pic.twitter.com/DCMYrJXgG1

— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) October 20, 2024

Love, who also played some cornerback earlier in his career with the Giants, said he advocated for Bryant getting more playing time.

“Each time he takes the field, he takes another step, takes another step,” Love said. “It’s tough sometimes. I know, because I did it going from corner primarily to safety. But as you can see, he’s just catching his stride.

“When (Jenkins) went down, I was an advocate for kind of getting Coby on the field, because he’s a playmaker. The guy is always around the ball. … We were trying to create sparks and he had 11 tackles and a pick first game starting. And so he deserves all the credit, because he’s worked for this.”

Jobe’s fill-in start

While Bryant getting the start on Sunday was somewhat expected, Jobe was a surprise.

A third-year undrafted pro out of Alabama, Jobe signed with Seattle’s practice squad on Aug. 29 and was elevated on Saturday for the game in Atlanta. It was just the fourth start of his career, with his previous three coming with Philadelphia last season.

Jobe came through with two pass breakups and allowed just three catches on seven targets for 32 yards, according to Pro Football Focus. And with Jobe starting at outside cornerback, that allowed second-year standout Devon Witherspoon to play at nickel.

“Our pro personnel staff grabbed him, had an opportunity and thought he was a cool player,” Macdonald said Monday morning during his weekly appearance on Seattle Sports. “… He’s fast, he’s smart, physical at the point of attack. So it felt like, ‘Hey, this is something that could come together if we develop right and coach him up and get him ready to go.’

“And again, the opportunity presents itself and we were confident. And it’s also the rest of the guys rallying around him to give him the confidence he needs, because we were excited to go see him play.”

Love credited Jobe and Pritchett for putting in extra time practicing and studying this week.

“All week, they were chipping away,” Love said. “They were doing the extra stuff. They were on the field extra. They were just locked in. Jobe was thrown into a role. He was just asking for more meeting time, asking to meet with me separately just so we could go over stuff so we could click.”

And ultimately, the Seahawks’ secondary fill-ins played well enough that Macdonald said he didn’t feel like they had to significantly adjust their defensive game plan.

“We didn’t feel like we needed to change much going into this game,” Macdonald said. “We just felt like the stuff that we felt like we needed to be able to do and execute, we could do with the guys on the field.”

More on the Seattle Seahawks

• How Seahawks’ 6th-round RT Jerrell impressed Macdonald, Geno
• Seahawks’ Ken Walker III celebrates birthday with epic ‘flu game’
• Macdonald: Seattle Seahawks CB made ‘shocking effort’ on touchdown
• What we know about knee injury to Seahawks’ DK Metcalf
• Observations: Seattle Seahawks beat Falcons 34-14 on the road

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