Salk: The Seahawks played their best defensive game in years

Sep 9, 2024, 6:42 PM

Host, Brock & Salk (6-10 a.m.)

It’s easy to get caught up in the moment. And it’s easy to overreact to the first game of any NFL season. Time has shown that over and over, a change in leadership can be exciting at first but doesn’t always offer sustained success, especially when it comes with a change in philosophy.

Seattle Seahawks’ Macdonald relishes first win, but real tests to come

When you talk about, write about, or analyze sports for a living, you know not to make that mistake. You learn about taking your time. You rely on the patience learned from a lengthy career so as not to jump straight to hyperbole as soon as something looks a little different. You know that most things eventually regress to the mean. You become numb to instant change. (This is all a joke.)

And yet…

And yet what we saw at Lumen Field on Sunday was different.

That was the best Seattle Seahawks defensive performance we’ve seen in years. It wasn’t reflected in the final score because the offense directly cost Seattle 13 of the 20 points allowed. In fact, the Broncos traveled a total of 31 yards on the three field goal drives in the first half.

And yes, it came against a rookie quarterback who didn’t seem ready for primetime. Bo Nix looked awful in mustering just 138 yards and two picks for Denver.

But was that how it looked when Colt McCoy threw for 328 yards in 2021? When Mason Rudolph threw for 274 and Sam Howell threw for 312 last season? When Matt Schaub threw for 460 yards in 2019???

No. This was dominant defense. And it’s what’s been missing in Seattle.

The first look at Mike Macdonald’s defense. pic.twitter.com/PaeFcsI9Yq

— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) September 9, 2024

The differences were clear. The Seahawks tackled better. They stopped the run better. They forced three turnovers. And, maybe most obviously, they actually defended the passes to the middle of the field. It was, quite frankly, shocking to hear CBS color analyst Adam Archuleta state during the game that Denver was going to have to abandon the middle of the field because Nix wouldn’t be able to find anything there.

Excuse me, what?

It takes a group effort to have that kind of success, but four players I (or we?) may have underrated seemed especially responsible: safeties Julian Love and Rayshawn Jenkins, and linebackers Tyrel Dodson and Jerome Baker. All four had tremendous games. Love and Dodson were the two top tacklers while Love added a pick. Baker came downhill with speed and power to blow up running plays before they got downfield. They showed off so much more speed than we’ve seen and, even more, a willingness to get their hands dirty and embrace contact.

I think my favorite part was how the team set about fixing this problem. Their linebacker play over the past half-decade hasn’t worked. Their inside linebackers were consistently picked on in coverage either because of the schemes they were asked to play or because they weren’t built as well for what is asked of that position in modern pass defense. That changed with two players that are built for speed but willing to be physical. They got linebackers that could help.

That is true at safety as well, although the process may have started a year ago. With Love and Jenkins, they have safeties that are actually safeties! Both defend the pass well and have the speed to get where they need to be on the field. Both are comfortable away from the line of scrimmage. Both have excellent instincts. And neither is drastically overpaid nor chronically injured.

We’ll see how this shakes out, but it sure feels like the team took a direct approach to fixing one of its most severe issues and accomplished it.

For all the talk of previous Seahawks coach Pete Carroll being old and antiquated, it strikes me that much of it was about his offensive philosophy. “Pete only wants to run the ball…” or “Pete needs to modernize his passing game…” As a firm believer in balanced offensive football, I never really agreed with those opinions. And it isn’t lost on me that the Seahawks’ offense didn’t get going on Sunday until they committed to the running game to open up everything else.

After watching this game though, it sure feels like it was the defense that was most in need of modernization. It was the defense that looked completely new, different and modern. It was the defense that dominated in a way we haven’t seen since… well, since at least a few years ago.

Nothing is for certain after one week. Nothing is real just yet. But that was the best defensive performance I’ve seen from the Seahawks in years.