After a rocky start to their first game without Russell Wilson of the season, the Seahawks did find some momentum in the second half. They found a way to attack the Steelers defense and take advantage of it, and unfortunately the Saints have a similar weakness in their defense, the interior defensive line.
The Seahawks will do what they can to get the Saints mixed up by using motions. They will check the ball down and they will use crossing routes on third down situations with the running back on a block and release route. Due to the expected bad weather, the Seahawks will reply on the run, and lots of check downs and flat routes in hips of yards after the catch; it’s critical the Saints get first touchdown tackles. They’ll attack the Saints interior line in the run game and the backers in the passing game.
Defensively, the Seahawks like to run mainly cover two and cover three. Lots of zone, but with the Saints very inexperienced and thin receiving corps they could play more man pending how they scheme up their defense. I would think they mix it up between man and cover two, however the Seahawks secondary isn’t very good so they could stick to their base defense and stick to cover two. I don’t have much film of the Seahawks defense but the things I show is their base defense and the things they’ll run on the Saints.
Seahawks defense
They’ll design blitzes for Jamal Adams, the offensive line/running back has to be able to pick up the block and give Winston time. Najee Harris messes up here but does just enough to get Adams off his path and allows Big Ben to make the throw.
They ran a zone coverage inside the red zone, giving the Steelers receivers about a five yard cushion and getting them 15 yards. Sean Payton will eat this up, a simple quick pass to Callaway or Trautman will get us the yardage in this situation. Seattle can’t give that m h of a cushion in a condensed field.
Inside the 10, getting Alvin Kamara in a one-on-one situation like Najee Harris here is almost a guaranteed touchdown, especially against a Sam backer/defensive end in Benson Mayowa. I don’t know if Sean Payton ever calls this formation or play inside the 10, but it looks like they are all one-on-one in the red zone. Almost a guaranteed touchdown for Kamara.
Seahawks are in their cover two look, the corner at the top gets beat inside and gets his eyes in the backfield to look for the flat; when he should be in man coverage essentially due to the fact that there’s only one receiver on his side. The receiver beats him inside then takes his route to the outside away from the safety and makes a nice play.
Seahawks offense
Lattimore can’t let his eyes roam into the backfield like they did against the Giants. He needs to play the receiver rather than the ball. Joe Haden at the bottom of the screen gets his eyes in the backfield rather than the receiver. Steelers were in a cover two man coverage and luckily for Haden the pass was batted down. Seattle will attack Lattimore if they notice that his eyes are in the backfield.
Gotta be able to get pressure and sacks. The secondary can only cover for so long before someone gets open or a coverage is busted. Davenport needs to show every why he’s the best pad rusher on the team, and Cam Jordan who is actually having a decent seasons needs to start getting to the quarterback faster. The guys up front have to take control of the game and create plays.
Defensive tackles get washed by the offensive line and can’t make a play. The Saints interior line needs to play their best game of the season Monday night. The defensive ends need to not get to far upfield and need to watch for the cut back.
The Seahawks try to wash the interior defensive linemen again but number 99 does a good job of powering through the block and forcing it back the other way. The end does a good job of not getting upfield and doesn’t let the cutback get anywhere.
After the second half of last week’s game the Seahawks will try and run down the throats of the Saints defense. Tackles can’t get washed, ends can’t get too far upfield, and backers have to fill otherwise the Seahawks running back is going to have himself a game. Watch this drive, it’s a 10 play drive and 9 of them were runs. This is what they will try to do to the defensive line and it absolutely cannot happen.
The Seahawks will use motions to create open space and open players. The secondary and backers have to be able to pass this off. This is a play they would run on third down and short or in red zone situations.
Overall the defensive line needs to be on their A-Game and not get washed and not get too far upfield on the edge. This game will be won in the trenches.
Written By Kadin Janisch
Images used under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976 allowance are made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research.
If you own the rights to an image being used and would like it taken down, please email me (whodattnation@gmail.com) and I will kindly do so.
Related articles here
