Mike Macdonald Wants Revamped Seahawks Defense To “Build A Wall Up The Middle”
March 27, 2024
Mike Macdonald Wants Revamped Seahawks Defense To “Build A Wall Up The Middle”
6 comments
Some interesting quotes:
**”It’s still coming together, but the middle of the defense is really, really important,” Macdonald said. “You need a strong spine and we’re excited about the guys we have. Guys that I haven’t coached yet, but watching them on tape and the relationships that some of our coaches have with them, feel really strongly about it and I think we’ll be really strong up the middle.”**
The Seahawks also expect to be strong in the middle of their defense up front, particularly after re-signing Leonard Williams and adding Johnathan Hankins. President of football operations/general manager John Schneider called re-signing Williams “huge” and “our biggest priority,” and he noted that Hankins was a player new defensive coordinator Aden Durde was vocal about signing, having coached him as the defensive line coach in Dallas.
**So just why does Macdonald, along with plenty of other coaches, focus so much attention on his defense being solid up the middle? Because if you aren’t, opponents “are just going to gash you right up the middle. That’s the quickest distance from point A to point B which you’re trying to avoid. But in general, we are trying to build a wall up the middle. Trying to stay square, trying to set hard edges, make the ball do that (go outside), make them throw the thing outside. You don’t want to get gashed up the middle of your defense, you’ve got to have the right guys who can play right there so you can get the job done.”**
In Baker and Dodson and in Jenkins and Wallace, the Seahawks feel like they’ve added, talented and versatile players who can play multiple roles at linebacker and safety, respectively.
“I think there’s position flexibility and both guys have played both spots,” Macdonald said after noting Baker will start out playing weakside linebacker with Dodson at middle linebacker. “Jerome’s played in several different types of defense and then Tyrel’s played both the Mike (middle) backer and the weakside backer in Buffalo, and he’s done it at a high level in my opinion. But two guys that can run, two intelligent football players, tough, I thought they’re both good tacklers, they’re both good players in space and those are things we’re asking from our inside backers. Those guys have got to take up a lot of ground man. They’ve got to play people out of the backfield. They’ve got to play all the choice routes on the weak side, which is hard to do. I think we’ve got the right guys for the job. They’ve got to blitz, play man to man. We ask a lot out of our inside backers, so it’ll be a great battle and we’ll see how it comes to life, but I think there’s some opportunity there to have a little bit more position flexibility than I think maybe you saw in Baltimore.”
And blitzing is definitely something Macdonald plans to call on his defense to do well, be it those linebackers or defensive backs.
**”If you want to play defense for us you’ve got to be able to blitz,” he said. “Whatever your one-on-one is, we expect you to win. We carry a team pass rush mentality. It’s not going to be built around one guy. It’s prudent to let everyone have a chance to win on any given play. But if you’re going to blitz from off the ball we expect you to win one-on-one. Those guys are going to hone their craft and figure out what moves work best for them and when the matchups are in our favor hopefully we’re going to take advantage of those things.”**
TLDR: We are going to plug up the middle and blitzing will be an emphasis of the new defense.
So Byron Murphy falls to us and then we snag T’Vondre Sweat, got it
I don’t know much about these new guys, but if Coach is excited about them and the defenses potential, then so am I.
This is so dumb. We should be signing engineers. I doubt any of our off-season signings have the know-how to build a functional wall /s
Blitzing is a component of the defense, but it’s really still rushing 4 (and sometimes 5), but they can be any of the 7 or 8 players closest to the ball (minus whichever safety is playing deep, and the outside corners usually). So in the end, the nickel, both safeties, and both ILBs may get at least 2 or 3 pass rush snaps on average per game, but each DL may also get a couple of coverage snaps, too. He keeps them guessing as to which 4 will rush on any given snap.
“So guys, you know the shit that’s been going on the last 3 years? We gonna fix that.”
6 comments
Some interesting quotes:
**”It’s still coming together, but the middle of the defense is really, really important,” Macdonald said. “You need a strong spine and we’re excited about the guys we have. Guys that I haven’t coached yet, but watching them on tape and the relationships that some of our coaches have with them, feel really strongly about it and I think we’ll be really strong up the middle.”**
The Seahawks also expect to be strong in the middle of their defense up front, particularly after re-signing Leonard Williams and adding Johnathan Hankins. President of football operations/general manager John Schneider called re-signing Williams “huge” and “our biggest priority,” and he noted that Hankins was a player new defensive coordinator Aden Durde was vocal about signing, having coached him as the defensive line coach in Dallas.
**So just why does Macdonald, along with plenty of other coaches, focus so much attention on his defense being solid up the middle? Because if you aren’t, opponents “are just going to gash you right up the middle. That’s the quickest distance from point A to point B which you’re trying to avoid. But in general, we are trying to build a wall up the middle. Trying to stay square, trying to set hard edges, make the ball do that (go outside), make them throw the thing outside. You don’t want to get gashed up the middle of your defense, you’ve got to have the right guys who can play right there so you can get the job done.”**
In Baker and Dodson and in Jenkins and Wallace, the Seahawks feel like they’ve added, talented and versatile players who can play multiple roles at linebacker and safety, respectively.
“I think there’s position flexibility and both guys have played both spots,” Macdonald said after noting Baker will start out playing weakside linebacker with Dodson at middle linebacker. “Jerome’s played in several different types of defense and then Tyrel’s played both the Mike (middle) backer and the weakside backer in Buffalo, and he’s done it at a high level in my opinion. But two guys that can run, two intelligent football players, tough, I thought they’re both good tacklers, they’re both good players in space and those are things we’re asking from our inside backers. Those guys have got to take up a lot of ground man. They’ve got to play people out of the backfield. They’ve got to play all the choice routes on the weak side, which is hard to do. I think we’ve got the right guys for the job. They’ve got to blitz, play man to man. We ask a lot out of our inside backers, so it’ll be a great battle and we’ll see how it comes to life, but I think there’s some opportunity there to have a little bit more position flexibility than I think maybe you saw in Baltimore.”
And blitzing is definitely something Macdonald plans to call on his defense to do well, be it those linebackers or defensive backs.
**”If you want to play defense for us you’ve got to be able to blitz,” he said. “Whatever your one-on-one is, we expect you to win. We carry a team pass rush mentality. It’s not going to be built around one guy. It’s prudent to let everyone have a chance to win on any given play. But if you’re going to blitz from off the ball we expect you to win one-on-one. Those guys are going to hone their craft and figure out what moves work best for them and when the matchups are in our favor hopefully we’re going to take advantage of those things.”**
TLDR: We are going to plug up the middle and blitzing will be an emphasis of the new defense.
So Byron Murphy falls to us and then we snag T’Vondre Sweat, got it
I don’t know much about these new guys, but if Coach is excited about them and the defenses potential, then so am I.
This is so dumb. We should be signing engineers. I doubt any of our off-season signings have the know-how to build a functional wall /s
Blitzing is a component of the defense, but it’s really still rushing 4 (and sometimes 5), but they can be any of the 7 or 8 players closest to the ball (minus whichever safety is playing deep, and the outside corners usually). So in the end, the nickel, both safeties, and both ILBs may get at least 2 or 3 pass rush snaps on average per game, but each DL may also get a couple of coverage snaps, too. He keeps them guessing as to which 4 will rush on any given snap.
“So guys, you know the shit that’s been going on the last 3 years? We gonna fix that.”