ERNEST JONES: LEADER OF THE HAWKS – SEATTLE SEAHAWKS DEFENSE FILM STUDY #seahawks #seattleseahawks

ERNEST JONES: LEADER OF THE HAWKS – SEATTLE SEAHAWKS DEFENSE FILM STUDY #seahawks #seattleseahawks

This film study is going to focus on Ernest Jones IVth who’s having a spectacular season for the Seattle Seahawks. Just one of a number of playmakers on that defense. The entire group is very athletic, but Ernest Jones IV specifically as a Mike linebacker. Super athletic, very agile, moves side to side extremely well. Not only that, very smart, particularly in this defense. He fits perfectly in run concepts. It’s not about just getting to your gap, the right gap that you’re supposed to be in or that you’re assigned to or where the running back fits, but it’s arriving there on time. And there’s another player in the league that I get to watch a lot of film of at the mic linebacker position that I’ll compare him to a little bit later in the video, especially in pass coverage, just super aware. And I want to present three or four plays during the course of this video to kind of get that point across. At this point, Jones has 500 career tackles, more than 500 career tackles for 2025, though. 59 tackles, three picks, and five PDs. I think you have statistical evidence of his consistency and his ability to impact the game in pass drops. And I’ll show you some film of that as well. If you were to extrapolate or essentially double and then add like 10% to his um to his stats because he’s played seven games so far, you’re looking at a guy who’s going to exceed his career best statistical impact. And that was 2023 with the Rams. I believe he had 145 tackles, four and a half sacks. If you double everything right now, he’s on pace to to really exceed that. I’ll give you in addition some data at the end of this video uh related to what’s called a tour metric, an offensive efficiency rating. It’s a oneame score from 0 to 100 that I think really gives you an illustration of how elite this Seattle defense has been. I think we’ve got 13 plays queued up or or perhaps 12, but in any case, enough so that you can see how he fits the run, how he arrives on time and in the correct gap and then also how he plays in past coverage. This is a really cool blitz call that really works in almost every iteration that I’ve ever seen Mike McDonald use this dating back to his time at Baltimore and even at Michigan in 2021. So, this is second and six. Of course, this is Jones dropping out in coverage here underneath and it’s going to end up being an interception. It’s a two deep three under coverage. So, we’re talking about these three guys being the underneath coverage and then these two deep safeties in the form of Okata and I believe that’s Bryant at the bottom. Jones does a really nice job here of recognizing immediately when the tight end turns out and then steps back underneath. And now there’s also pressure here from that corner blitz, which is why I pointed it out earlier on. And I believe that’s Josh Job making contact with CJ Shroud really influencing the quality of the throw, the accuracy, um I should say. And then Jones able to get the interception, his third of the season. Super aware. Compare his route and how the depth that he takes on this to to a play that I’ll show you a little bit later on. Generally, my work here in this video is going to be chronological, meaning from a week- toeek basis. And it’s not just meant to be conceptual. So, I’m not showing you all of the pass coverage plays and all of the run plays in a row for Ernest Jones the fourth. Maybe in the next video. Same game against the Texans. And this is going to be a third quarter situation where uh they’re going to make a stop on a fourth down. A poor fourth down decision in my opinion by the Texans. So, the the running back absolutely goes in the opposite direction here. I think that this is on him. CJ Stout is turning to the top side of our screen to his left, the top side of the screen for us. Running backs going the opposite direction. The offensive line tells me that the quarterback is right. What I really like about this, and we used to actually do this sometimes with our inside linebackers, was do a scout team look and have the offensive line give you a particular blocking scheme and then have the running back go in the wrong direction. And if you were standing back here as an inside linebacker, coach, or defensive coordinator, you could very clearly see what your guys are reacting to. You tell them to read certain things, certain keys, run pass keys or run pass reads and then key off of that. Here you got clear indication that Ernest Jones the fourth is reading something whether it’s the offensive line and the offensive line in the direction that CJ Stra turns. The running back eventually gets to the side where he’s supposed to. It ends up being a really cool play that I think to illustrate how disciplined and how sharp his eyes, his visual focus is. That same possession, this is after a 10- yard completion by the Texans. It’s a third and one. And I love what Seattle is doing here. First of all, you’re going to get a double by the center and the left guard combo on, I believe, this defensive tackle, Byron Murphy. In addition to that, the Seahawks do something consistently and they execute it just way better than most other teams do. They’ll have a defensive lineman lined up in like a four eye and in this case, it’s Demarcus Lawrence. He’s going to step out. So, he’s going to step away from the football, which is generally a no no. And the one reason that we can I’ll give you the end zone angle so you can confirm that this is a strategic tactic. It allows Ernest Jones to fit underneath of in between I should say those two blocking schemes. The double team against Murphy and then Demarcus Lawrence stepping out away from the football. Basically a swim move and then directly over the top. Just a clean fit, a nice angle. We’ll get the end zone angle of this one so you can see it for yourself. So, we’re talking about Jones right here and then the two defensive ends in this structure or in this look, Leonard Williams and then it’s difficult to see him, but that’s Demarcus Lawrence. He’s right in front of Okata. So, they’ve taken one of the inside linebackers off the field. They in Seattle and they’ve walked Okata up in the box, left Emani on as the nickel. What it really does here is it clears the B gap up for Jones. So, I’ve got I know I know I’ve got too many arrows on screen here, but if the running back goes in this direction to the defense’s right, which is actually where he flows, then the declared Bgap opening for Jones is right here. If for whatever reason the running back was to go to the Seahawks left, his right, the running back’s right, then the declared B gap would open up here because Leonard Williams is stepping out just like Demarcus Lawrence is. Essentially, it’s a swim and then trying to clear up the read for the inside linebackers or for the inside linebacker. Okata ends up kind of dealing with an offensive tackle. Jones, Lawrence, and Byron Murphy as well are there. It just seems like whatever their task to do on defense that the guys execute their individual techniques, whether it’s going to free them up to make a play or whether it’s going to allow someone else to make a tackle like we see here. Very next snap, it’s a fourth and one. Here’s Jones again. He’s not really necessarily involved in this one to be honest with you. Like I said, this is a third quarter possession, but the same answer, the same response. You get a little bit of a better look at it from a Leonard Williams standpoint. He’s down here on the bottom. And again, that’s Demarcus Lawrence up top. Jones ends up being on the back side of it. So, like I said, it’s not necessarily doing anything for him, but you can see really clearly that Williams stepping out has freed up or provided a lane for Jones to look through and possibly fit if the running back was to flow in his direction. That’s not where he goes. It’s um I believe it’s in Wosu and Demarcus Lawrence on the same side. Look how they’ve reestablished the line of scrimmage along with Byron Murphy. Okata is a free hitter. You know, no chance here for Houston to convert this, like I said, on a fourth and one. I think we’ve all known for years how exceptional Ernest Jones was against the run as as indicated by his total number of tackles in some years. What I want to do here is focus on I think it’s four pass drops in a row generally in zone. He’s not often tasked with with playing man-to-man on running backs or tight ends. So, against the Cardinals, I think from week four, a third and 11 in the second quarter. So, the two routes from the right hand side of the offense, the the bottom side of our screen, basically double slants. Of course, this is the one that Marvin Harrison Jr. bobbles and ends up in Ers Jones hands. The reason why I want to focus on it or show it is look at his orientation first. To me, the passing strength has been declared over here. And I think Seattle does this a lot with him because of how athletic he is. Basically looking for a receiver to run a vertical in the middle of the field and he would match it very similar to the interception that I showed you against the Texans where he looked like he was going to carry the tight end vertical. The tight end snapped his route to the outside and Ernest Jones flipped his hips open back up to the side where CJ Stra was throwing the football. This is a little bit of a gift, don’t get me wrong. But what I’m saying is his awareness, his ability to recognize that where the passing strength is the call versus where Kyler Murray is looking down here means that he Ernest Jones should reorient and turn and get back to the other side. He’s just playing at a really high level in my opinion. maybe basic stuff in some people’s um opinion, but I mean to me Ernest Jones IV stands out in pass coverage compared to a lot of inside linebackers across the NFL in 2025 and even in the two or three years prior to that when I’ve been trying to break down NFL film. Here’s a few more that are perhaps a little bit more subtle in terms of his impact. So he’ll drop out in the middle of the field. This is of course against the Saints I believe in week three. So you got a vertical by number three. Essentially a climb concept because it ends up on the other side of the field eventually or it’s designed to. It’s a third and six. A ver a seam by the number two. And then a later developing dig by number one from the bottom side of the screen. Like I said, this is a third and six. So once again, Jones is going to kind of open up and almost turn his back to the other side of the defense because the passing strength has been declared down here to the bottom. Spencer Radler gets to the the back of his drop and by that time Jones has kind of leveled off and so first, you know, clearly there’s no routes up here at all. So the only thing that Rattler could be looking at is these two routes down here and how they’re possibly going to clear open space later on for this dig. It’s not a PD by by Ernest Jones by any stretch of the imagination, but what I’m offering here is that he’s got really great awareness in not drifting too far with this route by Olive. essentially providing a really small window for Rattler to try to throw it in um in between. And of course, he throws it almost throws it directly to Kendrick. I don’t really think this is a high percentage throw by Rattler in my opinion. I’m just trying to illustrate the discipline nature that Jones uh displays when he’s in his pass drops, but as well the hyperactivity that he has in recognizing routes and where he should fit. I give you the end zone angle of this one first. Week two against the Steelers. think it’s a third and seven. So, there’s a pass rush element to this. I’ve actually already broken down this play a couple of times, but we’re going to focus on Jones, who appears to be looking in the backfield at what has now become an empty formation since the running back motioned out. And you see him kind of step to DK Metaf on the right hand side of the screen and kind of just try to widen that route up by Metaf and then push back in trying to get in the middle of the field right here. Rogers and I will give you the all22 angle. Like I said, tried to look over there at least once, if not twice. And both times I think Jones was in the window or hedging receivers a little bit further out than maybe the route design uh called for. So here’s what you’re getting. Uh DK DK is the number three receiver, kind of a vertical stem. The number two running a high side in in cut. And then the number three, the outside receiver is uh running a a more shallow in. I love the eyes that Ernest Jones IV uses, meaning he’s actually willing to turn his helmet and look to the outside and ID the route. So many linebackers in zone oftentimes just spot drop. That’s not what they teach in Seattle. That’s not what Mike McDonald teaches here. You got a clear example or illustration of him turning his helmet to look at the routes to the outside, which is what you should do in my opinion. and trying to find work. Watch as he gets hands on DK or or barely touches him. He’s looking for work from the outside, from the bottom side of our screen, and he finds it. You got two inbreaking routes. Rogers is clearly looking over there. That’s the trip side. That’s the read side. Still looking over there. You’ve got the high side dig by number two and the inbreing route underneath by number one. I believe I misspoke a moment ago and called him number three. My apologies for that. You number from the outside in. Call it a coverage sack, call it whatever you want. The point is, I think the the second level coverage skills that he offers are elite as an inside linebacker, as a mic linebacker. There’s a lot of stress put on him. In fact, in this look, it’s week one against the 49ers. This is a 51 look. And so, what I mean by that is you’ve got two edge defenders, Boy Maf, and to the other side, I believe that’s Hall, but I could be wrong. and then three interior uh defensive linemen. So, it’s a 5-1 look. The routes that you’re going to get motion by number two out and then he’s essentially going to run a go outside release and then a a shallow dig or in by I think that’s Jennings. And so, he’s trying to stay in the middle of the field, but he’s exceptional, if you ask me, at coming downhill. Basically, he’s he’s able to stay balanced and he has the footwork to get his cleats in the ground, come downhill quickly when he identifies something in front of him. He’s really good on some of the coverages in my opinion where he’s getting depth like a Tampa 2, but also at more of the shallower zone coverages where he’s kind of like capped at 10 or 12. He’s actually not at 10 or 12 in terms of depth here. He’s only at about eight. Very balanced and quick in pass coverage. I think I’ve kind of illustrated that. Feel free to let me know if you think I’ve left any out. I will of course show his interception against the 49ers as probably the final play in this video. Week one again San Francisco and we’re going to move a little bit to his his ability against the run. Now, he is unblocked here to be honest with you. I will give you the end zone angle, but this is him um pointing to the fact that he sees something with the right guard to let him know that the right guard is pulling. who knows exactly what the concept is going to be pre- snap, but he Ernest Jones recognizes something in Pun’s stance that tells him you’re going to get a pull. And sure enough, that’s what occurs. He ends up on the backside of this. There’s a lot of disruption. They’re trying to trap Demarcus Lawrence, but Leonard Williams has totally disrupted things as well. So, Lawrence folds underneath. I think I think he actually gets first contact. But what I want to point out for Ernest Jones is a he’s very balanced and square throughout plays, particularly run concepts, meaning he’s non-committal in the first step and a half to two steps. He doesn’t get himself out of position. Certainly never crosses over. This is the same play from the end zone angle. And that ability in the first step and a half or two steps is what I think sets him apart along with Jack Campbell for the Detroit Lions in that not only does he arrive in the correct gap generally, but he arrives there on time, meaning he’s able to track the running back. Like I said, this is Leonard Williams and then Demarcus Lawrence really disrupting the play here. So, so Jones is unblocked on the back side of this trap concept and so he fits it. You know, this is an easy fit, easy run fit for him to be honest with you. But my point is is that he’s very balanced and non-committal early and that allows him to look for opportunities to commit late. I shouldn’t describe every run fit as one that you need to be patient on because when you need him to be decisive, you’ve in fact seen two examples of that earlier. He is. So, this is of course a short yardage situation against San Francisco in week one. Now, they do get the first down, but there’s a lot to say here about the physicality, the tone that is set by the Seahawks. And once again, you can see they’re in kind of like this one inside linebacker look. The will linebacker, I think at that time was Knight, is set up over here as a edge defender. It almost looks kind of magical to be honest with you when you see it from this angle. So, I’ll let this play through a little bit so you can see what I’m talking about. He kind of disappears underneath of this offensive lineman because I think he recognizes the scheme. I think he knows when he needs to get skinny and fit underneath inside of a gap. And I think he also recognizes when he’s got to be physical and take on an offensive lineman. In this case, he stuns Christian McCaffrey. It was a third and one like I said, and you know, they do actually convert it. I think it’s a beautiful run fit even though it is it is a conversion for San Francisco. Here he is right here. Basically, he’s going to have to get underneath of this block by the right tackle who’s got a free release. Watch him kind of skip over to the right and then try to get skinny through here. Now, he does end up um collisioning with an offensive lineman and Byron Murphy at the same time here. So, he’s just trying to get into a gap as quickly as possible because he knows what’s coming. He knows that there’s going to be an offensive lineman assigned to block him. It’s a great run fit in my opinion. Hopefully, the video isn’t too um staccato or too choppy on your end. I use a an online player for this that allows me to kind of annotate live and do some preset stuff. I think that he’s great against the run. That’s obvious. He’s always been so. And I think his pass drop skills are very multiple and it fits. It’s a perfect fit in the Mike McDonald system if you ask me. I think we’ll come back to this one. This is in fact his interception against San Francisco. And we’ll show this impact play which of course is a missed opportunity for for the Seahawks to really put this game away. I think they’re up 14 to nothing at this point in the second quarter. And in my opinion, you’ve got a banjo or dual read between Jones and Drake Thomas, meaning they’re reading the running back and what his release is post snap. And I’m going to let this uh replay a couple of times, just this portion of it, because look at Jones’s eyes, here. And then you can see that he veers off of the running back because the running back steps to the side where Drake Thomas is. Basically, I think they’re just banjo reading it. Let’s make this real simple and clear. If the running back went this way, I think Jones is going to take him and Drake Thomas blitzes. This is one of the things that Mike McDonald’s done, you know, for years. The running back releases outside, which, you know, this severe angle, which is not what occurs. Then Thomas will blitz and then or excuse me, Thomas will cover and then Jones will blitz. We kind of get a little bit more of a gray read here because the running back chips Demarcus Lawrence, but it’s right around this time that Jones recognizes, okay, I can go after CJ Strad and he’s just making impact plays. Like I said, three sacks so far this year. Houston very lucky that it’s not 21 to nothing at this point. So, it’s a it’s a definitely a missed opportunity. Drake Thomas gets the fumble recovery as you can see. And then this running back, the rookie, I think it’s Markx, able to force a fumble right at or just before the goal line. you know, unfortunate situation, but it’s a great play that, if you ask me, that illustrates how Ernest Jones IV can adjust post snap and then be extremely decisive when he needs to. Finally, the interception back to week one against the 49ers. So, forgive me if we’ve skipped around too much. It’s in the third quarter on a first and 10. the same guy who I just showed you against um the San Francisco 49ers, the third and one earlier in this video where he fits exquisitly in a small gap or a gap that is being compressed by the right tackle stepping down gets skinny and makes and has enough strength and his cleats in the ground to stop Christian McAffrey cold or actually you know he gained one yard. Same guy who did that. Same guy who read on the run on the previous play I showed you the force fumble the sack force fumble against CJ Stout and the Houston Texans is a guy who’s got amazing awareness in his pass drops. So he’s looking for work originally talking about the back Christian McAffrey here which who could have possibly been called for um a couple of these kind of lower blocks. In this case the offensive lineman does touch Drake Thomas and then pass him off. So that’s why this one’s not called for him going low. But Jones is looking for work from the running back. And as soon as he sees there’s no work there, he immediately, watch his helmet. Eyes here and then we’ll slow forward. Okay, the running back didn’t release. Now he’s already he’s looked here looking for some type of crosser. There’s nothing underneath. There’s nothing shallow at him. So what does he do? He continues to try to get some depth and work back and look back to the quarterback. throw over the middle and I think it’s just spectacular job as an underneath dropper at the inside linebacker position. I get it. There’s going to be some who would call this easy. That’s what he should do. In my opinion, his eyes tell us a lot about the processing that goes on during the play or just after the snap. It’s an amazing job in my opinion and one that gives us a great idea of how great Ernest Jones IV is playing against the pass. I want to give you some summary thoughts here on Jones and then and bring some data to your attention that just kind of illustrates or solidifies how well Seattle’s playing on defense beyond even the the 19.4 points per game allow which I think is seventh in the league. Jones is he’s extremely athletic, physical, strong, fast, all of those things. He’s very technical. He’s very sound and smart. I think he does everything right. To me, I see a guy that would be a great coach at any level that he chose to once his playing days are over because he doesn’t just understand where to be against the run in the pass, but when to arrive there and he really has a help mentality in pass coverage. I think that last play that I showed kind can kind of stand as illustration of that. Meaning, let me look look for work here. Is there going to be anything underneath? No. I mean, I can get some depth and work back to the other side. There’s some real gamesmanship in terms of the pre- snap alignment and then post snap movements and how that fits with the scheme that the Seahawks are running, whether it’s a Dline stunt or what have you. I think he understands his defense. I think this was a a great acquisition for Seattle and then resigning. Again, the only guy that I get to watch film of who’s playing at this level is Jack Campbell for the for the Detroit Lions from the teams that I get to watch. Jones has three interceptions. That’s second at the inside linebacker position to Devin Lloyd who’s got four and then also tied with Tmaine Edwards from Chicago who I just watched last week. Jones got 59 tackles, I believe 30 solos, three TFLs, five PDs. His coverage is excellent. I like the pairing of him and Drake Thomas on passing downs and they’ve accomplished all of this. Seattle’s defense, you know, missing a number of guys in the secondary. Witherspoon, Julian Love have missed multiple games. Reek Wen went out in the I think third quarter of the loss to the Bucks. And you really kind of have to look at that game as a little bit of an outlier where it you know at this point Seattle’s allowing 19.4 points per game, seventh in the league. Like I said, the Bucks are the only offense to put up more than 20 points against Seattle so far. Jones to me is I don’t know if you want to use a baseball analogy, whatever. Talk about defense up the middle. He’s he’s like a center fielder because he’s athletic enough to go get the ball in the air. A shorts stop because of the technical skills, the refinement that there that there is in his technique, the way he gets things done. And then a catcher because he’s just tough as hell. I think he’s as good as it gets. I do want to show one more thing that we try to track uh for 2025. It’s something that I I haven’t really spent a lot of time talking about, but I like to show it at the end of some of my videos for the Ravens, Lions, or Seahawks because I think it’s the hardcore fans that sit and watch the whole thing. So, this is what’s called um a tour metric, total offense efficiency rating. It’s a it’s a oneame marker, one game score I should say, for offensive efficiency generally. So, here we have it. Perhaps it’s too small for you guys to necessarily track, so I’ll try to enlarge it a little bit. on the right hand side is the the next to last column over to the right is to tour to oe rer and that’s the Seahawks offensive rating for each game. So generally something above 68 or 70 is a pretty good game. And you can see we’ve got three of those here. 83 against New Orleans, 75 against Arizona, and then 88 against the Bucks. The last two not so much. Probably because of the four turnovers against the Texans, number one, and then number two against Jacksonville the week before. the inability to convert on third down. 8.3% third down conversions against the Jags in week six. In addition to that, only 2.31 yards per carry. But what I really want to focus on, since we’re talking about Ernest Jones and Seattle’s defense, is all the way to the right. It’s kind of highlighted for you guys in pink, probably very small. It’s called tour allowed. And basically what that means is what efficiency rating did we allow the defense or excuse me, allow the other team’s offense during the game? This is truly remarkable. You’ve got one game, Tampa Bay, where they allowed 86, which is out of character. The last two weeks, Jacksonville and Houston, a nine and an 11. Those two scores, nine and 11, for what we have from 2024 and 2025 data, you’re looking at 98% win percentage when you allow anything below 20. And in this case, it’s a nine and an 11. Just for comparison’s sake, just so you know, Seattle’s year-long average for tour allowed. So, we’re talking about their defense and really out of a a oneame score averaging them, there’s some complications there, some things I’m not a huge fan of, but it it’s basic and it works. Take the tour allowed, each of the seven that you see there, and add them up and divide by seven, and you get 35.3 for Seattle. for comparison’s sake, the the Philadelphia Eagles, their defensive tour allowed for 2025, their average is a 54. All right. And then the other team that that I want to mention in terms of defensive defensive tour is is the Houston Texans. They’ve got one of the best defenses in the league. The lowest scoring average allowed, in fact, across the NFL through seven games. Their average tour allowed is 35. My point in mentioning all of this to you is I don’t even know that the seven seven the 19.4 points per game allowed so far through seven games does justice what Seattle’s done on defense. That Tampa Bay game as you can see from this statistical measurement tour is a huge outlier. Right? If you were able to remove that, you’re talking about I think it would be a 31 their tour allowed on a weekly basis. Ernest Jones the fourth is a huge part of what’s happening in Seattle on on the defensive side. The pass rush, the coverage, all mixes together. Great. Ernest Jones is involved with with both of them. You he’s got three sacks at this point, but I think he’s one of the best mic linebackers in the NFL. And uh I said that in a video I did on Jack Campbell that I put out Tuesday night. I’ve watched a lot of inside linebacker film in the last 24 hours. So, those two guys are just a heck of a lot of fun to watch and I hope I get the chance to produce more of these on Jones and and Jack Campbell because they’re two of my favorite players across the NFL. In any case, I appreciate you guys checking out this whole video if you’ve done so. I’m not sure that everyone enjoys long form content, but increasingly that’s just what happens when I sit down and try to produce a video. I add two or three or four plays that that maybe I didn’t intend to in the beginning. I think that’s just representation of how consistently great Ernest Jones has played in 2025. Appreciate you guys time.

#seahawks #seattleseahawks #seattle #nfl #football

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