There are, yes, legions of similar conversations about defensive football taking place all over the Pacific Northwest. Anyone who lives in the greater Seattle area or pays even cursory attention to the city’s beloved Seahawks cannot escape any conversation about the team’s current elite defense that does not also include a comparison to the best D in franchise history.
Members of that defense—the Legion of Boom—have taken notice. But not in the obvious, inexact, fruitless exercise of comparing two defenses that dominated a decade apart for the Seahawks. Richard Sherman was on the phone this week. And, before elaborating on what does resonate for him and other Boomers, he stopped the common comparisons immediately.
“There’s only one of any [elite] defense,” Sherman says. “But they’re playing really good football.”
That’s the part that resonates, the vibe of a defense that is feared playing at Lumen Field south of downtown. That resonates for Sherman, for fellow LOB members and for anyone who can recall what it felt like to watch the Legion boom. Especially at home. Especially in 2013 and ’14, those defenses ran through the home tunnel to roars that shook the stadium’s foundation. They were rock stars, if rock stars broke offensive schemes and opponents’ souls rather than guitars.
The Puget Sound, visible from parts of the upper deck. The Hawks Nest and its revelry. The south end zone and the diehards. That distinct marijuana smell wafting everywhere on the walk in. Sold-out crowds, louder than loud, bolstering defenses stamping exclamation points on games and titles and those most special of Seahawks seasons.
I told Sherman I wasn’t sure there was a better setting in sports—having covered hundreds of NFL games in person and dozens, at least, at whatever the Seahawks called their home stadium. “I would agree,” he said. “Seattle fans are some of the most enthusiastic, especially when the moment calls for it. They meet it. And they do a great job of understanding the intensity that each moment calls for. And they bring it.”
This Seahawks defense is not that Seahawks defense. Anyone who insists that’s so should have their “12” card revoked immediately.
This vibe most definitely is that vibe.
Sign Up. SI NFL Newsletter. Get MMQB’s Free Newsletter. dark
The Seahawks are 9–3, tied with the Rams atop the NFC West, with an ever-important showdown against Sean McVay’s squad looming in Week 16, in front of those 12s on a Thursday night. Yes, Sam Darnold has played his way into MVP candidacy consideration. True, Jaxon Smith-Njigba has a realistic chance to break the NFL’s single-season receiving mark. But make no mistake: This vibe, the one that recalls the Boomers, is powered by the Seahawks’ D.
Necessary context: Seattle’s all-time-nickname-worthy unit led the NFL in scoring defense every year from 2012 through ’15. Those defenses played the Cover 3 scheme favored by Seattle legend Pete Carroll. He often shoved eight players into the box to stuff every gap any runner could theoretically exploit. He trusted the Boomers to handle coverages, often one-on-one. He trusted the defensive line to exert pressure on opponents with only four rushers. Consider every Super Bowl champion this century. Most share that specific trait, the ability to rush passers without sending tons of blitzers, in tandem with blanket coverages that allow those rushers to sneak into backfields and wrestle quarterbacks to the turf.
Those Seattle teams won a Super Bowl (2013 season) and lost a Super Bowl (2014 season). Those defenses stack up well in meaningless comparisons to other great defenses from the 2000 season onward. The champions rank fourth in Expected Points Against (EPA). The four defenses from ’12 through ’15 allowed, on average, 15.7 points—for four seasons. (For more background on this, we suggest The Franchise: Seattle Seahawks: A Curated History of the Legion of Boom Era, written by Michael-Shawn Dugar, as incise and sharp as anyone covering the team now.)
The coordinator of that defense, Dan Quinn, now runs the Commanders. He corresponded with Sports Illustrated via text message about those days—from Madrid. He shared an anecdote I haven’t seen previously: An hour before the Seahawks would clash with the Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII, safety Earl Thomas found Quinn in the team’s locker room.
“Whatever you call today,” Thomas told Quinn, “we will make it work! We got you!”
“Talk about confidence,” Quinn wrote to SI. “He was letting me know they were ready to get down!!!!!!” Yes, Quinn sent that many exclamation marks.
Who could blame him? The Boomers competed in practice like other players, on other defenses, competed in games. “Multipliers of competitive mindset” is how Quinn describes them.
The vibe stemmed from that. Mostly, Sherman says, the crowd and the energy and the dominance both expected and delivered, worked together. Those Boomers had to communicate with hand signals, due to the crowd’s ear-splitting volume. But so did the opposing offense, which wasn’t used to this setting the way that the LOB was; they made that their happy place.
Richard Sherman, a member of a legendary of a legendary Seahawks defense, now sits at Amazon Prime’s desk every Thursday night. / Brad Penner-Imagn Images
“Football is fun in general,” Sherman says. “But defensive football, when you’re whupping up on people, you’re in a good rhythm, everybody’s swarming—there’s nothing like it.”
This defense elicits the same feeling. It’s … The Seahawks Can Win the Super Bowl, more or less. For one example among so many in 2025, look back only to last weekend. This Seahawks defense and its vibe played host to the Vikings, who started a rookie quarterback, Max Brosmer. That defense hit him seven times and registered four sacks.
All the hallmarks of Seattle’s 2025 D were on display. It held Minnesota to 66 rushing yards, a season-long theme for this defense and the Boomers. The turnovers that had eluded the Seahawks early in the season gave way to a more recent turn into turnover city. In one game against the Vikings, Seattle defenders grabbed four interceptions and forced two fumbles (one lost). The Seahawks now have 13 picks, tied for second-most in the NFL.
Seattle shut out an opponent for the first time since—you guessed it—the 2015 iteration blanked the Bears in September of that season. The Seahawks are elite on every level of their defense, same as LOB. Ernest Jones IV, back from an injury hiatus, made 12 tackles and snagged two interceptions, returning one 85 yards for a touchdown. At that point, in the second quarter, Seattle led 10–0, with six points scored by its defense—or more than both offenses and both special teams units combined.
Darnold didn’t put together his best game this season against his former team. He didn’t put together anything close to that, which limited Smith-Njigba’s pursuit of NFL receiving history. Didn’t matter. Not in either instance. DeMarcus Lawrence continued to illuminate the Seahawks’ defensive line depth. His pressure led to the throw that Jones returned for a TD.
For those inclined to compare via statistics and no other factors, at this point in the season, the 2025 Seahawks’ defense has actually out-performed, statistically, any of the Legion units. This Seattle D—Wet Crush? Sacks and Suds? Our Own Legion? Help me out here!—after 13 weeks of professional football ranks: tied for sixth in takeaways (18), fourth in yards allowed per carry (3.8), fourth in sacks (40, the fifth-most through 12 games in franchise history), third in points allowed per game (18.1), second in points allowed per drive (1.51), second in yards allowed per play (4.55), first in yards allowed per pass attempt (6.1), first in run defense DVOA, first in pass defense DVOA and, naturally, first in defensive DVOA overall.
That’s an exact comparison that doubles as a misleading comparison. Greatness, as Sherman notes, is not culled by stats alone. He can still recall those days, that vibe; so much so that when asked for a favorite memory he says, essentially, all of it.
As for the legacy of the current Seahawks defense, Sherman says, fairly and accurately, that it’s still being shaped. “Legacies in this league don’t matter unless you win in the playoffs,” he says. “They’re playing great football. They’re consistent. They’re sound. They’re attacking. They’re deep, especially at the defensive line. It [has] been beautiful football.”
The kind that projects a playoff run unlike any since the Boom days. This defense is not that defense, not exactly. But this season sure is beginning to feel like those seasons.
More NFL From Sports Illustrated