"What makes the SEA defense so great"

from off the net

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Kind of Blue/Gold

What makes the SEA defense so great? Specifically, looking at each level of the defense:

DL – Bennett has the athletic versatility and positional flexibility to win with speed and power inside and outside. Avril is underrated (his going out of the Super Bowl, third quarter [[?]] was arguably the biggest factor in the outcome, if you look at Brady’s stats when he was in and out of the game). They can rotate waves of DL to keep them fresh and generate relentless pressure for 60 minutes.

LB – Wagner is All-Pro and key. Wright and the departed Malcolm Smith are fast, athletic and talented, but Wagner is special. Tony Dungy gave Wagner his only MVP vote. His rationale? Once he returned from injury, the defense shaved like 10 points off their scoring defense Pts/G average to about 7!

DB – Sherman, Chancellor and Earl Thomas all All-Pros. The first two arguably the best in the NFL at their respective positions of CB and SS, the latter without a doubt the top FS in the game, an amazing confluence of talent. Has to be one of the greatest secondaries I’ve ever seen. Sherman is an underrated athlete that has run a 10.7 100 m. (as fast as Gurley), was a former CA state triple jump champ as a prep and has the ball skills of the former Stanford WR he was. Sherman held his man (Demaryius Thomas?) to an insignificant 2-3 catches and handful of yards in the DEN Super Bowl route. Unlike Revis, he doesn’t follow the top WR, if I was the opposing OC, I’d move my top WR to the other side. Chancellor basically has MLB size and run support ability, but can cover like a safety. Thomas’ unique combo of sub-4.4 speed and telepathic instincts enables him to cover the back of the field from one high coverage (so enabling CBs to play all out physical press coverage), sprint to either side of the field and make plays on the ball, but also has the toughness to be an explosive open field tackler and snuff out big run plays before they happen. Instinct is a term thrown around a lot and used loosely. Some say they can’t be improved. Thomas’ are obviously phenomenal, he just has faster reflexes and reactions than most normal humans. This makes him the most indispensable member of the defense, even more than Wagner and Sherman. I thought he was a legit Defensive Player of the Year candidate in 2013.

As a UNIT or ensemble, the individual defensive players:

1) Are assignment sound.
2) Fill their gaps and are where they are supposed to be.
3) Have outstanding collective speed and more importantly, great instinctiveness and run/pass RECOGNITION.
4) Athleticism, versatility and ability to defend the pass and run equally well seems to be a skeleton key to the D, especially the back seven.
5) Swarm to the ball carrier.
6) Uniformly tackle well (also tough, physical and intimidating hitters – Chancellors early hit on Demaryius Thomas set the tone for the rest of the blow out Super Bowl victory).

And also are the beneficiaries of –

7) A good offense keeps them rested and playing with the lead a lot.
8) EASILY the top home field advantage in the league. SEA sometimes seems intimidatingly good. They were 12-4 last year. But 7-1 at home (loss to ARI first at home since 2012?). Meaning they were 5-3 on the road, with a few close wins, so they easily could have been .500 there. After we beat them, they were 3-3 and looked vulnerable. But they than proceeded to go on a tear, 9-1 the rest of the way.

We can’t manufacture a Thomas or Sherman. But we have advantages on the DL relative to them (they have nothing comparable to Quinn or Donald, for instance). What we can do, is a better job of the basics.