The overarching theme to the Seattle Seahawks’ season on defense is what has happened to the Legion of Boom. There have been multiple late game collapses by the Seattle defense and the secondary has been picked apart in some high profile games. The demise of the Legion of Boom may be overstated a bit as they are 9th in passing yards allowed per game (232.0) and T-1st in TDs allowed (11) but there should be concern as Seattle is 16th in Y/A (7.2), 18th in completion percentage (62.8%), T-22nd in INTs (8), and 13th in passer rating allowed (85.3). This is not the dominate pass defense that scared most of the league for two years. Pittsburgh put up gaudy numbers against the Seahawks and a lot of this is because Ben Roethlisberger is an elite QB with all the weapons he could want. But to give up 480 yards of passing on over eight yards per attempt is disheartening despite only giving up one touchdown compared to the four interceptions. So what is happening to Seattle defense? Has the lost talent in the secondary (Brandon Browner, Byron Maxwell, Walter Thurmond, etc.) caught up to Seattle as they have not been able to reload yet? Or is it due to teams figuring out how to attack and pick apart the simple Cover 1/3 scheme that the Seahawks use? This article will go into the film and diagnose what the ails the Legion of Boom and how the Seahawks need to fix the issue.
*Note: I’m going to be listing the ten plays that I think best exemplify what went wrong for the Seahawks on the first page. If you want to see all of the plays and my opinions on them (basically my research notes), they will be listed on following pages afterward in chronological order of the game film.
Pass #1
Situation: 1st and 10 PIT 44
Description: Q1-(1:48) B. Roethlisberger Pass Deep Middle to M. Wheaton to SEA 35 for 21 Yards (E. Thomas)
When I was watching the film, I noticed a lot of the time that MLB Bobby Wagner (#54) was very flat-footed in coverage. He didn’t get a whole lot of depth in his drops and was waiting for a dump off receiver to come out of the backfield. When in zone coverage, though, if there isn’t a receiver in front of you, you are supposed to be bailing backward to take away and deep routes that are developing behind you. Wagner doesn’t follow those rules many times throughout the game and on this play he gets taken advantage of. WR Markus Wheaton (#11) is running a post route out of the slot and works his way into the massive void that opens up between FS Earl Thomas (#29) and Wagner. If Wagner drops back in his coverage and gets underneath the post route, this void doesn’t exist and Roethlisberger doesn’t have a window to throw it to Wheaton. OLB KJ Wright (#50) has RB Deangelo Williams (#34) running the out route underneath him so he needs to stay more upfield in his coverage. This is very atypical of Wagner in the past as one of the things I read in his scouting report was he excelled in getting depth in his zone drop. His lack of depth in his zone drop is seen again here:
Pass #2
Situation: 2nd and 5 SEA 33
Description: Q2-(9:54) B. Roethlisberger Pass Short Right to M. Wheaton to SEA 14 for 19 Yards (M. Burley)
Wagner (#54) repeats the same mistake that he made on the previous play as he didn’t get nearly enough depth in his drop. Wheaton (#11) runs a seam route behind and Wagner and instead of Wagner getting underneath the route, he dances in one spot because he isn’t sure of TE Matt Spaeth (#89) is going to come out for a route or not. Spaeth isn’t really a threat in the passing game and he is blocking DE Cliff Avril (#56) initially so there is no reason why Wagner should be dancing around where he is. If he even gets one or two more yards of depth, he may have an interception on this play. Instead, he leaves another void between Thomas (#29) and him and Wheaton sits down in that void.
Pass #3
Situation: 1st and 10 PIT 29
Description: Q1-(9:57) B. Roethlisberger Pass Short Right to R. Nix Pushed Out of Bounds at PIT 35 for 6 Yards (K. Chancellor)
SS Kam Chancellor (#31) in the first half was just awful. While this play isn’t awful in terms of the result, the same idea that effects him on this play burns him badly later on in the game. Chancellor has the flat zone on this play. I don’t know who taught Chancellor how to drop in zone coverage but this terrible technique. His back his turned to the play and he has no AWARENESS of what is going on with the play. If he drops back with proper technique, he would be aware of what is going on in his surroundings and jump the out route of FB Roosevelt Nix (#46). Instead, he leaves Nix wide open and Roethlisberger has an easy throw to make. There is a reason why I bolded the word awareness on this play. It is a key factor in what went wrong on the following pass.
Pass #4
Situation: 1st and 10 PIT 44
Description: Q2-(1:16) B. Roethlisberger Pass Deep Left to M. Wheaton to SEA 15 for 41 Yards (B. Wagner)
Chancellor (#31) has a much more important responsibility as he is the deep middle defender. He has to play centerfield and clean up the mistakes of the other players. When playing the deep middle of the field, you need to keep your shoulders parallel to the line of scrimmage and stay deeper than the deepest receiver. Chancellor has the second part down, but he again turns his back to the play (well half of it) and losses awareness of the right half of the field when he focuses on the deep route of WR Antonio Brown (#84). Brown is a dangerous WR but CB Richard Sherman (#25) is a great CB (and was one of the few bright spots) and Thomas (#29) is sitting underneath the route. There is no reason why Chancellor should be focusing all his attention on Brown. Wagner (#54) again doesn’t get enough of a drop in his zone coverage so Wheaton (#11) is wide open on the right side of the field on the seam route. If Chancellor was aware of his surroundings, he would see Wheaton all alone and clean up Wagner’s mistake. Instead, he is no position to make a play on this pass and costs his teams a lot of yards.
Pass #5
Situation: 3rd and 1 PIT 47
Description: Q3-(0:25) B. Roethlisberger Pass Incomplete Deep Left to M. Bryant (D. Shead)
I’m going to focus on Thomas (#29) for the next few plays because he was not his usual self. Thomas has some of the best instincts in the game and has the range that most safeties can only dream up. But he is also aggressive in his coverage and play and it led to some really poor decisions. This pass is an incompletion, but this should have been a touchdown as WR Martavius Bryant (#10) has burnt SS/CB DeShawn Shead (#35) badly on this play. Thomas is responsible for the deep middle of the field and is the only defender that can help Shead if he gets beat deep. Instead, he is jumping the dig route of Wheaton (#11) that should be the responsibility of the LBs underneath. Thomas has to be available to get over the top of a deep route and should be bailing out Shead on this play. The Seahawks get lucky as Roethlisberger’s hesitation gives Shead a chance to catch up to Bryant and break up the pass, but this could have been an interception for Thomas if he plays this right.
Pass #6
Situation: 1st and 10 PIT 31
Description: Q4-(11:51) B. Roethlisberger Pass Deep Middle to M. Wheaton for 69 Yards and Touchdown
This time, Thomas (#29) trying to make the aggressive play while in deep coverage costs the Seahawks big time. Thomas has the deep left half of the field and should be bailing in his coverage immediately off the snap. He doesn’t get any depth in his drop, though, but that isn’t the main issue. The main issue is why is he focusing on Roethlisberger scrambling? He sees that Wheaton (#11) has run past CB Jeremy Lane (#20) in coverage and his initial movement to help Lane out. For some unknown reason (you would have to ask him or Pete Carroll), he stops following Wheaton and instead runs upfield to try to tackle Roethlisberger scrambling out of the pocket. Thomas should be the last player chasing Roethlisberger and instead should be running deep with Wheaton. Because Thomas loses discipline, Roethlisberger has the whole left side of the field to throw to and burns the Seahawks with a big play.
Pass #7
Situation: 1st and 10 PIT 25
Description: Q3-(4:20) B. Roethlisberger Pass Short Right to M. Wheaton to PIT 32 for 7 Yards (B. Wagner)
I love that Thomas (#29) is an agressive player who likes to lay the lumber. But there is a difference with coming in like a missile and just being completely out of control in a tackle. This fits the second scenario as Thomas is all sorts messed up in his technique. Thomas’s head is facing the turf, he isn’t bringing his arms with the tackle, and he is trying to launch into Wheaton’s (#11) to knock him down. All these things are a recipe for disaster when dealing with an elusive WR and Wheaton makes him look silly with a simple juke step. Thomas needs to spend more time with new tackling coach and work on how to tackle like a rugby player instead of launching at a player. He wasn’t the only player to do it (Wagner had a similarly poor tackle) but he was the worst offender and if he misses a tackle like that in the open field he is going to give up a big play.
Pass #8
Situation: 2nd and 3 PIT 49
Description: Q3-(8:52) B. Roethlisberger Pass Deep Right to M. Bryants to SEA 11 for 40 Yards (D. Shead)
It’s not all on the veterans of the defense for why the Seahawks struggled. Shead (#35) had his first start of his career at CB and he didn’t exactly look the part. The thing I noticed the most about him is that he does not elite speed. This was shown in Pass #5, but he didn’t get off the hook like he did on the previous pass I mentioned. Shead’s technique is fine on this play, but Bryant (#10) just runs right by him. Shead is built like an SS (6’1, 220 lbs) so asking him to cover one of the fastest WRs in the game in man coverage is unfair to him as he is not built to keep up with a WR like Bryant. But if Shead cannot work on least jamming WRs better off the line of scrimmage of keeping up with them better, offenses are going to design formations that get Shead matched up with the speed receiver and he is going to be exploited over and over again.
Pass #9
Situation: 1st and 10 SEA 15
Description: Q2-(1:05) B. Roethlisberger Pass Short Right to M. Wheaton Pushed Out of Bounds at SEA 6 for 9 Yards (M. Burley)
The Seahawks gave CB Marcus Burley (#28) to show what he’s got at nickel back and he showed off one thing loud and clear, he doesn’t have the quickness to pull it off. This is just one example of what would happen to him against the Steeler’s WRs on short routes. Burley would keep up with the receiver for the first phase of the route but as soon as the receiver cut, he would either get left in the dust or overrun the route. Burley does not have the quick-twitch movement required to be a nickel back and was benched for Lane (who just got off the injury list) in the second half. Burley isn’t exactly a big guy either so his ability on the outside is limited and if he can’t handle slot receiver, there isn’t really a place for him in the secondary. I remember him gettting exploited by the Patriots in the super bowl by quick hitting routes and the Steelers did the same thing to him again.
Pass #10
Situation: 1st and 10 SEA 48
Description: Q4-(1:45) L. Jones Pass Deep Right Intended to M. Bryant Intercepted by K. Chancellor (D. Shead) at SEA 7. K. Chancellor to SEA 7 for No Gain (M. Bryant). The Replay Official Reviewed the Interception Ruling, and the Play was Upheld. The Ruling on the Field Stands
It wasn’t all bad for the Seahawks, though. They did get four interceptions and I wanted to show the best of the bunch. Shead(#35) actually does a good job of not letting Bryant (#10) get behind him on Bryant’s go route and is in a great position to make a play on the ball. Jones should have never thrown this pass, but he decided to anyways and the Seahawks take advantage. Chancellor (#31) is in deep middle coverage and on this play he is actually aware of his surroundings. He maintains good posting in his drop back into coverage and once the ball is thrown he takes off to help Shead out. He doesn’t have Thomas’ speed so he isn’t able to go for the ball initially, but he is in the right spot for the tipped pass and makes an acrobatic catch to bring down the interception. I said after watching this play “see what happens when everyone does their role.” The Seahawks are good enough that when they do their assignments right, they can shut down or at least hamper a team’s ability to pass.
Overall Impression
There isn’t one thing that you can pin the failure of the Seattle’s pass defense on for this game. There was a combination of factors that caused the defense to give up so many yards. The first factor is the Seahawks do not have a #2 CB that they can trust right now. DeShawn Shead replaced Carey Williams at the second CB position and he wasn’t given a half of a field like the Seahawks usually do with their CBs. They kept Richard Sherman on Antonio Brown all game and tried to get away with Shead on Martavius Bryant. Shead is a converted SS though and he does not have the speed to keep up with the faster WRs in the game. If the Seahawks are going to keep using Shead, they are going to need to cheat Thomas over the top of Shead to deal with speed receivers that offenses are going to try to get Shead to cover. I think Shead has potential to be a good #2 CB, but he isn’t comfortable yet and he is going to having some growing pains. The Seahawks also don’t have a nickel back worth his salt right now. Jeremy Lane is just coming back from injury so he will get better as the year goes on, but right now he is rusty and not as fast as he should be. Burley doesn’t have the quickness to play in the slot and was beat over and over against by the quick cuts the Steelers’ WRs made. I don’t think the Seahawks have an answer other than Lane for the nickel back position unless Carey Williams turns it around and can fill that void. The veterans of the defense don’t get a free pass either as some of the studs of the defense were garbage against the pass. Bobby Wagner was not getting enough depth in his drops and kept letting seam routes get behind him, Kam Chancellor had a terrible first 2 1/2 quarters as he was out of position and was unaware of what was going around him, and Earl Thomas was too aggressive jumping underneath routes which left Shead on an island way to often and was out of control in his tackles. I also have to give some credit to the Steelers. They had a very effective game plan to attack the cover three and took advantage of the mismatches over and over again. But the Seahawks committed a lot of mistakes and the Steelers made them pay for it.
There are still some positives to take out of this game. Sherman shut down Brown after the first quarter and locked him down as well as any CB can expect, KJ Wright was his usual very solid self in coverage, Chancellor looked more like himself in the second half, they were able to force four interceptions, and the pass rush ramped up the pressure in the second half. The question is, how do the Seahawks become the legion of boom again? The first thing that needs to happen is the veterans need to do their jobs and stop freelancing. I don’t know if it is because of the accolades have gotten to some of the player’s heads or they are trying to make up for the weakness at CB, but players like Wagner and Thomas need to just do their job and trust that the other players will do theirs. The second is to pick up a solid CB in the offseason. Seattle believes that they can draft their way into a solid secondary, but right now they are in a transition as Maxwell, Browner, and Thurmond III have not been replaced yet. Grabbing Greg Toler from Indianapolis or Jarraud Powers from Arizona for year or two would be great to help complete the transition in the secondary from the previous stars. They also may want to draft a CB in the first or second round (I like Kendell Fuller out of Virginia Tech or Tony Conner out of Ole Miss) so there is less development time needed for the CB to be ready to play from the time they are drafted.
If you want to see every play, click on the pages below.