The two men who know how to play the Rams
Time to tap into the Belichick tree
I had an opportunity to watch most of the Rams vs Giants game on Sunday and suddenly got a great sense of déjà vu.
Los Angeles only managed 240 total yards on offense — the worst performance since Sean McVay was appointed Head Coach.
They stuttered and stalled and simply couldn’t move the ball.
If it wasn’t for bad mistakes by the New York offense and a blown coverage on a 55-yard touchdown to Cooper Kupp — the Rams would’ve lost and would’ve barely reached double figures in points.
It felt a lot like Super Bowl LIII.
On that night the Patriots held the Rams to 260 total yards and three points — despite LA dominating the league for the entire regular season with a prolific, unstoppable offense.
So what’s the consistent feature here?
Bill Belichick’s plan.
The Patriots had two weeks to prepare for the Super Bowl and cooked up a scheme that could possibly be Belichick’s greatest coaching achievement. Holding McVay’s Rams to three points was incredible.
He tackled LA’s endless misdirection and desire to reach the perimeter by installing athletic players up at the line of scrimmage with the ability to operate in space once they’d diagnosed the play and fly to the ball carrier.
Steven Ruiz provides a breakdown here:
In order to defend the Rams’ deadly outside-zone running game, Belichick played the exact same front. He played a four-man defensive line but flanked it with Patrick Chung and Donta Hightower, creating a six-man surface for the Patriots defense. The Rams weren’t going to get an on edge on this front.
Los Angeles, which ran outside zone more than any other team in the league, ran it just three times against New England. That’s why we saw so little of Todd Gurley, who lost snaps to C.J. Anderson for the second game in a row.
Throwing out the six-man line served its purpose … just like it did when Belichick used the same exact front the slow down the Bears in the 1990 playoffs. Chicago finished that season second in the league in rushing. Against Belichick’s surprise six-man front, the Bears managed only 27 rushing yards on 16 attempts. Nearly three decades later, the strategy worked again, holding a Rams run game that finished third in rushing to 62 yards.
Fast forward nearly three years and here’s a New York Giants team led by Joe Judge — a long time Patriots special teams coordinator — enjoying the same success.
How many rushing yards did the Giants give up against the Rams on Sunday?
58 yards on 23 attempts for an average of 2.5 per attempt.
It worked again.
They’ve found the secret formula to limit the Rams.
Let’s compare this to Seattle’s performance against the same offense. In the last five games between the teams, LA scored 42, 33, 36, 29 and 28 points.
Here’s the total offensive yardage conceded in each game:
2017 (H) — 352
2018 (A) — 468
2018 (H) — 456
2019 (H) — 477
2019 (A) — 455
The Seahawks have a 1-4 record in those games.
Not good.
Pete Carroll put together the bulk of his current staff in 2018. It was the start of the re-set with a number of high-profile players and coaches departing.
The Seahawks had completely lost their identity and in an attempt to regain control, Carroll appointed familiar faces and people who would run his system.
It was the right thing to do at the time. Seattle recaptured its identity, avoided a huge downturn in results despite the siphoning of talent and quickly got back on track.
Now that they’re three years in it might be time for a rejig. Arguably, they could do with some outsiders to come in and offer new ideas.
It’s not unfair to contemplate the possibility of big changes to the defensive staff at the end of the season. The poor results so far aren’t entirely the fault of the staff — many of Seattle’s issues on defense are down to personnel and team building decisions.
Nevertheless, it seems somewhat likely there will be some moves in the off-season.
It might not be a bad idea to find someone who is currently with the Patriots in some capacity or was part of the staff in 2018 and give them a job.
Belichick’s defense is different to Carroll’s. Sometimes though, you need to steal an idea or two. A new voice can be a good thing.
In 2017 Paul Allen asked Carroll and John Schneider to appoint an outsider in an advisory capacity. Allen wanted to find ways to challenge his GM and Head Coach, to present a new perspective.
Mike Pettine, now the defensive coordinator in Green Bay, was brought in. Pettine’s background is not in the 4-3 under but he spent a year as a consultant in Seattle.
Who knows how Carroll felt about that plan or whether he saw any worth in it? He hasn’t made a similar appointment since.
However — it’s hard not to observe the success New England and New York have had against the Rams being led by the same connected coaching tissue.
One of the main reasons the Seahawks have only won the NFC West once in the last five years is because of the way they play the Rams. Perhaps this year will be different? Regardless — if there are coaching changes in the summer, it might not be the worst idea in the world to identify someone with experience of the plan that has stymied the Rams twice to see if you can bring that same impact to Seattle.
The Seahawks are meeting with an old friend
Snacks Harrison isn’t the only player coming in for a visit this week. It’s been revealed that Mychal Kendricks is too.
This would be a smart addition for the Seahawks.
Kendricks was put in a difficult position in 2019. With the defense operating mostly in base, he was tasked with playing a lot of coverage and trying to offer some pass rush from the SAM position.
Pete Carroll regularly referred to his 4.47 forty at the 2012 combine to justify the move. While he’s certainly still a good athlete, the chances are he’s lost some speed since then.
Nickel cornerback is one of the toughest positions to play in the modern NFL. Having to take on some of those duties as a 240lbs linebacker is a thankless task. His play suffered, he missed 21.1% of his tackles and then he picked up a serious injury.
With the Seahawks moving away from base, he would be the ideal rotational linebacker.
As a pass rusher he graded well last year — receiving a 75.3 grade from PFF for his 84 pass rush snaps
With Bruce Irvin out for the season and Jordyn Brooks seemingly set to miss a chunk of time with a knee injury — the Seahawks’ depth at the position has taken a hit.
And sadly, Cody Barton continues to struggle.
It was bad enough last year when he was being blocked in the playoff by Aaron Rodgers and stiff-armed by Kyle Allen:
You could put it down to some rookie growing pains. Was he unsure of himself? Did he need to settle into the league?
He certainly needed to improve though. There were too many mistakes, too many missed opportunities.
Last Sunday in Miami was his first chance to start this season and it didn’t go well. Again — he was missing tackles, being juked in the open field and he just doesn’t seem to have the ability to read and react. He could make up for that by playing with an aggressive, physical nature but that’s also missing (see above).
His PFF grade against the Dolphins was a 48.1 with a horrible 40.1 tackling score.
Reportedly he’s carrying a quad injury. The Seahawks can’t afford to carry anyone this year though, especially with the defense in the state it’s in.
Kendricks might not suit playing as a hybrid SAM/Nickel in an ambitious (and possibly misguided) return to base defense. As a third linebacker complementing Bobby Wagner and K.J. Wright, however, he’s certainly up to the job.
If Jordyn Brooks is going to be out for some time it makes sense to bring him in.
As for Barton — it’s hard to know where he goes from here. They wouldn’t be meeting with Kendricks if they weren’t concerned. Is he salvageable? They traded up in round three for him in 2019 but he’s just not showing enough.
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Reposting because it matches the piece theme
Visits today are LB heavy
DT Damon Harrison
LB Mychael Kendricks
LB Jeff Holland
LB Michael Divinity
LB Ray-Ray Armstrong
DB DeMarkus Acy
Jeff Holland is a pass rusher though to be fair
Ray Ray Armstrong may provide some interest. He was a safety at University of Miami before moving to a LB role ala Mark Baron. Interestingly enough his tackling and coverage skills seems perfect for a role countering the Rams as an outside guy in a “Patriot” front line.
Needs to play better than he did in his final game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eky0Yy8_eOI
He had stated he was only going to play 1 game this season, so at least he stuck to his guns.
All projection with him, needs to find a landing spot he can sit 2 – 3 years, then unleash him on the league.
He is going first round. Definitely won’t sit more than one season.
Great piece. I would love To consider a move to a Belichick or Steelers type of scheme for a number of reasons including better stopping our NFC West rivals. I just don’t think it’ll happen under Carroll’s defensive dogma.
What attracts me most is the potential strengths of a move to a 34 defense. I feel that given our annual draft range, we should be considering a scheme which generates pressure from not only DL but LBs. The advantage in my opinion is 3 fold 1) more ability to zone blitz and cover/blitz more creatively, 2) deeper draft pool of potential pass rushers and 3) better ability to spread and cover with speed to matchup moreso with increasingly intricate spread offenses.
Looking back at the last 3-4 years of drafted players who were taken at or after our native 1st choice in round 1, very very few players taken in drafts 2017-19 have produced > 5 sacks per season. In fact, of the small percentage of players chosen who did, most of these players were OLBs who likely would’ve been considered too small or tweezers to man even our DL – even the LEO position. Yet players like Floyd, Leonard, Watt, Landry and even Winovich have flourished in these systems a creating pressure.
I don’t much fancy changing scheme. There’s nothing worse than having a defensive minded Head Coach not running his scheme — the scheme that you’ve drafted and signed for since day one.
You’d probably need to spend the next three years signing players to fit.
For me it’s not a complete overhaul of the scheme that is needed. It’s being willing to take on some fresh ideas and get a new set of eyes on the plan/personnel. There might be a coach who wants to experience a different scheme/formation who might be willing to come in and work with Seattle for a year or two. Develop his learning and share ideas.
They also need to do a better job acquiring D-line talent, as we all know.
Example #1) Dallas Cowboys defense in 2020. Defensive coach is a 3-4 minded guy, but the defense is or has better 4-3 defensive players….. Cowboys defense in 2020….. not good at anything.
Very true
Only reason I know this is the they have Griffen and Lawrence in the OLB spots, instead of DE spot and they flat out aren’t getting to the QB… 1 sack combined. We spilled so much ink about Griffen this summer, that he would fit a 4-3 perfectly, but now he is being asked to stand up and can’t get after the QB like we hoped he would in Seattle. Maybe keep an eye on him as a possible acquisition at the trade deadline(?)
Griffen – 13 tackle / 1 sack in 4 games
Lawrence – 11 tackles/ 0 sacks in 4 games
Truly dreadful
As a North Dakotan I’m not as impressed by Lance as the numbers indicate. As a pure passer he still falls behind Wentz in talent
I like the idea of this but I don’t know that it happens. It kind of has to go down like how Paul Allen made it with Pettine and no one has that kind of say or initiative in the organization. Someone has to come in with an immediate voice and i don’t think anyone will have the chance especially if he is appointed by PC. Something tells me that person would just be happy to be there. If they pull the rug out early on him, Brian Flores would be a good one. He proved he can make adjustments last week.
Didn’t Seattle kind of try and copy the patriots D vs Rams last year at home?
You’re right, they’d have to be open minded to it.
However — the results so far are so bad, I sense they will consider everything in the off-season if this continues.
It’s unrealistic that a current Head Coach would come over for this role (and Flores isn’t going anywhere). What is more likely IMO is to try and appoint someone already in the Belichick system (or has been and is now in Detroit/Miami/New York) by offering them a title that is perceived as a promotion or strong opportunity. You don’t bring them in to ‘run’ the defense but you create a mutually beneficial scenario to gather an exchange of ideas for an up-and-comer or someone looking to re-set or experience new ideas.
I don’t have a name but if Joe Judge the special teams coach can re-create those results against LA I’m sure it’s possible to find someone who can offer some assistance.
I hope you’re right. This is the move a proactive franchise would make. I forgot about Pettine to be honest. As far as names, someone from the Belichick tree that is in the same exact situation as Pettine was as a lame duck coach is Romeo Crennel. I doubt he will be back in Houston. He is 73 and a consultant job may fit his age. Is he still connected enough to the Pats to provide the value you outlined? Maybe due to his connections? Someone else on staff in NE currently is Jerod Mayo. He is just a linebacker coach there so maybe he can be swayed as a consultant/quality control type job.
It needs to be someone who was on the Pats staff in 2018.
Mayo is a shout but would need to be a promotion. He’s only ever known the Pats so not sure he’d move over. It might be best to target someone who isn’t even a position coach — an assistant who’s moved around a bit maybe. Just someone with the knowledge and experience of what they did who can advise.
I haven’t heard about Mayo as a coach either but perhaps he could be like Vrabel and grow into something more. Vinnie Sunseri is a guy I think they hired to help replace Judge. He’s a former Alabama safety and coached for Saban and now BB. Could be a name to watch.
“It needs to be someone who was on the Pats staff in 2018.”
This line of thinking leads to disaster. Get the best coach period. Further, the Chargers defense played the Chiefs defense as well as the Pats this season so far. Why does this line of thinking focus solely on the Rams when they look like they were a flash in the pan?
Yes, I’m sure the Seahawks will come crashing down if they appoint someone to their staff from the Patriots.
That one coach (or consultant) will be the end of PCJS.
Century Link Field will split like the stadium in the Batman film.
(puts head in hands)
As for why does this plan focus solely on the Rams, that’s because they play in the NFC West. Which, FYI, is also Seattle’s division. And the Seahawks give up 450 yards a game to the Rams and have a 1-4 record in the last five games (would be 0-5 if Greg the Leg could still kick). Meanwhile, the Pats staff and the NY version of the Pats staff limited them to Sean McVay’s two worst games as the Rams coach.
Quite why I had to explain the article, I’m not sure.
Jamal Adams was supposed to be one of those new additions to help seal the edge against the Rams, same with the drafting of Brooks. We haven’t been running base as often as years past, etc. The offense is different now. Lots of things have changed for us and the Rams too.
I also realize you’re talking about the role as a consultant, but when you do things like set such strict parameters like that it tends to lead to bad results.
Strict parameters?
Bringing in a consultant?
Don’t talk daft.
C’mon now. You clearly know what your stated parameters are: “it needs to be someone on the Pats staff in 2018.”
More people have come out of New England and been a bust than have hit. That kind of strict thinking has led to a lot of bad outcomes.
Why are you struggling with this so much?
I’m not calling for the Seahawks to appoint a new Head Coach.
Hiring a consultant or positional coach or assistant head coach from the Pats isn’t going to bring the team crashing down.
Every single one of the defensive coaches or analysts on the Patriots 2018 staff is either a coach with the Patriots or another team in the league.
So the part I’m struggling with is why the solution MUST be someone from that staff to serve in a consultants role? Seems pretty obvious that you set yourself up for failure with things like that.
Yeah… appointing a consultant is going to destroy the Seahawks.
FFS.
2018 Patriots? I’d be happy if they just dusted off their copy of How To Scheme Pressure For Dummies.
Maybe Romeo as a Dline coach and assistant Head coach…ala the Tom Cable treatment? I could actually see Pete enjoying having a guy like Romeo around to share his experience, as long, as you said, it wasn’t perceived as a threat, more improving….
Rob, good article on how hawks can add something to the defense. Not sure will Pete open to the idea of tinkering the defense. Though something happened on special team coaching which we are not talking is showing lot of difference. I hope some changes happen in both personal and scheme to revive the defense during bye. D J Reed news is good, if we can get Taylor, Dunbar, Adams with one more vet DE things can be better.
Anyone heard about Colby Parkinson, i know our 5th TE 🙂 ?
I bet they keep Colby on NFI for the year (redshirt) since we have a wealth of riches already at TE. It is good news about DJ Reed but I bet they wait to see how things shake out in the back end before calling him up.
I’ve been wondering about our special teams shuffle as well. We are DEFINITELY playing better this year and it shows.
As for Pete tinkering with his defense. I believe a good defensive coach is always tinkering and I like the direction Rob went here. Will it happen? We’ll see, but we saw what BB did to the Rams and it was lights-out effective.
Probably also depends who they will drop when Penny is ready. TE Willson can be that guy as Homer has big role in both ST and Offense. So does Carlos and DeeJay. Penny Hart can be another guy comes to mind.
Swain played really well given he was 7th rounder. He can play double role with Tyler on the field :). Surprisingly he is little bigger than Tyler.
If healthy I would have Colby in place of TE Willson, one more real weapon. But you may be right Pete will not give playing time unless he is very confident .
I agree that Willson and Hart are the last guys on the roster and the first to go. It will be interesting to see what they do when they bring Penny back.
Colby hasn’t practiced at all this year. His injury was in June and he was basically an observer during camp. He’s not ready.
I’m really loving what I’m seeing out of Swain. I was initially upset when they chose him over Ursua but now that we’ve had a chance to see him I believe his football IQ and skills are ahead of Ursua. Russ trusts Freddy and it shows on the field.
Swain has gotten some excellent schemed plays, getting him in the open on the perimeter a couple of times. Can’t argue with his hands either, he has caught a good % of balls tossed his way. Swain and Moore have really showed up as a 3/4 WR tandem for the Seahawks. Might be the most over producing duo on the team right now.
He doesn’t have to tinker the defense — it’s just about bringing in a fresh pair of eyes who might be able to complement what they already want to do.
Yeah it just has to be someone whose knowledge has enough clout to be taken seriously. Someone that says “why dont we just do ____”.
Competition of ideas.
Competition. Hmm. What’s PC always talking about?
Fun article and thought.
Can the Seahawks just look at the game tape of what NE coaches have done against the Rams and simply apply those tweaks? I’m sure PC can decipher what they’re doing as good as anyone and use those same defensive formations when the Rams are in bunch sets or “sweep heavy” formations, right?
Well they’ve played the Rams twice since that SB and nothing changed.
So could it be personnel related? Every team seems to have some weakness that can be exploited and the Rams might be ours? They run so much 11 personnel which is just a killer for base defensive alignments, run (outside run) or pass.
Seattle ran base in an effort to get Kendricks on the field which still proved to be a mismatch. Considering Seattle lacked confidence in rookies Blair and Amadi last year along with Thomson being a liability at safety it probably factored in PC’s defensive scheme. With the addition of Adams and the evolution of Amadi Seattle might feel more compelled to play more nickel or even Dime sets that NE employed. I hope that is the case.
In Seattle’s first meeting with the Rams that still fielded KJ, Wagz, Sherman, Kam, ET, Avril, and Bennett they only gave up 10 pts so he has had one successful defensive effort against them.
It leaves me to believe PC is playing to his roster
Rob, first blush, what would they have to do with their current personnel grouping to be able to run this NE style defense against the Rams?
Can they get away with, say, Adams on one side and Neal on the other and have Ugo or Diggs play deep safety? Or do they need to put LBs in those 6 man DL formations?
Also, if I recall, the Patriots sacked Goff a few times and hit him a bunch more times. So, pressuring the QB is likely a key to success as well. So we’d have to fix the pass rush at the same time. *cough*
I think they have the bodies to do it and part of their plan with the safeties this year would be to attack in a similar way.
But as you mentioned — you also need to get home and we know the Seahawks don’t have a quality pass rusher on the entire roster.
Yeah that’s what bothers me. I think what you’re talking about is something the Seahawks should very well think to employ against the Rams. They’ve got to come up with something to counter McVay’s offense.
But if they don’t have the vision and gumption to fix the pass rush 2 offseasons in a row, I’m not sure if they have the necessary traits to bring an outsider in to expand their knowledge base.
At times I think they didn’t have the personnel. They have eaten us up on the perimeter for years. Adams, Blair (sad…), Brooks, maybe Amadi and Neal could get it done outside. I’m a little more worried about the interior line and the pass rush
Outstanding stuff Rob. It sure would be nice to not struggle endlessly with the Rams. I mean hell, Pete struggled with Jeff Losingest Coach of All-Time Fisher for God’s sake. Would love to see a fresh approach. Maybe the fact that Pete has “let Russ cook” this season is indicative of being more willing to be flexible than I at least originally thought.
Brian Flores is going nowhere. Miami is progressing and playing hard. He’s a good coach.
Well according to PFF we have the 12th best defence in the NFL , how on earth can you take PFF seriously coming up with stats like that we are easily in the bottom 3 . Can’t see how one of the worst Defences historically after 4 games is almost a top 10 D.
I don’t understand that ranking either.
Nobody should take PFF as gospel. However, I find their individual player grades game-to-game to be consistently solid. In that instance they are just watching how a player performs snap-to-snap rather than trying to rank a unit across the league. Their game grades have also passed the eye test through four weeks IMO. There are some weird situations though where a player grades really well in coverage for example despite only covering on two snaps and I’d like to know how much that impacts a grade.
Overall though I will continue to refer to the grades week-to-week. They create good talking points.
Curious what teams does PFF has us ranked on defense . Does PPF come up with a reason to out as at 12th maybe because we are equal 2nd in the NRL for turnovers but still that doesn’t outweigh giving up the most yards so far in NFL history.
No way we’re #12, but I do wonder if there are more than 3 fanbases at this point thinking that their team is bottom 3. Offense is way way up.
What I kinda overlooked was how bad defenses across the league are performing. Gotta assume it’s part covid.
We are still bottom 10, IMO. Our d line is the worst. But offenses are scoring at an insane level league wide. Defenses are getting burned badly everywhere. Last weekend showed we at least are playing hard and can make a few good things happen.
I watched a few teams play this weekend and it looked like the players on defenses had literally given up and thrown in the towel. At least our guys are motivated.
Dallas’ defense is worse if you ask me.
The Seahawks are also #2 in DVOA, which given how strong their offense and special teams have been does make some sense. I think the grading systems, both DVOA and PFF, give a pretty big boost to the defense because of their turnovers and getting big stops in high leverage situations.
I’ll take the team DVOA over team PFF any day. I’ve won blackout pools 3 times using DVOA a key component on pick strategy.
I like reviewing the individual PFF each week as well, but there is certainly some grain of salt with them when it comes to rating plays that require truly knowing what the coverage/blocking assignments are.
There are at least 15 teams who think they have a bottom 3 defense. The offenses are way ahead of the defenses so far after the limited opportunity to prepare.
We might not even have the worst defensive line in the league.
I really like the idea of getting an adviser from the Belichick defensive tree. Especially a d-line guy. Seattle’s assistants haven’t been as successful coaching up or evaluating linemen since Bradley and Quinn promoted up and left.
I don’t think any of the guys who are in for a visit today could possibly play this week. The league put in new COVID protocols that include a longer “quarantine” period for street free agents as part of the response to the Tennessee fiasco.
Rob (or anyone) is there any other analytic type grading systems for the NFL?
PFF of course if the most referred one…. but maybe a more obscure one that is worth following or paying attention to, if you are a “stat” geek?? 😛
I don’t think there is, at least not on the same scale
Would be happy to have Kendricks back. Cody Barton is terrible.
Here are some really interesting film breakdown from the Seahawks last game. The guy doing the work doesn’t do Seahawk stuff exclusively, but this is some pretty good and pretty funny stuff. Refers to a couple of big hits Ryan Neal made as “stool softeners”. LOL.
https://youtu.be/64UBEdAnfMs
love it.
lol, Magic Mike with dem Cheeta’ draws
Not sure I want to see Kendricks back… He was among the worst tacklers in the NFL for each of the prior 2 seasons, and that doesn’t include all of the tackles that didn’t count as missed because he got himself so far out of position that they couldn’t count his failure as a miss.
Kendricks was bad in zone defense, he was bad in man coverage, he got caught in the wash of the line too often in the run game, he was always losing outside contain on run plays, and he brought less pressure than Shaquem on a per rush basis.
Barton has had very little game time, and yeah he’s been worked more than a few times, but at this point, I’d rather Barton or BBK or Shaquem be on the field to get more experience on the upward ascent as football players rather than watch a fundamentally unsound Kendricks look a year older and slower and rustier.
Kendricks’ tackling was poor last year but what do people expect when he’s being asked to essentially be a nickel corner at 240 and rush the passer?
He also did a lot of things well.
Maybe I’m remembering wrong, but when he first signed a couple years ago, he was able to pressure and sack the QB, then he got injured and used as a DB/in coverage last year as Rob points out. May not be as good as Clay Mathews at pass-rushing, but he could be used that way and spell BW and KJ from playing 95-100% and have some success at 1/4 the price. Vet min. probably at less than 1 mil/yr. now that it’s part of the way into the season, and it would take 3-4 mil. to get Clay off the couch since he has the 2 mil. for doing nothing deal with the Rams.
Pff statistics gave Kendricks a season long grade of 63 in 2019, and 67 in 2018. So he wasn’t much better in 2018.
He was a below average LB for the last 2 seasons, he’s bad at tackling, he’s a year older, and he’s coming off an ACL injury. I personally don’t see the appeal.
I don’t want you to take this as snark, because it isn’t. I’m asking, because I don’t know. You said he did a lot of things well, so I am asking what was he good at?
67 is not below average.
In 2018 he had 2 sacks, 3 QB hits, 4 TFLs and 19 tackles in 4 games(3 started). That’s with missing some of that time with rotations of course and he was out halfway through the 4th game with a broken leg if I recall. He was used not to his strength last year dropping into coverage all the time and not rushing the passer, and only had 3 sacks in 14 games.
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/K/KendMy00.htm
Per pro football reference.com
In 2018, his missed tackle rate was 24%, but he didn’t qualify as he only accumulated 19 tackles (25 to qualify). If he had qualified, he would have landed at 470th worst out of 472 players.
In 2019, his missed tackle rate was 21.1%, 469th worst out of 482 qualifiers. There were no players in the NFL who had more chances than Kendricks who had a worse missed tackle rate. His missed tackle rate was worse in 2018 when he was not on the field in nickel situations.
In 2019/20 combined, Cody Barton has a 9.7% missed tackle rate.
Cody Barton is bad. Mychal Kendricks misses twice as many tackles as Cody Barton.
Maybe Kendricks is decent at creating pressure on blitzes, but I’m not sure being decent on blitzes makes up for cripplingly bad tackling.
Only defensive patriots coach that was on their staff in 2018 and hasnt moved on or up and whos last name isnt bellichick is Mike Peligrino.
Cornerbacks coach there for 6 or 7 years now.
Covington the DL coach was there, but hes only been coaching now for 2 years. He was there as an assistant in 2018
Peligrino is the only name that really makes sense.
2020 Week 4: Seahawks at Dolphins | Seahawks All Access
https://youtu.be/bMruTV8JHWg
Thanks Sea Mode. Not liking the format this year as much as in previous years. Showing way too much Raible announcing and pre-game. In past years, it was a lot more on field action and a little coaches and players on the sidelines, which seemed like better access and time allotted to the actual game.
Agree.
I like listening to Raible call games. I don’t really want to WATCH him do it though. Oh look, he’s sitting and commentating. Now he’s standing and commentating. There’s way too many cuts to him that make the action really choppy and hard to follow.
Speaking of a coach of NE, what would be the colossal odds of Steve Belichick as Seattle DC? He’s been with NE for a few years, recently he’s the Outside LB coach but he was the safties coach back in 2018, cornerback coach in 2019. Both those area for NE has been pretty stellar.
It depends if he wants to branch out from working for his dad. He’d probably benefit from it a ton but is it likely next year? Not sure.
Is he the one with the mullett? Then it’s a hard pass for me…couldn’t watch that hair in every game
It’s a mullet. It’s not going to bite you.
The 80’s called… 😜
I thought it was one of the guys from Journey making a comeback…
…….and asked for it’s hairdo back.
Mike Gundy doesn’t think you’re funny.
I do however. 🙂
If you told me that he could be a phenomenal DC and could turn your unit into a ferocious pack of players that gets the job done every week, but had that mullet, the I’d deal with the mullet or maybe rock one myself. Who cares what his physical appearance looks like if he has the chops to do the job?
Has anyone else noticed that while they are rotating offensive linemen the one player who never gets any snaps is top free agent signing BJ Finney who they had to have for $8m over two years?
Money well spent.
Who’s to blame here? I know PCJS has the final say but they must have other scout-like personal who finds individual players to sign.
Are these draft and FA flops are on Schneider? Or might be mostly on bad scouting/staff?
After the initial surge in draft with Wilson-Wagner-Sherm-ET etc and the success in FA with Bennett, Avril, etc I can count how many quality FA signings happened that can be counted as true wins AND how many successful draft picks happened that can be counted as steals or really value picks.
2020: none (I wouldn’t count Lewis a G as a steal in 3rd but he’s the highlight of this offseason so far. Adams cost a ton and had 1 true amazing game and 2 OK, so not a big win for me either so far)
2019: two: Metcalf (he should’ve been a 1st round guy), trade for Diggs (for a 5th round pick feels like a steal) (Amadi plays good but so far don’t exceed 4th round position by much. Won’t put Clowney in the win column he played well but didn’t push us into SB or tbh much further then the team would’ve went. 3rd round pick seems like an OK compensation)
2018: one: Michael Dickson (yeah…a punter…and while a 5th doesn’t seem like a huge steal but still feels like if you know how solid he is he could’ve/should’ve gone in late 3rd or early 4th too) (won’t put Dissly as a steal for a 4th. Seems talented but too many injuries)
2017: four: Justin Coleman (for a 7th round pick he was a heck’of’a steal), David Moore (for a 7th he seems a solid WR3/4), Chris Carson (7th round is a definitely steal), Bradley McDougald (always signed for moderate contracts and he was a really solid piece on the defense)
2016: one: Jarran Reed (not a steal but he’s a solid addition in the second round with one outstanding year but if he wouldn’t be double teamed a ton I think he could get better this year too)
2015: three: Frank Clark (he could’ve been mid-late 1st round guy easily, so 2nd round feels like a steal), Tyler Lockett (3rd round is definitely a steal), Ahtyba Rubin (not a huge name, but he played very well against the run and had some passrush upside a couple of times and didn’t cost too much)
2014: pretty much zero… (Can’t pencil in Britt as a win in R2. He was a good/OK C but too long to find his spot and wasn’t THAT good…no good new FA addition, couple of nice re-signs only)
OK 11 and only have 10 fingers. But if we count how many of these guys are currently with the team that’s only 7…one for each year. While we lost a ton of big name, big play guys.
This is not a successful team management. I get it that they’re trying (Jimmy Graham, Richardson, Clowney, etc) but they’re also failing. In that 7 years they only got 4 (!) players in the first 3 rounds who are truly feels like an early pick. There were 24 picks in this period that is a bit more than 3 on avg/year. That is around 16-17% success rate. It feels like pretty much you could just start any draft game online and could provide similar success results. They need to do much-much better especially with how tight the resources will be in the next couple of years
PCJS are to blame
I would add Shell as a solid signing this offseason, not great by any means but an upgrade over Mr. False Start. Bad draft pick there.
By comparison here are the Patriots drafts ( since we are talking Pats and the draft in this article)
2016: C Jones (cb), J Thuney, J Brissett, V Valentine, M Mitchell, K Grugier-H, E Roberts, T Karras, D Ucien
2017: D Rivers, A Garcia, D Wise Jr., C McDermott
2018: I Wynn, S Michel, D Dawson, J Bentley, C Sam, B Berrios, D Etling, K Crossen, R Izzo
2019: NK Harry, J williams, C Winovich, D Harris, Y Cajuste, H Frooldt, J Stidham, B Cowart, J Bailey, K Webster
2020: K Dugger, J Uche, A Jennings, D Asaisi, D Keene, J Rohrwasser, M Onwenu, J Herron, C Maluia, D Woodward
The Patriots like Seattle traded down a lot and drafted at the bottom of most rounds.
I think there are guys this year who have done some really cool things, some in limited play. Dallas/Robinson/Swain are all guys we *might* eventually look at and say, that was a pretty good pick. Ryan Neal is looking like a hell of a bargain pickup. Damn, though, I wish they were better at drafting in the early rounds.
I read he can be cut next year and they’d only be on the hook for 1M – at least it seems easy to get out of the contract.
That is true.
It’s just a shame they have to waste $5m over two years.
Al this repeated criticism of the Finney signing seems like 20/20 hindsight. Why did I buy insurance that it later turned out I didn’t need?
At the time Seattle signed Finney, Britt was injured and uncertain to play (still hasn’t), Hunt was the only experienced center and he was awful. Pocic was unproven and nobody was saying, “let’s rely on Pocic!” Finney’s PFF grades from last year were solid; including his play at center. He was a good veteran insurance signing at a relatively inexpensive price. As it turned out, Pocic was better than expected and Finney hasn’t picked up the line calls as quickly as expected.
And, the season is only 4 games old. It is way too soon to criticize any signing. As it turns out, the other JS “priority” signings on OL (Shell and Ogbuehi) are working out well.
Not 20/20 hindsight for me.
I didn’t get the signing at all. Never did.
Hunt was retained for the sum of $2.1m as a RFA. Not insignificant. They didn’t cut Britt until after the draft. They still had Pocic.
It was a good draft at center.
Never in a million years did I think they would waste $4m a year on Pittsburgh’s backup guard with the idea of playing center.
Why did I buy insurance that it later turned out I didn’t need?
With respect Steve, it’s not the insurance that’s the question. It’s the cost of the insurance.
The Seahawks paid “convertible sports car insurance” money on a sputtering 1998 Ford Taurus.
Finney wasn’t a “backup guard” or “a sputtering 1997 Ford Taurus.”
He had 13 starts in 59 games. He played both guard spots and center and received favorable grades from Pro Football Focus in three of his four seasons. Back in 2016, he earned a respectable 72.8 grade while logging 301 offensive snaps, while he was given a strong 71.5 grade in 2018 in 165 offensive snaps.
Finney was a backup guard.
You can highlight his positives if you want Steve but it’s an unquestionable fact that he was a backup guard in Pittsburgh who filled in at guard and center when other players got hurt.
Maybe the thinking was … A backup guard from Pittsburgh is by no means the same as a backup guard from the Browns?
Maybe the thinking should’ve been stop fannying about and fix the pass rush?
Yeah that’s been disappointing. Though…Pocic hasn’t been one of the guys getting rotated
Kendricks brings flexibility and familiarity to the scheme. He can play either OLB spots and would be a nice rotation piece. Insurance, if you will, if another guy goes down to injury. Low risk signing, I’m for it.
BJ Finney, there was some scuttlebutt that he might get traded back to the Steelers, since their OL is 1 guy away from disaster at OG. They’ve supposedly had some injury problems along the OL this season. He knows the scheme and if you can trade him away for a draft pick, I’m ok with that. Pocic is performing much better at center than I could have hoped over the 1st 4 games.
People have touted a trade but how often does a team trade for a backup guard who they didn’t retain and can’t get a game with his new team?
At best they’d get a conditional late round pick.
Rob,
You have access to PFF paywall data. I wonder how well Pocic is playing. How does he grade in pass and run blocking, and how many pressures and sacks has he allowed? How does he rank against other starting OCs?
I’ve barely noticed him during the game, and it seems like that might mean he’s doing really well.
It’s another mark against the Hawks FO if they couldn’t figure out that Pocic was as good as it seems he is playing.
See the PFF article from Monday.
Thanks for pointing me in that direction.
Hard to keep up with everything you produce. Keep up the awesome work.
Snacks Harrison signing to the practise squad:
https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1313818912971202560
Why the PS? My guess would be it’s because he won’t be ready to play on Sunday and this gives them some time to check him out and get him up to speed for after the bye week without having to cut anyone.
There’s probably some of the new COVID protocol to it as well. Couldn’t play if he wanted to.
Josina Anderson’s tweet about Snacks didn’t fail to deliver…
https://twitter.com/JosinaAnderson/status/1313823926670290949
“Free agent DT Damon Harrison just told me, “yes ma’am. Sorry just getting back to wifi,” when I asked him if he intends to sign to the #Seahawks practice squad.”
I just love the fact that in order to highlight that she has in fact got a direct line to Snacks Harrison, she had to put a quote in the tweet of him apologising for not getting back to her in time to break the story because his ‘wifi’ signal wasn’t good (when you don’t need wifi to send a text).
Good old Josina — always conscious of making sure you bloody well know that she talks to players. Because they talk to her, you know? Not sure if you knew. But you do now. Players talk to her. Sometimes via text, sometimes on the phone. But they talk to her — Josina Anderson. That’s J-O-S-I-N-A. Second name Anderson. Players talk to her. On the phone. Or via text.
I had honestly never even heard of her before we started making fun of her “i just talked to…” tweets
I distinctly remember her doing Kam Chancellor’s bidding for him during the pointless 2015 hold out.
She did an interview on Brock & Salk that was pure cringe.
Haha, good ‘ole Josina. Honestly, now that we don’t take here seriously, I get a good laugh out of what Twitter “clout” has turned her into. But wifi…??? 😂🤣😂🤣
Have you checked out her new website?
It comes with a video which is frankly hilarious.
https://www.undefinedwithjosinaanderson.com/
Dang, that site is horrible. And that video. The less said the better. All those graphics moving around in the background are going to give some poor soul a seizure.
I thought it was hilarious.
I thought she was launching a perfume.
‘Josina for men… smell like a journalist’
Agreed, horrible website. After watching I have no clue what her company does or is about?? And why so many fashion poses? She appears to have a nose tackle sized chip on her shoulder, not a great look for her after getting dumped by those news organizations!
Hahaha! No, I hadn’t seen it. How do I un-see the cringe??
She is aching for attention and wants badly to be perceived as connected with the players.
Snacks signing to PS, as you and Cha both said, is likely due to being out of game shape and COVID quarantine. I realize he doesn’t fit our need for an Edge rusher but he can still provide good pressure up the middle and a good rotation piece to keep Reed and Poona fresh. Better than a stick in the eye. Not many Edge options left. the Niners signed Alex Barrett who is pretty mediocre.
Probably saves some $ too right? Which is clutch if they need to ditch him to have cap room for an acquisition that can help with bigger needs (EDGE)
Agreed on the PS reasoning and I wouldn’t be surprised if the same thing happens with Kendricks.
It shows that Snacks actually wants to be here if he’s willing to take $12,000 a week on the PS (maybe only a short time deal until a callup) instead of visiting other places and getting a 53 man roster spot off the jump.
I’m sure they gave him some signing bonus money to make up the difference. This is just clever maneuvering by the Hawks.
Sadly, The hawks are not challenging their HC and GM. Without a hands-on owner like Paul Allen was this is more fairytale. I wrote on the blog months ago stating PC should look to go more a traditional 3/4. was given a lot of S*** by this community which is fine, but objectively if your having 3/4 personal in a 4/3 system the jump shouldn’t be as difficult. Granted this will always be PC defense but I am 100% on board that Seattle needs a change combat familiarity. plus if they are only going to (try) to sign elite edge players and fail miserably doing so, there are plenty of other options to explore.
I love how people translate: “that is not going to happen” with “given a lot of shit”.
Your opinions are not so precious that they can’t simply be disagreed with, sometimes robustly. Especially when it was extremely clear that they wouldn’t go to a pure 3-4.
Rob,
have no problems being disagreed with, none. which is why I continue to post and enjoy the content on here. Yet here we are having a very similar conversation. will their defense change? probably not. my point above though of no ownership structure to keep them accountable is very valid.
It absolutely is. And it’s a point I’ve made myself a number of times. It’s a critical issue regarding the Seahawks that barely anyone talks about.
I just think there’s too often a tendency these days to relate people disagreeing with something that won’t happen (switch to a 3-4) with ‘getting shit’.
The 4-3 under is such a weird defense to me, but not ineffective just takes very specific player types in each role. The idea fo basically running 3-4 personal besides the MLB has always felt odd to me, but takes advantage of players that are tweener types at the Leo position like Clemons to get surprising production from. To play devils advocate against it, I’d argue that it basically is a 3-4 defense with no mystery as to who or where the 4th rusher is coming from. In its favor over a classic 3-4 though is that there are less pass rush specialists getting stuck in coverage against guys like Kittle. A classic 4-3 is fine for not having 270 pound dudes trying to cover RBs, but if you need 4 first round picks on your dline to make it function not so amazing.
I doubt I can still find it, and I’m sure missed a great deal of detail but Rob had an amazing article detailing the 4-3 under maybe 5 or more years ago. The argument for keeping a true 4-3 under would also include that its less superstar dependent for being able to produce as before Cliff Avril and Michael Bennet, Red Bryant and Clemons. I think the problem is in the drafting. Besides Clark, until Griffen, Taylor, Robinson almost every draft choice on the dline was a run stuffer with very little wiggle. I don’t think the system requires a superstar (although of course they help) it just requires than not every draft choice is a run stuffer or you get the line we have now. Even Red Bryant at 330 pounds had some wiggle at least.
Just a grain of salt, I use statistics at varying degrees of complexity throughout my day and from my perspective, PFF statistics are pretty simple. You could definitely create more detailed and specific models to compare a wide variety of attributes…I still wouldn’t…
The folks at PFF have a strong understanding of how to apply/translate the game statistics to on-field performance and grade in a way that understandable to the layman. If there are other ways to asses player performance, they’re likely convoluted or abstract in a way that it doesn’t make general sense.
PFF grades are nothing to do with statistics. It’s a review of a players performance overall based on the tape.
I don’t have a problem with people saying they don’t read much into them. That’s your choice. But I don’t understand the need to try and undermine their grades by accusing their ‘statistics’ of being simple.
Seems to me that’s just a convenient way to not have to counter anything they say.
Sounds like Mychal Kendricks’ sentencing hearing is postpone once again to January 2021.
It seems to me that Seattle may have already “borrowed” the 6-man front idea from Billy B and used it to put together this year’s team. While we’re all in agreement that the pass rush is lacking, the team HAS speed from sideline to sideline. The problem, of course, is that Seattle is still trusting Ken Norton to make it work.
Thankfully, the Giants gave Seattle a lot of tape to analyze when preparing for the Rams. And although they’re 3-1, the Rams have NOT looked good in most of their games.
No, the problem is the Seahawks don’t have a single good pass rusher.
I don’t hate bringing in Snacks to the practice squad, but I don’t love it. 1. You are basically giving up on demarcus christmas developing. Obviously just a sixth round pick but later round picks have been pretty good in the past few drafts for us (Carson, Swain, Jake Martin, sounds like they really fancy Sullivan as well). 2. I can’t point to one guy in our DT rotation Snacks is a major upgrade over. Mone has been probably the most surprisingly decent player in our defense this year. Rush is nothing too special but at least he’s in playing shape which is possibly (we don’t know yet) more than could be said about Harrison.
Would love to bring in Mychal Kendricks though, especially if you can get him on the practice squad.
Christmas has been cut already this season and had a chance to sign with anyone else and didn’t. If he was a promising candidate to develop, the Seahawks wouldn’t be treating him like the 68th man on the roster. I imagine if they have some injuries or decide to bring him back, he’ll be right where he was the last time the Seahawks called – on his couch.
This tweet encompasses what you’ve been saying for weeks about the run defense
https://mobile.twitter.com/BradyHenderson/status/1313894675166588928
Teams aren’t running the ball against Seattle, so it’s a red herring
I’m certain Sunday will provide some clarity.
https://twitter.com/PFF/status/1313147451637936135
For sure, we should see a heavy dose of Dalvin Cook to try and keep our offense off the field as much as possible.
Was the best RB that year in that draft
It actually only tells half the story.
Seattle has faced the fifth fewest runs — but a large percentage of those runs were QB scrambles or short yardage attempts by players like Cam and Dak.
They’ve only been facing about 10-15 runs by running backs per week. Teams haven’t even bothered to try and establish a running game for two reasons — scoreboard pressure but also the ineptitude of Seattle’s pass defense.
And Justin Jefferson has just has as many explosive plays as DK does. Matter of fact, they’re tied for the league lead.
Exactly Rob! The run defense for most is an enigma right now; they simply look at YPC and total yards per game. IF we get our secondary in order, a resemblance of a pass, and into a tight game……
pass rush*
It has not really mattered yet, but I will say the run D in the first half in ATL was as bad as the pass D. They were getting gouged, at least to the eye. Since then, the minimal first half runs were played much better than they were in ATL. I’ll take any positive on that side of the ball, because it has been absolute s#!t, a level of pathetic I didnt know was possible.
Will be very interested to see how the defend Cook, and if they (MIN) stick to their running game.
Somehow I completely forgot Joe Flacco still even exists…
Hope he hangs 450 on them like Schaub did to us
Wickersham article dropping in 3…2…1…
Untrue! Untrue-untrue-untrue!
JJ called him out on his ability as a GM. Specifically asset management.
Hey Rob,
Long time reader of the blog. Just want to say that I love that you’re pumping out so much content this season. It’s all fantastic especially the podcasts. Please keep it up!
Thanks Dave — new podcast will be up shortly.
It seems to me like they played a fair amount of “Tampa two” in the last few games and I wonder if Snacks and Hendricks are both pieces of that puzzle. Hendricks can drop into coverage (taking over Shaquems role in the last few games) or rush the passer depending and snacks can clog the middle. Can this defense cover for some of our faults? I can see Carroll searching for a defense that is going to work for his personnel. (And Cody Barton seems like a middle linebacker to me so if he’s playing out of position lets cut him a little slack! I can see him blossoming in the same way that Pocic has.)
Barton will get no slack from me.
That’s the price you pay for being stiff armed by Kyle Allen and blocked on a running play by Aaron Rodgers.
They moved KJ from his regular position to accommodate Cody because “that’s where Cody has practiced and feels comfortable” according to PC. And we still got a garbage performance out of hm.
What’s so bad is his utter lack of physicality. On special teams he seems like he’s shot out of a cannon (with a seek and destroy mindset). On defense he looks so timid, he gets bullied by everyone including QB’s. I want to give him some benefit of the doubt on the Rogers play, where he might have been worried about getting flagged for a hit on a QB in the moment and that was why he didn’t bury him…
The Allen stiff-arm, and the Gaskin doh-see-doh last week make me think he’s just too Beta. Hell, I’d take an unnecessary roughness penalty if he showed some dog on a hit.
I don’t get the “Cody Barton is better at middle LB” argument. The idea of him stepping up in the hole to tackle Elliot head on, or take on a lead blocker…yikes.
I knew the Barton defense would get a rise out of some folks. That’s ok. The game has not slowed down for him yet but I still have hope. But more importantly what about the Tampa two defense!
Please respond to what cha said above about KJ being moved to accommodate Barton.
Not sure how to respond to that. KJ had a great game at the strong side and can play any of the three linebacker spots and perform at a high level? Barton is a second year player mostly suited for middle linebacker and they are not moving Bobby anywhere?
I just fail to see how playing out of position as you’re suggesting contributed to being stiff armed by Kyle Allen like 170 lb. CB, blocked by Aaron Freaking Rodgers (who ain’t exactly a Cam Newton physical specimen) and and whiffing on tackles in the open field as we’ve seen numerous times in the last 2 years.
Look I understand you want to see the kid succeed. We all want all Seahawks to succeed. Unfortunately he’s shown little in the way of being an NFL caliber LB regardless of where he is on the field.
But he didn’t text Josina? Maybe he ran out of mobile data for the month…
Acy had some money for me.
Acy said ten percent.
Uh oh
https://www.nfl.com/news/another-titans-player-tests-positive-for-covid-19-return-to-facility-on-hold
They’ve already had their bye week. Now what?
Lots of roster moves for seattle today, is jonathan bullard any interesting?
I thought he was over rated coming out of college but a lot of people on the blog liked him. I don’t think it can hurt to give him a look.
A lot of these guys like Walker and now Bullard are basically in for a tryout and if one of them sticks it is a big bonus.
New article on the blog has some notes on him.
The new draft policy: Grade based on whoever has the coolest promo video. Ten extra points for heavy rap music.
Rob I agree completely about bringing in some fresh blood ideally from the Billicheck coaching tree. Someone mentioned his son and I think that seems like a great fit as BB and Pete seem to have mutual admiration for one another so it might make sense.
All that being said shouldn’t any NFL defensive co-ordination be able to pop in the tape from the Giants and Patriots games against the Rams to see what about the scheme gave the Rams so much trouble despite the teams having very different personnel? I am pretty sure if I said Rob you have one week to figure out what the Giants and Pats did to have so much success agains the Rams you would be able to nail the scheme down pretty well.
You have too much faith in me!