This is a guest post by Curtis Allen…

Year Two of the Mike Macdonald era in Seattle is finally upon us.

After another offseason of transformative moves on the roster, the Seahawks feel fresher and further removed from a franchise that talked about running the ball and playing tough defense but could not consistently do either.

Gone are high-profile players who did not want to play under this new vision.  In their place are talented and dedicated players who not only fit the system better, they are far better presences in the locker room.

The result is a team prepared to turn the tables on their Week One opponent, the San Francisco 49ers.  For years, the Seahawks have struggled to compete in the trenches with this team and their play-calling has displayed a real apathy about how to properly gameplan for such a talented and well-coached opponent.

No more.  Now the Seahawks have the advantage in talent and experience in the trenches.  They now need to match that talent to a proper gameplan.   How can they do that?

Control the Game with the Offense

The Seahawks are ideally placed to usurp this strategy from San Francisco.  They have the makings of a solid Offensive Line, a Quarterback who understands his assignment, Tight Ends who can supplement the run game, and have invested heavily in Fullbacks and Running Backs to make it all work.  This is all tied together by a new offensive staff that is experienced in taking advantage of the assets they have been provided.

What does San Francisco have on defense?  True, they have stars like Nick Bosa and Fred Warner.  But they also have this:

That kind of inexperience and poor past performance is a weakness that must be exploited.

True, they have invested quite a bit in their Defensive Line in the draft this year.  But expecting cohesion and assignment readiness from the line in Week One is a bridge too far.  Consider Bo Nix’s performance in Seattle in Week One versus later in the season for an example.

Focusing on this strategy is much more than just playing a strength against a weakness.  Let us count the ways this benefits the Seahawks:

1 – It wears out the Niner defense and keeps the Seahawk defense fresh.  It opens up opportunities in the passing game and Wide Receivers Cooper Kupp and Jaxon Smith-Njigba know exactly how to exploit room they have been given.

2 – It keeps the Niners more in their base personnel packages.  Bryce Huff is one of the NFL’s better pass rushers.  On passing downs he will perform well across from Nick Bosa.  However, he is a major liability in the running game, logging 48 grades from PFF in Run Defense the last two seasons.  Want to keep him from wrecking the game?  Keep him on the sidelines by committing to the run.

3 – It is a key to success against this team.  Last year, the Niners conceded twenty explosive runs.  All but one of those were in Niner losses.  The one in the win?  It was of zero consequence, as it was late in the fourth quarter and the Niners were up by nineteen points.  A signature trademark of success against San Francisco has been the ability to get an explosive run.

Data point:  Ten of the 19 explosive runs the Niners conceded were to the right side of the offense.  If they can time a play call to let Nick Bosa rush up field and take himself out of the lane, there are big opportunities there for Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet.

4 – It does not allow San Francisco to play their game on offense.  It puts pressure on Brock Purdy to take the game over, something he is not needed to do very often.  As Purdy goes, so go the Niners.

Speaking of that…

Defend the Edges in the Run and Put the Game on Brock Purdy’s Shoulders

The Niners love to get defenses thinking about misdirection when they run the ball.  They probably run as much to the edges of the defense as any offense in the NFL.

Look at Christian McCaffrey’s run chart against the Seahawks in Week Ten of last year:

No explosive runs conceded (the defense only conceded seven last year) and running up the middle was more of an afterthought than a strategy.  The Seahawks kept McCaffrey contained by setting the edges and not letting themselves get taken out of the play by motion and misdirection.

While they did well in that game, improvement is needed.  Watch Derick Hall allow himself to lose contain on a play where Mike Macdonald is sending blitzers from the other side, so he knows the action is coming his way.

Tank Lawrence was brought in primarily for this exact purpose:  set the edge on defense.  Keep your side of the field locked and make runners choose between moving inside where tacklers are waiting or try running up the sideline against speedy players like Devon Witherspoon are.

If the defense can keep the running game from making much progress, and the offense is running the ball effectively, that takes the Niners out of their offensive comfort zone.  While Brock Purdy is without a doubt a good quarterback, making him responsible for winning the game gives the Seahawks a decided advantage.

In 49ers wins last year, Purdy had a sparkling 9:1 Touchdown to Interception Ratio, a 114.9 passer rating and was only sacked nine times.

Losses were a whole different picture:  11:11, 84.7 and 22 sacks.

I want to cull a point I wrote last year on ways to disrupt Purdy’s process.  I took it from Mike Macdonald’s masterpiece as the Ravens Defensive Coordinator against the Niners:

— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) December 26, 2023

Macdonald has Roquan Smith, Patrick Queen and Kyle Van Noy crowding the line of scrimmage with three down linemen pre-snap, looking like a big blitz package.  But none of them go at the snap.  They all retreat to coverage and instead Kyle Hamilton (perfectly synching to the snap) comes roaring in off a nickel coverage spot.

Hamilton gets illegally chop-blocked by McCaffrey and then Aaron Banks decides to flop his 324 lbs on him to make sure he is down.

Meanwhile, Nmandi Madubuike and Odafe Oweh beat their men (really, outlast them with a relentless motor) and chase Purdy, who has taken too much time to process who is doing what on defense.

Purdy is forced into a contested throw that Marlon Humphrey bats away and right into the arms of…Kyle Hamilton, who has gotten up and doggedly gotten back into the play.

It is smarts.  Desire.  Toughness.

That is what it will take to defeat the Niners

It is not hard to envision Tyrice Knight, Ernest Jones and Devon Witherspoon in the box and Nick Emmanwori being the blitzer in a similar play concept.

Mike Macdonald has stated several times that he feels he needs to blitz more with his talented defense. 

It will be a delight to see what kind of blitzes and formations he cooks up for Brock Purdy.  When he gets pressured and hurried, his mechanics tend to get messy and he can tend to try to play hero-ball.

When he is more decisive and takes off to run, he is effective.  It might be advantageous to put a talented shadow like Emmanwori on him.  One who can mirror him and occasionally blitz to keep him guessing.

If the offense and defense can coalesce as effectively as we hope they can, this game could be well in the Seahawks’ control.