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Don’t Be So Harsh on The Seahawks’ Secondary
Published: April 27, 2009
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Alright, first of all many of you guys will look at the title of my article and say why shouldn’t we criticize the Seahawks secondary?
I am here to hopefully break down to you why I believe our secondary was not as godawful as many of you have come to believe. By no means am I saying it was excellent, just not as horrible as many of you have made it out to be.
First of all, let’s start out with the D-Line.
We were banged up as hell last year on both sides of the ball. First of all we lose Patrick Kerney early in the year when he was on pace to get roughly around 10 to 12 sacks, and many of us know he is probably the most consistent pass rusher on our team.
He just never stops going. Even if he does not get to the QB in time for the sack, he almost always makes sure he forces some kind of pressure, which can be the difference between a huge play, which many teams did all year to us, and an incomplete pass.
The Seahawks were unable to get any pressure whatsoever on any of the QBs in mid-season of last year. It started out well with the duo of Kerney and Peterson, but once Kerney was injured and was taken out for the season, the opposing team would just pick up Peterson and that would be the end of the Seahawks’ chance at getting any pressure on the QB.
Due to the lack of pressure on the QB he could take as long as he wanted, until one of his WRs would bust wide open for him to deliver the the perfect pass to.
The Hawks’ corners can only chase the WRs around for so long. I am not saying that the lack of pressure was the only reason the secondary was awful, but it played a major role in it.
For example, let’s look at Thanksgiving 2008—Cowboys vs. Seahawks. There was a particular play that I watched on NFL live, where Tony Romo had 8.3 seconds in the pocket just bouncing around, not worrying about a damn thing!
So what happens? He waits and waits, then decides he will wait some more and takes his girlfriend Jessica on a date, then comes back from that dinner and a movie and delivers the ball to T.O. who is cutting across the field for a touchdown. I mean seriously, 8.3 seconds!?
Now back to me supposedly defending the secondary. There are a couple of reasons that the Hawks’ secondary will be better next year.
One huge reason is Colin Cole. He will take so much relief off the rest of the line by simply being there, which will free Hill (if re-signed that is) up to do his thing. Hill we able get to the QB, which he showed he can do in his rookie year, and Kerney will also be able have penetration, while Tatupu and Curry sit in the back field.
So many factors play into why the Seahawks’ secondary was burned on countless plays last year. There are so many, but the main reason I could find was the lack of the pass rush. The Hawks have added size to the line, and with the healthy men back and Hill hopefully back, they can get some pressure on the QB, which can lead to some incomplete passes, a lot more interceptions, and more turnovers as well.
One more scenario I would like to look back on was the snowy Seahawks vs. Jets game. The Seahawks managed to rack up 5.5 sacks that game, which led to two interceptions. Yes, I understand that the snow had a lot to do with it, but we are also talking about Brett Favre here. He led the Packers to a romping of our Seahawks the year before in guess what? The snow. Much harder snow in Green Bay may I add.
So obviously I am getting at something; more pressure = better secondary.
We will have plenty of this in the ’09 season.
