The Seahawks' L.o.b., The Cover-3 & Man-Free

[RandomFan]

With time to kill between now and training camp, I'm going to start posting some of the Field Gulls threads detailing the Seattle defense. Note that this was written before Seattle played Denver in their Super Bowl win.

http://www.fieldgulls.com/football-breakdowns/2014/1/29/5349446/super-bowl-xlviii-seahawks-richard-sherman-l-o-b-the-cover-3-man-free/in/4102067

By Danny Kelly @FieldGulls on Jan 29, 2014, 12:06p

The NFL is a passing league. It's stated so often these days that it's almost a cliche.

Only two teams ran the ball more than they threw it this year, and 2013 was the highest scoring NFL season of all time (both total points and average team points per game). In this historically pass happy and high-scoring season, Pete Carroll's Seahawks led the NFL in interceptions while giving up the fewest points, the fewest total passing yards, the lowest average yards per pass, and 2nd-fewest passing touchdowns.

It's a pass defense that, after accounting for era, noted statistics guru Chase Stuart called 'the second best since at least 1970."

Carrollosophy:

To understand Seattle's elite pass defense, it makes sense to look at Pete Carroll's football philosophy.

Seahawks "Defensive Passing Game Coordinator" Rocky Seto gave a presentation in March 2008 at USC about secondary play (Seto was previously the Defensive Coordinator at USC as well). Seto walked on as a linebacker at USC and has worked for Carroll his entire coaching career, so I generally just look at Seto as a Pete Carroll spokesperson. In that presentation (which is no longer online but similarly styled reports can be found at TrojanFootballAnalysis) he broke down the Pete Carroll philosophy for defense:

Three main principles of secondary play:

#1 Eliminate the big play
#2 Out hit the opponent on all plays
#3 Get the ball -- either strip the ball or make the interception when in position.

Notes from Seto's explanation of those three points do a great job of really defining the defensive principles that Pete Carroll has developed over three decades of coaching, but has fine-tuned at USC and now in Seattle.

#1 Eliminate the big play

In summary, Carroll believes that giving up big plays -- in either the run game or the pass game - will ultimately cost you the game. While every scheme, man, zone, or a combination of both, has weak points, Carroll is most concerned about protecting the deep middle of the field against the explosive pass. That's the first thing he will teach to new safeties, and it's a statistic that Carroll and his staff monitors closely. It's a specific focus in their program.

As Seto's presentation declares,

Sorry math- and stat-phobes, USC coaches both track and hang their hat on this notion and it is the #1 base principle for secondary play. USC annually leads the Pac-10 in not allowing big pass plays on defense.

The results bear this out for Carroll's NFL team: In 2012, the Seahawks gave up five passes of 40+ yards (4th in the NFL) and 40 of 20+ yards (6th in the NFL). In 2013, the numbers were better, as Seattle gave up an NFL-low three pass plays of 40+ yards and an NFL-low 30 pass plays 20+ yards.

Speaking to Seto/Carroll's specific focus on taking away the deep middle of the field, consider this: In 2012, opposing teams only attempted 15 passes to the deep middle -- best in the NFL. In 2013, teams attempted a mere 8 passes to the deep middle -- even more best in the NFL.

Carroll's philosophy in action.

#2 Out hit the opponent on all plays

This philosophy of being physical and punishing opposing offenses ties in with the 'take away the big play' mantra. If you're taking away everything deep, that will open up options for teams underneath. Apart from the actual hits, forcing opposing offenses to string together a series of 9, 10, 11 plays in any given drive increases the odds forcing a mistake or a punt. Carroll's medicine for giving up more shorter underneath gains is to make receivers, tight ends, and running backs really feel the defense each time they catch it.

Seto's presentation notes:

When [the defender cannot arrive in time] to disrupt the pass, the emphasis then switches to delivering good clean hard hits on the wide receiver. Multiple film examples were shown where completed passes were rendered incomplete by the quality of the hit put on by the defensive back. Also, even when the ball is completed, the hit put on the receiver has the psychological effect of making them tentative in the future.

As stated, quarterbacks - and in the Super Bowl's case, Peyton Manning -- are going to inevitably complete passes against the defense. The idea for Carroll then is that if you physically punish your opponent and hit them hard when they catch the ball, there's a better chance that you can dislodge the football (which is what happened to Vernon Davis above) or even better, make the receiver tentative when going for the football in the first place (as you can see with Michael Crabtree on a key third down late in the NFC Championship Game below):

This is what Deion Sanders refers to as a "business decision."

#3 Get the ball -- either strip the ball or make the interception when in position.

Carroll's teams spend extraordinary amounts of time, particularly for an NFL team, running basic drills. One focus is on drills that make the act of forcing and recovering fumbles second nature.

As the Seto presentation noted,

USC practices daily drills for DB's in individual practice periods with both cornerbacks and safeties breaking on different balls. Coaches throw hitches, slants, outs, fades, seams, post, corner, and go routes. One DB tries to catch the ball one tries to bat it away or make the interception. Much attention is put upon footwork, hands, and hip motion and direction in turning.

Stripping balls from receivers is emphasized as well in drill and in actual scrimmages. They key coaching point is to get the hand onto the tip of the ball and find a way to rip it out. This has to be emphasized and practiced or it will not just happen. Dislodging balls from behind is also practiced as well. When two players tackle a receiver if possible one should hold him up and pin his arms while the other strips the ball away. This takes team work and not just going for the big hit.

I've seen this at Seahawk training camp sessions so it's a tenet that Carroll and Seto have brought to Seattle. Again, it's instilling a second nature into players to strip and punch at the football. From last Sunday:

The Seahawks forced 17 fumbles in 2013 (5th in NFL), intercepted 28 passes (1st in NFL) and were first in the NFL in takeaways as a defense.

The Xs & Os:

"We play man-to-man or Cover-3, not much more than that. It's not a secret." - Kam Chancellor, January 2013

It's tough to summarize any NFL defense in general terms, but the Seahawks' defense is certainly characterized by a three-deep look, typically either Cover-3 or Cover-1 (man-free).

Edited June 19, 2015 by RandomFan

[Herr Doktor]

Naked, clean aggression. A breath of fresh air.

[gHost83]

Great article! Thanks for posting!

Would love to see Willy Mo lay that wood like Kam did on Davis there.

[Knight of God]

Brutality

[PokerSteve]

Naked, clean aggression. A breath of fresh air.

So dam glad I lived to see the day Smittyball got trashed in favor of an aggressive philosophy on both sides of the ball. Passive/Reactive schemes are a putrid mixture of FAIL in the NFL, not to mention nauseating to watch.

[Free Radical]

It's Bend-But-Don't-Break defense.

[Atlfanstckndenver]

Great read. Thanks.

[Da Bird is Da Word]

I love the bit about delivering hard clean hits to dislodge the football and make the receivers tentative. Seemed like Smitty was too worried about penalties to preach this kind of approach. Same with affecting the QB. Lay em' out and make the offense work for their yards.

Protecting against the big play is huge, especially since the Falcons D allowed the most explosive plays in 2013 and didn't fare much better to my knowledge last year either.

If healthy, our secondary will play well especially if Beasley breaks out and our pass rush takes off. I hope to see improvement in our LBs coverage abilities. In the Steelers game last year the commentators praised Atlanta's D for keeping LeVeon Bell's rushing yards down but Ben just proceeded shred our pitiful LBs with little passes right up the middle...

[FentayeJones]

Its going to be great to see an attacking, physical style of defense in Atlanta.

That bend but dont break chit we used to run drove me bannanas. It was the epitome of a passive playing not to lose mentality and philosophy.

Edited June 19, 2015 by FentayeJones

[Vandy]

Great enlightening read, Random. Thanks so much!

[Da_Truth]

Nice post. Love the 'make the opponent pay' philosophy if the defender doesn't get there in time to knock the ball out. This should fix a lot of the underneath throws by our opponents.

[capologist]

I bumped up the thread I posted with the whole series link that may help if you want to post each one in order.

[Summerhill]

Good read but it can't be understated how amazing Earl Thomas is. He is already one of the best coverage safeties of all time. You can do so many things by having him that you can't do if you have anyone else back there.

[Free Radical]

Its going to be great to see an attacking, physical style of defense in Atlanta.

That bend but dont break chit we used to run drove me bannanas. It was the epitome of a passive playing not to lose mentality and philosophy.

What was described was BBDB.

[RandomFan]

Its going to be great to see an attacking, physical style of defense in Atlanta.

That bend but dont break chit we used to run drove me bannanas. It was the epitome of a passive playing not to lose mentality and philosophy.

What was described was BBDB.

Yes, what Free Radical said is correct. This is totally a bend but dont break defense. Although, unlike most BBDB defenses this one is an extremely aggressive version.

[JDaveG]

I think BBDB is too broad a term. What people don't like, and what they think of when they say BBDB is a soft zone coverage with numbers in the secondary instead of blitzing. We will be playing zone and keeping the play in front, but our corners will also be playing press and we will be sending pressure. So yeah, it's bend but don't break, but it's also designed to maximize the chances that we get off the field. In that sense, it's aggressive.

[Knight of God]

If its aggressive, its not really BBDB...but okay...

[RandomFan]

If its aggressive, its not really BBDB...but okay...

Disagree. Just because they are willing to concede underneath completions at the expense of forcing you to dink and dunk your way down the field while not giving up big plays (which is the definition of a BBDB defense) it doesn't mean they aren't aggressive in how they go about trying to limit your dink and dunk opportunities at the same time.

Just as described above:

This philosophy of being physical and punishing opposing offenses ties in with the 'take away the big play' mantra. If you're taking away everything deep, that will open up options for teams underneath. Apart from the actual hits, forcing opposing offenses to string together a series of 9, 10, 11 plays in any given drive increases the odds forcing a mistake or a punt. Carroll's medicine for giving up more shorter underneath gains is to make receivers, tight ends, and running backs really feel the defense each time they catch it.

Edited June 19, 2015 by RandomFan

[JDaveG]

If its aggressive, its not really BBDB...but okay...

Which is why I said it's too broad a term. I think people being specific about what it is they don't like would help. "Our corners always play 10 yards off the ball on 3rd and 3" is a better statement of what the problem is than "we play too much bend but don't break." Or "I hate how we always rush 3 on 3rd down." Or whatever.

[MSalmon]

If its aggressive, its not really BBDB...but okay...

Agree. It's more keep yourself in position to make play and make clean hard hit if no int. If done proper it's a ballet of brutality. If done wrong it's a bunch of Suh's.

Notice the vid of Crabtree and how the DB pulls back. No point in silly penalty...point made