Seahawks defensive coordinator schedule: Part III

Familiar faces in Dan Quinn, Steve Wilks, and Jack Del Rio: Seaside Joe 1558

In Part I, I did a preview of the defenses for the Rams, Lions, Panthers, and Giants.

In Part II, Bengals, Cardinals, Browns, and Ravens.

If you didn’t catch those—and we’ve added almost 100 NEW subscribers in the last week alone, so there’s a chance you may have missed it—be sure to go back and read, especially because L.A. comes up for the second time and I won’t be re-doing the Raheem Morris experience.

(Although, the Rams have chosen to.)

In Part III today, we’ll be covering the Moons (newbies, you may be more familiar with them as “the Commanders”, but I think that name sucks so a while ago I decided to give them a different mascot that would have worked much better), the 49ers, and the Cowboys.

In each breakdown, I also share an X and Os video that I recently watched—first was the Bear front from Rob Ryan, next was different coverages by Urban Meyer—and today I’ll post a clip explaining six different possible defensive line combinations in a 3-4 defense by “Coach Mac”.

Since I know there are a lot of questions about how the Seahawks have changed since switching to a 3-4 under Clint Hurtt in 2021, and whether Pete Carroll will be going back to more 4-3 alignments, it seems like a good opportunity to learn more about the base defense and why maybe the differences really aren’t as dramatic as they might seem.

I don’t know much about Coach Mac, but his bio says that he’s been a head coach at high school programs for 20 years and he’s posted over 500 videos on YouTube and Patreon explaining football.

Now as for the Seahawks, let’s get back to their 2023 schedule beginning in Week 10 at home against the Washington, D.C. Moons.

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Week 10 - Washington Moons, DC: Jack Del Rio

Year: 4

The history of a Del Rio defense goes all the way back to his lone season as the Panthers defensive coordinator in 2002 (when he coached future Seattle executive Dan Morgan) before being hired as the Jaguars head coach in 2003. He had a nine-year run in Jacksonville, three seasons as the Broncos defensive coordinator, three as the head coach in Oakland—which you’ll be forgiven for if you totally forgot about—and he’s been the defensive coordinator in Washington since 2020.

It may not be long before Del Rio is an NFL head coach for a third time, but maybe not in the way that he expected.

When looking for “hot seat” candidates, it’s hard to make a list that doesn’t have Ron Rivera in the top-five. This is his fourth season on the job, he’s yet to post a winning record, and the Moons have new ownership…I think?

But worst of all for Rivera, even with a .500 record last season he still finished fourth in the NFC East division and it’s hard to envision many scenarios in which Washington rises up higher than third with Sam Howell at quarterback. That could mean that by the time the Seahawks host the Moons in November, Del Rio might actually be the head coach instead of the defensive coordinator. If not him, then new offensive coordinator Eric Bienemy may finally get his shot—and without having to nail the interview.

With Del Rio, the conversation often centers arounds comments instead of football, but we’ll stick to schemes here.

It doesn’t seem like you can really nail Del Rio down to any one scheme in Washington, as the expectation keeps changing based on the personnel. And the personnel keeps changing because of injuries. Washington beat writer Mark Bullock had this to say recently:

“I think if you look at the totality of the defense from when Del Rio took over and how frequently they have given up explosive plays, for me, that would have seen him fired,” Bullock said when asked if Jack Del Rio has shown growth as Washington’s DC. “But I think in terms of the overall scheme, I think for me what was impressive is when they lost Chase Young and Montez Sweat, how he adjusted the defense and the sim pressures [up front] using Casey Toohill in that role where he is the edge rusher, and drop him into coverage. They would bring Jamin Davis or Cole Holcomb up the middle [on a blitz], Kam Curl, or slot corner [on a blitz]. They would mix and match the different roles that they had; I think that spoke to how well Jack Del Rio adjusted without his top players.”

Bullock also posted a breakdown on his own Substack newsletter last September, if you’re interested in a deeper dive with highlights.

These aggressive calls just about worked out for Del Rio and the Commanders against the Jaguars, but some were just on the edge of being overly aggressive and unnecessarily risky.

Since 2017, the Moons have used SIX first round picks on defensive players: Jonathan Allen, Daron Payne, Montez Sweat, Chase Young, Jamin Davis, and most recently cornerback Emmanuel Forbes. All six remain on the team, but there are rumors that Washington is open to listening to offers for Young, the second overall pick in 2020. Young has played in just 12 games over the past two seasons.

Regardless of how Del Rio is running his defense—or if he’s running the whole team by then—against the Seahawks, Seattle’s offensive line has their work cut out for them. Allen, Payne, and Sweat are among the best players in the NFL at their position. This defense has great players…but will they be coached well?

Week 11 - at Los Angeles Rams, DC: Raheem Morris

Already covered.

Week 12 - vs San Francisco 49ers (Thanksgiving), DC: Steve Wilks

Year: 1

We hear all the time about players having to churn through different coordinators every year and how hard that is on them. Rarely do we hear about coaches who end up coordinating at new locations every year, but that’s been the case for Wilks since 2017 amid perhaps one of the strangest whirlwinds in the history of the job.

Setting aside the 10 jobs before he got to the Panthers in 2012, Wilks started out as Carolina’s defensive backs coach (coincidentally, under Rivera), then Rivera promoted him to assistant head coach in 2015, then he became the defensive coordinator in 2017 before being a surprise hire in 2018 as the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals.

The Cardinals quite famously traded Josh Rosen and fired Wilks after giving them each just one season in Arizona, he was hired as the Browns defensive coordinator in 2019 (by the even more troubled tenure of Freddie Kitchens), out of football in 2020, Missouri’s defensive coordinator in 2021, and then last season he became a bit of folk hero in Carolina after coaching the Panthers to a 6-6 record following the firing of Matt Rhule.

That included a 30-24 win over the Seahawks.

Five years after he was kicked out of the NFC West’s worst coaching job, he is arguably situated in the division’s best situation: Coaching a 49ers defense that ranked first in the NFL last year and succeeding two current head coachse: DeMeco Ryans and Robert Saleh.

How much different will Wilks be than Ryans? I would assume the goal is not to be different or to get the players to buy into a new system, but instead to buy into what helped San Francisco rank first in points and yards allowed in 2022. The 49ers have added Javon Hargrave to a defense with Nick Bosa (who Wilks says he wants to help “get into Canton”), Arik Armstead, Fred Warner, Talanoa Hufanga, Charvarius Ward, Dre Greenlaw, and a handful of players looking for breakout campaigns like Javon Kinlaw and Drake Jackson.

49ers web zone detailed a few Wilks-specific attributes though:

During his last three seasons as an NFL coordinator, Wilks's defenses blitzed at top-four rates in the NFL, despite seeing time at three different destinations: with the Carolina Panthers, Arizona Cardinals, and Cleveland Browns.

While Wilks is a heavy blitzer, the defensive coordinator is well-known for utilizing lighter boxes and sticking in nickel personnel, essentially running a form of 4-2-5 with three cornerbacks and two safeties in the secondary.

Now, it'll be intriguing to see what sticks with Wilks's scheme and what he changes, given head coach Kyle Shanahan's request that the defense remains similar in scheme to DeMeco Ryans's defensive style, which involved the Wide-9 on defensive fronts, as well as a lower blitz rate.

However, with the unique personnel that the 49ers have, it wouldn't be surprising if San Francisco incorporates different elements that work well with Wilks's mindset, posing more of an aggressive scheme, while placing more trust in their secondary to hold up in man-coverage.

The Seahawks scored 20 total points in two regular season games and lost 41-23 in the wild card round, so whatever Wilks calls up, Seattle/Shane Waldron/Geno Smith/OL is going to need to do a better job of beating it this time.

Week 13 - at Dallas Cowboys (TNF), DC: Dan Quinn

Year: 3

Few active NFL coaches could be more familiar with one another than Pete Carroll and Dan Quinn. Pete retained Quinn when he became head coach in 2010, then brought him back as the defensive coordinator in 2013 after two seasons with the Florida Gators. The two reached two Super Bowls together and then faced off several times during Quinn’s six-year tenure as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons.

Quinn has now spent the last two seasons coaching the Cowboys defense for Mike McCarthy, turning down potential head coach offers to return to Dallas for a third campaign.

The Cowboys ranked fifth in points allowed and Quinn has developed one of the most talented and unique players of his coaching career in linebacker Micah Parsons, a potential Defensive Player of the Year next season. Parsons even told Quinn that he wanted the team to draft defensive tackle Mazi Smith this year and Dallas acquiesced, picking Smith 26th overall.

Quinn’s defensive scheme in Dallas shouldn’t be unfamiliar to Carroll or Seahawks fans.

Of course, there are adjustements that happen when you span years and different teams and unique players like Parsons, Trevon Diggs, and DeMarcus Lawrence. Dallas has a talented defense and is expected to be a top-10 unit again, but they were vulnerable against the run at times last season, which is probably where Pete will try and find his advantage.

Week 14 - at 49ers

Just covered.

Will be back to wrap up the final quarter of the season in an upcoming article, so make sure you are subscribed!

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