Seahawks DL hype is real and spectacular

In year 2, Mike Macdonald has Seahawks defense exactly where he wants them

The Seattle Seahawks have the highest pressure percentage in the NFL through two weeks: 49.4%.

The Seahawks had a pressure rate of 36.3% in 2024, which ranked sixth.

The season is young, but Mike Macdonald (who had a 38.7% pressure rate with the Ravens in 2023) has Seattle’s defense on a track that could lead to having the top-ranked unit in the NFL and specifically the number one defensive line.

Seahawks Defensive Rankings (Next Gen Stats):

• 49.4% pressure rate (1st)

• 38 total pressures (tied with Moons for first)

• -0.21 EPA per run (7th)

• 3.4 YPC allowed (6th)

• -0.07 EPA/play allowed (tied 11th)

• 56.5% completion rate allowed (13th)

• 5.0 yards per play allowed (t10th)

• 1.43 points per drive allowed (3rd)

• 19% turnover rate forced (4th)

• 4 turnovers forced (3rd)

Macdonald has generated the highest pressure rate in the NFL so far despite Seattle’s blitz rate of 13% ranking 31st in the league! The Seahawks are not getting home often enough (only 4 sacks) but if they close that gap even a little bit with only four rushers, that’s going to put Seattle among the sack leaders by season’s end.

Join Seaside Joe’s Regular Joes or Super Joes club!

Although we haven’t seen those major sack numbers yet, everybody in the defensive line group has been well above average in the first two games of the season. The following charts are courtesy of AcccountStat on Twitter.

This chart shows that both Leonard Williams and Byron Murphy II are among the defensive tackle leaderes in both pass rush win rate and run stop%:

You want to be in the upper right quadrant and Williams/Murphy are right where they need to be. Everybody seems to agree that Murphy just had the best game of his career against the Steelers, while Williams has arguably been the best all-around defensive tackle in the NFL since last year. This chart has Jarran Reed ranked third in sack-weighted pressure rate for defensive tackles, while Murphy is fourth:

Of course Boye Mafe and Derick Hall want to finish off plays more often — at this point we’ll just take “sometimes” because neither of them has a sack yet — but Hall is eighth in double-team/chipped rate for edge rushers:

That means that offenses are taking special care to have to account for Hall, but he still has an above average pass rush win rate. (I DO have some issues with pass rush win rate as a statistic…this is not the end-all/be-all for pass rush statistics. Getting sacks and forcing turnovers is still King. To me, this emphasizes that Hall has potential to be a lot better.)

Mafe is well above-average in pass rush win rate and just above average in double-team rate. It’s actually DeMarcus Lawrence in the bottom-left quadrant.

Hall has been credited with 5 QB knockdowns, tied with Zach Allen for the most in the NFL through two games. Speaking of QB knockdowns, there are 12 defensive tackles in the league who have at least two of them so far and the Seahawks have 25% of those players (3/12).

We can’t yet say that the Seahawks have an elite premier edge rusher on the team, but they have a pair of uber-athletic candidates who could breakout any week now. What are your thoughts on Mafe/Hall so far and do you have a breakout pick?

This chart has Josh Jobe as the top-ranked cornerback through two games, alongside Jaycee Horn. That’s Jobe in the very upper-right corner for yards allowed per coverage snap and passer rating when targeted (0.0):

The Seahawks have faced the 49ers and Steelers, two teams with reasonably good credentials. Now they face a Saints team that despite some optimism that “maybe Spencer Rattler isn’t as bad as we think”, ranks:

• 27th in points per drive

• 30th in net yards per pass attempt

• 27th in yards per play

• 29th in scoring percentage

• 31st in yards per pass attempt

Macdonald’s defense has only had a chance to nibble on the hors d’oeuvres so far; will they have manners when it’s time to really eat?

Every week, I send a newsletter to the Super Joes subscribers asking for questions and comments about the Seahawks. If you want to be in on that, just upgrade to Super Joes before next week!

zezinhom400: Whoo boy, here's an excerpt:

And perhaps most explosive all, Smith believes his attitude rubbed those in the Seahawks organization the wrong way.

"Not my teammates, but I for sure felt like it rubbed people in the front office the wrong way because of the way I carry myself," Smith said. "But that's who I am. I mean, imagine Kobe Bryant. He spoke his mind about how he felt. Those are my idols. … Michael Jordan and guys like that, who were unapologetic about how bad they wanted to win. If it rubs somebody the wrong way, good. Those aren't the people I want to go to war with. I want people who really go die about it because that's how I am."

First off, including yourself in a group consisting of Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan is a slippery slope: they not only had the will to win, but they DID win and they overcame all manner of adversity to lead their teams to the glory land. MAYBE Pat Mahomes could make a quote like that. But Geno?? Especially watching him last night against the Chargers OMG. He did NOT have a Mahomes-like impact on the game leading an inferior overall unit to at least being competitive if not actually winning.

Second, the other thing he said that he was in the shadow of Russell Wilson and could never be what Russell Wilson was??? When Geno left, Russell Wilson was at best a fond memory but honestly, he burned a ton of bridges on his way out the door. No way was the memory of Wilson a barrier to Geno being all he could be.

Does what Geno is saying in this report change anything of your analysis of why Geno is no longer a Seahawk? You've always maintained the separation was predictable and in fact probable for reasons that have nothing to do with anything he said in this article.

Even if someone reading this sides with Geno Smith, and that’s fine if they do, I think the lack of self-awareness is too evident to deny. To publicly blame the reason for the trade on “Because I wanted to win so much that they hated me for it” is the same as telling a job interviewer that “My greatest weakness is that I work too hard and I care too much and I love too deeply”.

Geno comes across as a very Michael Scott-ish character to say that and then follow it up with such a bad performance on Monday night…

But I would rather focus on Seattle because I don’t like spending time on former Seahawks who don’t matter to the team anymore:

• The Seahawks paid Sam Darnold a $37.5 million guarantee and could have a longer road ahead with him in the future than they would have had with Geno if Darnold plays well enough. They also got a third round pick for trading Geno.

• The Raiders traded a third round pick for Geno and then signed him to an extension with $58.5 million guaranteed at signing.

The Seahawks got the younger quarterback, coming off of the better season, for less money, and the extra draft pick helped them get either Nick Emmanwori or Jalen Milroe, depending on how you look at it. So, which franchise do YOU think knows/cares more about winning?

Tim McConnell: Game balls by position group through week 2. Who is the under the radar impact player on either side of the ball? Who is the player to watch over the next few weeks?

Special Teams: George Holani, but who else among us feels the hair on the back of their neck stand up watching him recover the fumble? I’m still worried that the NFL is going to call and say he went out of bounds too quickly. Glad it worked out though. Offense: Kenneth Walker. Eat:

Defense: Byron Murphy II. It was fair to ask if he was being overhyped after a somewhat muted rookie debut and anything could happen from here on out — good or even bad — but in Week 2 we saw the impact when not only is he playing at a high level, he’s doing so next to Williams and Reed. Pete Carroll long sought Byron Murphy….he missed him by that much.

Largentium: Thank you Klint for overcoming most of my doubts about this offense. Getting the TEs involved more often is good. Can't find any numbers yet about play action, I know it was more than 1, but probably not more than 5, so at least there's a little progress. Getting the other WRs involved was good news as well.

Looks like the Seahawks called six play-action passes, including the gut shot deal-sealer to Jaxon Smith-Njigba. All-22 just dropped a new JSN video:

JSN ranks second in the NFL with 17 catches and 227 yards.

At this rate, it’s going to be very interesting to find out how JSN feels about Seattle’s rule to not extend players when they have multiple years left on the contract; JSN will be extension eligible in 2026, but won’t be a free agent until 2028, assuming that the Seahawks pick up his fifth-year option.

Bob: An 'ugly' route (oxymoron?) of the Steelers and their geriatric QB. Our D line beat the tennis balls off his walker! While our O catches up to our D dawgs we may have to beat'm ugly. By ugly I mean when the O has me crank'n out expletives, the D still gives us a shot at the big UW (Ugly Win...not the Huskies). Our D gives the O the time to find 'Brilliant!'...and the O is starting to look way LESS ugly already. GO HAWKS! Beat'm pretty, Beat'm ugly...Beat'm any (expletive of your choice) way we can!

Begaw!

Scott M: If you were the coach and or GM, what moves or changes might you consider making? Any strategy changes or any other opportunities?Running with or without Ouzts? Any breakdown? I got a feeling running with Ouzts is gonna be the winner...Sundell vs Olu? Who won out?

Here’s another film study, I think addressing some of your questions:

We have no reason to think that Jalen Sundell won’t return to the starting lineup in Week 3. This clip from Nate Tice highlights a strong play by him against the Steelers prior to leaving with cramps.

As far as making any changes, I don’t want to be overconfident but I think the Seahawks have played well enough to earn the right to stick with their pre-season strategy and current 53-man roster/practice squad. If anything, I think Jobe should get more reps than Woolen moving forward.

DefJames: Bucs in week 5 is a big game. What is our path to 3-1 so we can “prove it” against a very good team?

I think you can be respectful of other teams while also saying that if the Seahawks lose to the Saints at home, that’s going to be very, very disheartening. Yeah, New Orleans has been “in” both games that they’ve lost, but good teams have to beat the Saints. You just NEED to do that.

Week 4 against the Cardinals is going to be a huge statement game for both teams and even more important than playing against the Bucs. I wouldn’t overlook Arizona to see Tampa Bay; the Cardinals have played just as well as the Bucs so far, in my opinion. What do you think?

Grant: Did Derion Kendrick play outside CB for the Rams, or was he at NB? I was worried about missing Spoon, but DK (the new DK) filled in admirably, it seems. Perhaps MM/JS see potential there that could factor into future contract decisions at CB. They've got to decide about both Jobe and Riq this next offseason. Could DK become a cheap option at NB to move Spoon outside fulltime in the future? DK seemed like an odd guy to pick up at the time, but perhaps we're getting a glimpse of what they see.

Kendrick was an outside corner for the Rams, but that hasn’t stopped him from moving inside with Seattle. The only acceptable amount of versatility for secondary players in the NFL “at least a little bit”. DBs are constantly moving.

The fact that Kendrick, Jobe, and Woolen are all free agents after the season means that the Seahawks have a ton of flexibility to do whatever they want. Shaquill Griffin and Coby Bryant are also free agents. There’s no way to predict what they’ll ultimately decide on, it could be 3 new players.

Charlie Gage: What are your perceived weaknesses on the Saints that the Hawks can exploit?

The Saints have a starting quarterback who has never won a game (0-8) and a first-time head coach (Kellen Moore) with a first-time OC (Doug Nussmeier) and a DC who nobody really wanted (Brandon Staley). They have a rookie left tackle (Kelvin Banks) and the starting left guard is injured (Trevor Penning). Their top two receivers are averaging less than 9 yards per catch (Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed both at 8.3 and 8.5). And their kicker is 1-of-3 on attempts outside of 29 yards. From 30+!

This team was made (probably literally) to get the number one pick, especially with an offense that is setup for failure. The “number one pressure rate defense” in the NFL has to take advantage and pressure Rattler into quick decisions and mistakes. It has to and I’d say that’s the greatest weak point.

Seaside Joe 2387