Under new head coach and defensive expert Mike Macdonald, the Seattle Seahawks will play with a state-of-the-art defensive plan in autumn.
As the defensive coordinator in Baltimore, the 36-year-old Macdonald had great success with his scheme. He oversaw a defense that in 2023 became the first in NFL history to lead the league in points allowed per game, sacks, and takeaways. Before that, he served as the University of Michigan’s defensive coordinator for the 2021 season, helping to build a defense that helped the 2023 Wolverines win a national championship.
How will Macdonald’s defense appear when the Seahawks play? Commentary on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk was provided by former NFL quarterback Brock Huard.
“Just a blur,” Huard, a football analyst for FOX, remarked. A haze. It appears to be Michigan. You must view this plan over there. Find out from Michael Penix, the former quarterback for the UW Huskies, how it felt to try to attack that approach. It was one that could truly change and evolve from week to week.
The distinctive degree of positional adaptability and interchangeability present in Macdonald’s concept was expounded upon by Ted Nguyen of The Athletic in an article published last week. Because of his ability to continuously mix up his fronts and pressures, opposition attacks find it difficult to predict the precise source of pressure. It also lets him modify and customize his defensive strategy for every opponent.
Huard stated, “We will be discussing a different defensive attack week to week.” “It won’t just be the same plan of action, week after week. Week by week, that opponent and quarterback ought to find it difficult to prepare for this Seahawk defense.
He continued, “Week by week, (the Seahawks) have enough players on their D-line and in their secondary to be able to take away the strength of your team and make you beat them left-handed.” “This is really beautiful, and I can’t wait to watch it this season.”
Improved organization and communication
Huard is also enthusiastic about the possibility of enhanced coordination and communication inside Macdonald’s defense team.
As Nguyen explained in his piece, Macdonald doesn’t genuinely employ a variety of defense strategies. However, because his scheme is adaptable, he can run a variety of pressures out of those constrained fronts, making it difficult for offensive to figure out. This has been described as a “illusion of complexity” by Huard and others.
The defense can easily recall it, according to co-host Mike Salk. “The offense is difficult to resolve.”
Nguyen claims that Macdonald has a special method for organizing and teaching his blitzes. Nguyen clarified that Macdonald applies pressure to patterns, while most teams target particular defensive fronts with their pressure. Players consequently learn the complete pressure pattern rather than simply their specific tasks. This helps them to better comprehend what their teammates are doing, which in turn makes it possible for them to move around the field and exert pressure from a number of players and places.
Huard stated, “Everyone has to learn what to do in Mike Macdonald’s system.” Because everyone is involved, Mike is teaching it at every level to comprehend what everyone is doing. This is the reason defensive end Dre’Mont Jones is currently practicing drops and learning how to partially cover, because guess what? In a few of these simulated pressures, blitz looks, and illusions of complexity, you might be expected to perform that. It simply involves and engages all individuals on that defense.
Huard believes that will lessen the frequent misunderstandings that have beset the Seahawks defense in the past few seasons.
Huard declared, “(We) should never hear communication issues.” It is imperative that we never again hear players on the D-line, Quandre Diggs, or Tre Flowers discuss communication problems after a game. That ought to be taken out of common usage. That ought to be finished, since everyone needs to understand every facet of this plan, which is precisely what they are doing at the moment. Everyone at the VMAC certainly seemed to be fully committed and giving it their all.
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