Seahawks reinforced defensive ends should swarm the Steelers line

The Seahawks may get two more defensive ends back this week. That’s a good thing, as they need to get as much pressure on the Steelers as possible.

The Seahawks didn’t exactly play their best in their opening game. That doesn’t include the play of the defensive ends, though. Led by Quinton Jefferson’s best performance of his young career, they sacked Andy Dalton four times and hit him another four. Considering that Dalton still passed for over 400 yards, it would be pretty nice to see the Hawks dial up the pressure even higher this week against the Steelers. They may very well get the guys they need to do that.

The biggest moves the Seahawks made this offseason all revolved around the defensive ends. That’s assuming you ignore little details like extending the contracts of guys like Russell Wilson and Bobby Wagner. When Frank Clark was traded Seattle replaced him with their top pick in the draft, L.J. Collier. Not satisfied, they then went all in and signed free agent Ezekiel Ansah. Just for fun, they made the biggest deal of the offseason and got Jadeveon Clowney for backups.

Clowney was impressive against the Bengals and should be even this week after another full week of practice. The best news is that both the rookie Collier and the veteran Anshah should play in Pittsburgh. Collier won’t be the sack artist that Clark was but he’s capable of reaching double digits for a full season. He’ll be tough against the run, too. Think Michael Bennett, just not reading a book in team meetings. His versatility will make the Seahawks line better overall.

Ziggy Ansah is very similar to Clark. He won’t be the world’s best versus the run – we’ve got Clowney for that – but he will get after the quarterback. Yes, there’s good reason to be concerned about his injury history. After all, this will be his first game action for the Seahawks. But when he’s on the field, he delivers. Last year he just had 146 snaps on defense. He still had four sacks and seven quarterback hits. In 2017 he had 516 snaps and racked up 12 sacks and 17 hits.

Combined, that gives Ziggy 16 sacks and 24 quarterback hits in 662 plays. Clark had 13 sacks and 27 quarterback hits in 728 plays. That’s a pretty solid comparison, wouldn’t you say? Again, I know that Ansah has to actually be on the field to get to the quarterback. But when he can play, he sets up camp in the opponent’s backfield. There’s a very good chance Ben Roethlisberger will have a close and intimate relationship with all four of the Seahawks defensive ends Sunday. The Hawks certainly need that to happen to win.