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Seahawks defensive grades versus Rams: Just enough to win

By Lee Vowell

SEATTLE, WA - OCTOBER 03: Free safety Tedric Thompson #33 and cornerback Shaquill Griffin #26 of the Seattle Seahawks celebrate in the fourth quarter against the Los Angeles Rams at CenturyLink Field on October 3, 2019 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)
SEATTLE, WA - OCTOBER 03: Free safety Tedric Thompson #33 and cornerback Shaquill Griffin #26 of the Seattle Seahawks celebrate in the fourth quarter against the Los Angeles Rams at CenturyLink Field on October 3, 2019 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images) /
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The Seahawks defense didn’t exactly stuff the Rams, but they did enough to win. And that included a great interception by Tedric Thompson.

This is not your older sister’s Seahawks defense. Seattle’s defense will give up yards. No longer is the defense designed to stop everything from happening because at this point Seattle just doesn’t have the players, like Kam Chancellor, who are capable of imposing their will on opposing offenses.

Seattle’s defense will give up yards in hopes of not giving up chunk plays and lots of points. The Rams scored 29 points and had 477 total yards. Stop the run the best you can and keep receivers in front of you: This is the Seahawks philosophy in 2019. Mostly, it works and it did so against the Rams. Well enough to win.

Here are the grades for Seattle’s defense from week five.

Defensive line

The Seahawks will get defensive tackle Jarran Reed back after the next game, but let me just give props to how good Quinton Jefferson has been through five games. Against the Rams Jefferson had two more quarterback hits and now has seven on the season. This is four more than the next closest Seahawk, Jadeveon Clowney.

Seattle didn’t get a sack against the Rams. In fact, two of the last three games Seattle hasn’t gotten a sack and that is concerning. But the Rams after a quick start running the ball were mostly slowed from doing so in the second half.

Grade: B-

Linebackers

Seattle went again with a lot of 4-3 defense because their linebackers are so good. Bobby Wagner, though, while not bad probably played his worst game of 2019. He was involved in just five tackles. K.J. Wright was solid with 10 tackles and a pass defended. Mychal Kendricks had 7 tackles. And I said about the run, the linebackers helped limit Rams running back Todd Gurley to just 13 yards on 6 second half carries.

Grade: B-

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Secondary

Next. The best QB in the NFC goes to.... dark

The Rams averaged 8.1 yards per pass compared to Seattle’s 10.9. And while Jared Goff threw for 395 yards, he did so on 49 pass attempts. Russell Wilson threw for 262 yards on just 23 attempts. There were times when the secondary was very good but times when they looked nothing like 2013. And thank goodness for Tedric Thompson’s athletic interception or the game might have ended differently.

Grade: C

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