Seattle Seahawks: 5 takeaways from win versus Patriots

The defense continues to make plays when it matters most

Before the season started, it was no secret that the loss of DE Jadeveon Clowney was going to hurt the Seahawks. The Seahawks defensive line is their biggest weakness and they know it as they have been bringing a lot of pressure in the first two games. In this week’s grades, the overall Seahawks defense earned an average grade of B-.

At the end of the day, all that matters is the W. But, as the season progresses it would be nice to see this defense take the necessary steps in the right direction so that they can be ready for the playoffs. Getting pressure on the quarterback is one of the most crucial elements for a super bowl team and the Seahawks are lacking that at the moment. But once again they showed up when it mattered most. In last week’s game against Atlanta, the Falcons were 0 for 4 on 4th down conversions. Back to back weeks, the defense has answered the call on meaningful downs.

It did not help that last night Quandre Diggs was ejected for a helmet to helmet hit and shortly after that, his replacement, S Marquise Blair suffered a knee injury that sidelined him for the remainder of the game. Quinton Dunbar showed why we traded for him as he had a nice game last night. Early in the game, he had a chance of intercepting a pass and potentially returning it the other way for a house call, but dropped the ball. He later made up for it by making a nice break on an out route and intercepting Cam Newton.

The Seahawks defense was flying around last night. They were solid against the run and once again, Jamal Adams was all over the place. He was getting pressure on Cam and was letting him know about it after the fact. I love the energy Adams brings to this defense. Although he is still new to the defense and is learning the concepts, he has done a phenomenal job thus far.

The Seahawks defense was solid in the red zone as the Patriots were 3-5 in red zone opportunities. The two things I was disappointed in was that the Seahawks recorded 1 sack and got beat deep twice by Julian Edelman. Edelman, known for being a slot guy should not be beating us deep down the field. Regardless, the Seahawks overall did a nice job of keeping everything in front and stuffing the run game.

Most importantly, the Seahawks defense made the biggest play of the game when stopping Cam Newton at the one-yard line. After letting them come all the way down the field, DE L.J. Collier made the play of the run game bursting through the middle to stop Cam Newton in his tracts.

I was happy to see rookie LB Jordyn Brooks get playing time on the last drive as he brings great speed and athleticism to the defensive front. I look forward to seeing him and some of the other young guys added to the rotation as it appears that DE/LB Bruce Irvin has suffered a torn ACL.