Three scary preseason Seahawks trends that could last into the season
By Lee Vowell
Interior run defense
Last year the Seahawks overall run defense was better than in reason seasons. But at times when teams wanted to run against Seattle, they could. Just ask the Rams in their playoff defeat of Seattle (164 yards rushing). Seattle’s rushing defense looked even better because teams passed so well against them early in the season that teams didn’t need to run the ball.
On Saturday, the Raiders rushed for 158 yards and an average of 5.3 yards a carry. Again, yes. Saturday’s game was a preseason game. But Seattle’s Bryan Mone was in the game early and often and Mone might be one of the starters at defensive tackle in 2021.
Mone didn’t play overly well and he was going against backup offensive linemen for the Raiders. Poona Ford (who didn’t play against the Raiders) is sliding over to the 3-technique slot that Jarren Reed used to hold down for 2021. This means whoever plays next to Ford has to be able to defend the run and do so well.
While Seattle did well overall against the run in 2020 per raw stats, in 2019 (still a Ken Norton Jr. defense), the Seahawks allowed 4.9 yards a carry, 29th in the NFL. In 2018, Seattle was exactly the same as 2019. Run defense has been an issue for the Seahawks since Norton, Jr. became the DC. And based on the trend from the first preseason game, things aren’t changing any time soon.