The Seattle Seahawks pass rush absolutely annihilated the Giants in Week 4. Their 11 sacks tied a team record, and pushed them into the league lead after four games. Can we expect them to continue at this high level all season? Or was this a huge outlier for the Hawks?
Hi there, 12s. It's pretty nice to have an extra week to bask in the glow of a solid derriere-kicking like the Seahawks handed to the Giants, isn't it? You don't have to answer that; we all know the correct response. But I do have another question. Is the Hawks pass rush really this good? Can we expect them to keep the pressure on the opposition like this all year?
I won't keep you in suspense, as the short answer is no. Okay, that's it, thanks for reading! I mean I don't think our beloved Seahawks will sack the QB 11 times in each of the remaining 13 games. So no, they won't keep up the pace of 11 sacks per game. But can the defensive front keep up their torrid pace of 16 sacks over four games? Oh, heck yeah.
Why the Seattle Seahawks pass rush will keep the pressure dialed up
Before I dive into mathy stuff, allow me to reiterate that, yes, before the season began, I did say the Hawks would have a great pass rush this season. Actually, I don't have to get too mathy here, as I did all the heavy lifting in that article. Suffice it to say that some of my predictions aren't quite ringing true in the particulars. Derick Hall has yet to make a big impact. I still think he'll have his day, just like the great K.J. Wright said. Boye Mafe only has two sacks so far, but he ranks second in the league in ESPN's Pass Rush Win Rate, at 34.8 percent. Basically, he's beating his blocker and helping create havoc in the backfield. He already has five pressures in three games this year, after recording eight in the entire 2022 season.
Overall, though, I'm pretty comfortable with my projection of 62 sacks. With 16 sacks now, the Seahawks need 46 sacks over the remaining 13 games to hit that target. That's just 3.5 sacks per game. After they came up empty in the season-opening debacle versus the Rams, the pass rush has improved every week. They put Jared Goff on the turf twice in Week 2, then in Week 3 sacked Andy Dalton three times. Following that rate of progression, Seattle should register 60 sacks against the Bengals in Week 6. Hah, Joe Burrow thinks he has a sore calf now, just wait!
The Seahawks have multiple weapons in their pass rush arsenal
Yeah, obviously that's not going to happen. As poorly as Cincinnati's offense has been playing, Burrrow has only been sacked eight times through four games. Not saying that's a great number, but you'd think it would be triple that, as they're averaging just over 12 points per game. Still, it's easy to see Seattle ringing up four or five sacks against the Bengals. Relax, I'm not going through the next 12 games. Suffice it to say, the Hawks found their pass rush in New York, and there's ample reason to believe they'll keep the pressure on all year.
The biggest reason is that there's not one player that the opposition can key on to double team. Pull a guard to help on Nwosu or Mafe on the edge, and you have to contend with Jarran Reed one-on-one. Or even worse, a blitzing Bobby Wagner or Jordyn Brooks. Note that Wagner and Brooks blitzed three times each in New York, and each recorded a pair of sacks. And I think we know what happens when Devon Witherspoon comes flying in. By the way, Tre Brown rushed the passer once and got a sack. Coby Bryant has rushed the passer six times and has one QB hit and one hurry.
I mentioned Jarran Reed, and cannot in all good conscience gloss over the fact that he's generated 15 pressures from the nose tackle position. That is ridiculously good production from that spot. And Mario Edwards, a guy I dismissed as basically a placeholder from Mike Marsh, has been exceptional as well. In 88 pass rush opportunities, he has a dozen pressures. That's what has made handling the Seahawks pass rush so difficult of late; the pressure can come from virtually any position with near-equal effectiveness. They have far too many weapons at their disposal for offenses to handle. Six players have multiple sacks and 13 players in all have at least one quarterback hit.
Not everyone has been great for the Hawks, but I have hopes for one
There have really only been two disappointments in the Hawks pass rush game so far. One has been pretty well documented, that being Dre'Mont Jones. He missed about half of the Panthers game and played just a bit over half the snaps versus the Giants. Yet in 100 pass rush snaps, he has one sack, no QB hits, and nine hurries.
Not bad numbers, but considering that he trails every other defensive lineman in Pro Football Focus pass rush grade, ESPN's Win Rate, or just about any other measure you can find, it isn't good, either. Especially when you consider he's being paid $17 million, and Reed, Edwards, Myles Adams, Mike Morris, and Cam Young are being paid a total of just $8.8 million. Those contract numbers are compiled from spotrac.com. The good news is there's reason to believe Jones will adjust and improve his game. He's played just under 60 percent of all defensive snaps, and the season is young.
The other disappointment is Darrell Taylor. Yeah,I know, that comes as a real shock to those of you who have read more than a few of my scribbles. I mean, almost a month before the season started, I wrote that the Seahawks should trade Taylor for more interior line depth. My reasoning was that while he did tie for the team lead in sacks, he was very streaky, and the Hawks needed more consistency in their pass rush. In 13 games last year (he just got three snaps in week 8, so I'm calling it 13), Taylor had just 26 total tackles, 8 of those for a loss. Nwosu had 66 tackles last year and is far ahead of Taylor in run support again this season. As a rookie, Boye Mafe had 41 tackles, while Taylor for the most part, simply grabbed air.
It's even worse this season, as Taylor has the Seahawks lowest pass rush grade, acoring to Pro Football Focus. No, I don't always agree with their ratings, but it's hard to argue with this, considering DT has just four pressures in 84 pass rushes so far this year. None of those are QB hits or sacks. Compare that to Mafe, who has triple the pressures, 12, in 86 rushes. Plus Mafe doesn't have the stupid penalty for demolishng the quarterback when even blind cave fish knew that Jared Goff didn't have the ball.
Taylor is still awful in run support as well, with five total tackles with one miss. His average depth of tackle - stats from PFF again, sorry about the paywall, 12s - is 5.2 yards. I'm not even sure how that's possible. Nwosu's average depth of tackle is minus one yard. Again, we're talking about rushing plays only. Mafe's average is .3 yards. So while Nwosu is hitting guys a yard deep, and Mafe is meeting them after they literally get one foot past the line of scrimmage, Taylor is waiting for them to grab a hot dog and a beer from the stands before he makes contact. He's the Seahawks worst defender versus the pass and the run. So, why is he still here? Unlike Jones, he knows the system, or should. I hate to dump on a Tennessee Vol, but enough is enough.
Okay, so Taylor has played terribly, but practically everyone else is crushing it on the pass rush. And we barely saw Jamal Adams, and we've all seen what he can do on a blitz. So yes, there is plenty of reason for optimism that the Seahawks will continue their assault on the franchise record, set waaaay back in 1985. You can look for a comparison of that unit to the 2023 edition soon.