By Gregg Bell | McClatchy News Service
SEATTLE — Finally, they blitzed again.
It was like Jamal Adams was back.
This week, he will be.
Coach Pete Carroll said following the Seahawks’ unleashing a far more aggressive defensive game plan that dominated Jimmy Garoppolo and the San Francisco 49ers in Seattle’s 37-27 victory Sunday that Adams is playing next week for the Seahawks (6-1) at Buffalo (6-2) in a matchup of division leaders.
It will be the first time the All-Pro safety has played since Sept. 27. Adams strained his groin in the fourth quarter of his team’s win over Dallas that day.
“I thought it added to everything. The pressure that we added helped everybody,” coach Pete Carroll said after his Seahawks blitzed far more than they did while Kyler Murray and Arizona shredded them in a 37-34 overtime loss last week.
The Seahawks sacked Garoppolo three times. They hit him seven times. They limited him to just 84 yards passing. They intercepted him once and knocked him out of the game early in the fourth quarter.
It was 30-7 Seahawks by then.
“We just decided to take a little turn,” Carroll said. “We are still trying to figure some things out to get better, and we just put it on the fellas. We have a great attitude group, and they want to play tough and physical and go after it. And we just looked for opportunities to make sure and show those guys.
“And with Jamal coming back next week, it’s going to happen some more.”
Adams is still the Seahawks’ co-leader in sacks with Bobby Wagner and Benson Mayowa (two each). And Adams hasn’t played in more than a month. He missed his fourth consecutive game Sunday with a strained groin.
To blitz or not to blitz?
Adams was blitzing around 10 times per game in September. The Seahawks were sending blitzers on upwards of half their defensive plays when their new star strong safety started the first three games of this season.
It was something of test-driving Adams. He was playing his first three games for Seattle. He had 6½ sacks blitzing from all over last year for the Jets. The Seahawks acquired him for veteran starter Bradley McDougald and two first-round draft choices in a splashy trade this summer.
Carroll by his defense-first nature does not like to blitz. He prefers to drop deep into coverage, keep plays in front of his cover guys and rely on his front four defensive linemen to force quarterbacks to get passes out before they want to, into tight coverage by the secondary off the line.
Why does Carroll normally eschew blitzing? Because of what happened in those first three games with Adams blitzing so much.
Seattle allowed 19 plays of 20 or more yards in those three wins to begin the season.
But in the final game of October at Arizona the Seahawks saw what a brilliant quarterback and opportunistic play caller can do to their dropping-back, no-blitz defense. Kyler Murray and coach Kliff Kingsbury shredded Seattle for 360 yards passing and three touchdowns. Murray dropped back to pass 48 times. The Seahawks never hit him let alone sacked Murray. The Cardinals rallied three times from double-digit deficits to hand Seattle its first loss.
Seattle entered Sunday with just nine sacks in six games.
They were basically needing Russell Wilson to be nearly perfect throwing to win. For the first five games, he was. He tied Peyton Manning’s league record for most touchdown passes to begin a season. But the day he made mistakes — his first three-interception game in three years — the Seahawks lost, at Arizona.
Carroll said after that game he erred in not adjusting during the game and blitzing Murray and the Cardinals more.
“We have to give our guys a chance,” the veteran coach said, meaning coaches with their schemes.
They capitalized on their new chances against San Francisco.
The “little turn”?
After San Francisco running back Tevin Coleman (three rushes, 20 yards) went out injured following a first quarter the 49ers dominated, the Seahawks sensed the Niners couldn’t run. They started blitzing. They sent Wagner and speedy rookie Jordyn Brooks on multiple blitzes up the middle, over the guards and center.
Wagner’s thought?
Finally!
“I always talk to them about blitzing more,” he said.
The idea was to force Garoppolo, weeks removed from a high-ankle sprain, to run outside to escape pressure. The Seahawks believed they could run him down.
They were right.
Wagner had two of Seattle’s three sacks, which was one-third the defense’s season total coming in. Rookie defensive end Alton Robinson had the other, the second of his career.
The beaten Garoppolo limped off to the 49ers’ locker room injured. Nick Mullens replaced him for the fourth quarter.
“I feel like we were a lot more aggressive and we were able to get in the backfield and get their quarterback off his spot,” said Wagner, who was noticeably steamed after his and his defense’s performance and loss to the Cardinals the previous week.
“Obviously, we still have things to work on, but I think it was a step in the right direction.”
