All year long the Seahawks four-man secondary of Richard Sherman, Brandon Browner, Kam Chancellor and Earl Thomas, dubbed "The Legion of Boom”, was able to maintain their place as one of the tops in the league. But Young, Bess, Marshall and Johnson found ways to beat the so called legion of boom by simply not facing any of its members. These four wrote up a gameplan for future opponents on how to get open against the Seahawks. Rather it’s Titus Young or Davone Bess versus Marcus Trufant, Brandon Marshall up against Walter Thurmond or Stevie Johnson running by Jeremy Lane; the Seahawks’ inability to defend inside receivers was as consistent a trend throughout the season as the lack of pass rush.
The problems begin right there with the cover guys I mentioned. Marcus Trufant is an unrestricted free agent with nine years under his belt. He’s well past his prime and if the team brings him back it will be solely based on what he brings to the locker room. Walter Thurmond has been healthy a total of twenty four games in the three years he’s been on the team-sixty percent of the team’s games. He’s been effective when healthy, but unfortunately that means he has only been effective sixty percent of the time. Jeremy Lane and Byron Maxwell fall under the category of unknowns. While Lane started three games as a rookie and Maxwell got significant time behind Trufant and Thurmond, neither has played enough (nor well enough) in the slot to have more than an outsider’s chance to land the position in camp. Someone needs to be added.
Pete Carroll and John Schneider have proved to be able at finding talent in the draft to such an extent that fans just assume problems will be easily solved through the draft. For that reason, many fans probably consider nickel corner a position to target in the draft. But in today’s passing NFL teams are drafting corners early to matchup against the three and four wide receiver sets that offenses are sending out with increasing consistency. Corners are in high demand, and finding a guy with the quickness, cover skills and adeptness against the run to play 30-40 snaps per game requires a significant investment. In order to avoid overspending, the Seahawks might want to think outside the box.
In the Seahawks wild card defeat of the New Orleans Saints back in 2010 one thing that stood out was the Seahawks heavy use of the bandit package, especially late in the game. To combat Drew Brees and the Saints’ dangerous air attack, the Seahawks put 7 DBs in the game. Among those 7 DBs were 4 safeties; starters Earl Thomas and Lawyer Milloy, veteran backup Jordan Babineaux, and rookie reserve Kam Chancellor. With the Saints down by two scores and lacking a consistent running game the Seahawks used the bandit package to combat Drew Brees and the Saints heavy passing attack.
Here is part of an article by Danny Kelly from July of last year:
In 2010, the Seahawks broke out the "bandit" package (essentially a 3-1-7) in Pete Carroll's first year as head coach and had some pretty decent success with it. With athletic and versatile defensive backs in Lawyer Milloy, Jordan Babineaux, Roy Lewis, and a burgeoning Kam Chancellor, the Hawks used those four pieces - plus two corners (Marcus Trufant, Kelly Jennings/Walter Thurmond) and Earl Thomas - as interchangeable parts. Milloy, Babs, Lewis and Kam were all good in run support, adequate in pass coverage, and adept at blitzing. This formation was usually used on third downs, where the opposing team was likely going to pass and was/is effective because you can disguise your intentions, move people around, and attack the quarterback from different angles. In simple terms, it's a creative way to get a pass rush while maintaining an ability to cover receivers, tight ends, and running backs.
In the last sentence, “It’s a creative way to get a pass rush while maintaining an ability to cover receivers, tight ends, and running backs.” Sounds like what the Seahawks need. A creative way to get a pass rush (the Seahawks’ biggest problem) while still being able to cover downfield.
Kelly included this picture:
Kelly’s article also included many great quotes, but this one from Lawyer Milloy sums it up perfectly:
"When you have six, seven guys out there as (defensive backs) that are pretty interchangeable, it makes it really tough for a team to know where you're coming from."
In 2011, Milloy retired, Babineaux left in free agency, Jennings was traded, Thurmond was injured and Kam Chancellor became the starting strong safety; leaving Seattle with fewer than the needed amount of defensive backs for the bandit; hence the utilization of newcomer Atari Bigby in a new role called the big nickel. Bigby had an ability to make plays behind the line both by dragging down backs in the backfield and by blitzing the quarterback. In addition to his ability behind the line of scrimmage, Bigby was much more adept in coverage than any linebacker Seattle had. The big nickel is essentially a poor man's version of the bandit. Instead of having six or seven interchangeable defensive backs that can cover, blitz and stop the run, you have four or five.
Bigby left in free agency to become a starter and reports were the Seahawks were very high on safety Mark Barron in the draft. If they had drafted Barron, Chancellor would be either moved to the hybrid safety-linebacker position he played at times in 2010 and use 5 DBs as a base package or be converted to weak side linebacker. Barron was picked seventh overall by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the only safety the Seahawks picked was sixth rounder Winston Guy.
Guy had an up and down rookie season including a four game suspension, but saw significant time in the divisional round of the playoffs, playing in 16% of the team’s defensive snaps. He showed promise covering legendary Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez and was able to create minor amounts of pressure on a few blitzes. He has work to do to become a 15 snap a game guy but he could be a possibility for the big nickel role down the line.
Since the Seahawks considered spending a high pick on Mark Barron, it’s not inconceivable to think that Pete Carroll would like to put three safeties in the game and use one as a rover. Using three safeties won’t solve all the Seahawks troubles in the slot, but it is a creative way to help things out.
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