RENTON, Wash. – There’s a photo making the rounds on the interwebs in the aftermath of what took place last Saturday night in Santa Clara, Calif.
In the image is one 49ers offensive player wearing San Francisco’s black alternate jersey engulfed in eight Seahawks defensive players and being taken to the ground.
The 49ers player is unidentifiable in the screenshot because of all the players in white jerseys around him.
“That’s the mindset I feel like our defense has been preaching since Day 1,” said linebacker Drake Thomas, one of the eight in the photo that was posted on social media by NFL analyst Daniel Jeremiah with the caption, “Seattle defense explained in one picture.”
Thomas continued.
“That’s the type of defense we want to be. Everyone to the ball.”
As the Seahawks’ coach and resident defensive guru, Mike Macdonald can dream up and implement all the exotic pressure packages and wacky coverages that his mind can come up with to try to stop opponents.
And none of it matters if the guys on the field don’t toss, shoulder or fundamentally tackle those opponents to the turf.
It was a major point of emphasis for the Seahawks during the regular season. It will continue to be this week when they host their first playoff game with fans in the stands at Lumen Field in the past nine years.
“There’s so much scheme and stuff that goes into football, but at the end of the day, if you can’t get the guy … on the ground fast, you’re not going to be a good defense, right?” said Chris Partridge, the Seahawks’ outside linebackers coach who oversees their tackling program. “And then when you add in the fact that, ‘OK, now, guys, if you play together and you run to the ball and you are attacking the football, you could be more aggressive.’ And what defensive player doesn’t want to be more aggressive, right?”
Whether it’s eight players swarming one helpless ball carrier, or one defender being asked to make an open-field stop in a one-on-one situation, the Seahawks entered the postseason after two consecutive weeks when their tackling was on point.
It showed up in the film, with several national analysts highlighting the skill of Seattle’s tackling.
It showed in the numbers, according to Pro Football Focus. Though the Seahawks have their own internal tracking on missed tackles that take into account the situation, defensive call and how the play developed, the numbers from PFF were impressive.
The Seahawks were charted as having 11 missed tackles by PFF when they played the 49ers in Week 1. When they met again in Week 18, the Seahawks were tagged for only three missed tackles, and that performance came after having only seven a week earlier against Carolina.
“I mean, our tackling has been really at a high level these past few weeks,” safety Julian Love said. “And, yeah, it’s just like getting to the ball. Like you just want to be like hungry dogs. Just getting to the ball wherever it’s at and having your guys’ backs, so then you can shoot and play confidently.”
The Seahawks’ tackling principles are tied to another one of their fancy acronyms used inside the Virginia Mason Athletic Center: E.A.T. It’s pretty self-explanatory. E.A.T. represents Effort, Angles, Tackling. Give great effort. Take the right angle. Tackle the ball carrier to the ground.
E.A.T. drills were part of practices starting in offseason workouts and continued into the regular season. Every Wednesday and Thursday during normal weeks there was dedicated time spent on those drills. The goal is to repeat the fundamentals so that no matter the circumstances, the drills have provided the foundation for defenders to just react.
“I think that’s something we actually practice and work on a lot, which is a small fundamental that a lot of players probably forget about,” defensive lineman Leonard Williams said. “It’s something we harp on a lot here.”
Are these drills different from those done by other teams at other levels of football? No, not necessarily. Every defensive coach and defensive player preaches the importance of tackling.
The intention is what’s important, and what seems to have helped lead to success. It’s the intention of repetition, but also the intention in finding answers. Partridge said there are specific efforts by the coaches to provide solutions when problems with missed tackles may surface that goes far beyond, “Hey, you need to make that tackle.”
“I firmly believe tackling can be improved throughout the football season. Like people say, ‘Oh, well, NFL, you don’t tackle in a season.’ That’s bull,” Partridge said. “You can improve tackling throughout the season with giving them answers on why they’re missing tackles and giving them drills and things to do. We have guys all the time, you miss a tackle in practice, you’re going to be after practice working with us on putting you in position on why that tackle was missed and what are the answers to go make it next time.”
Per Pro Football Reference, the Seahawks had 110 missed tackles during the season. That’s the second-most of any team that made the playoffs, behind only Pittsburgh at 126. Pro Football Focus gave the Seahawks a tackling grade of 46.3 for the season, good for only 19th in the league.
For Partridge and the defensive staff, the numbers on missed tackles can be misleading. Seattle charts everything when it comes to tackling. What was the down and distance? Where was the tackle made? Was there help from teammates, or was it an open-field tackle? How much space was available? And when it comes to misses, were they aggressive attempts that still yielded a positive result for the defense?
For example, say DeMarcus Lawrence darts into the backfield and makes an aggressive attempt, and the running back makes him miss. Technically, that’s a missed tackle by common statistical standards.
But in the Seahawks’ view, what if that aggression blew up the timing of the play? Though Lawrence didn’t make the stop the play was a win for the defense. The ball carrier was dropped for a negative result for the offense.
Not all missed tackles are built the same, essentially.
“You look at NFL stats, we’ve had 10 missed tackles in a game. And we were like, ‘We’ve had a great tackling game, because we made all the main tackles,’ ” Partridge said. “You miss a tackle on the backfield, ‘OK, you take your shot,’ and then someone else makes the tackle. It’s like, ‘OK, you took your shot, that was a good missed tackle.’ ”
That’s the attitude and approach the coaches want and have seen from their defenders as the season progressed. It will be needed in the playoffs.
“It takes definitely a level of focus,” Thomas said. “But our coaches do a great job making it a point of emphasis. So you’re always thinking about your angles and your approach to tackles, and so it helps when it’s made such an emphasis by our coaches.”