Sunday the Seattle Seahawks will open at home against the
Cincinnati Bengals. The question going into the season is how well the Seahawks
will defense play; a look at the Seahawks defense.
The number one question with the trading of Frank Clark just
before the college draft was how the Seahawks were going to rush the
quarterback. Everyone including the coaching staff wondered how? Last Saturday the Seahawks acquired defensive
end Jadeveon Clowney from the Houston Texans. Since he will make the first game
his first time playing for the Seahawks it will be interesting how much he will
play? The Seahawks have number one draft pick LJ Collier backing up Clowney. He
hasn’t played during the pre-season either. I am sure they will do some
alternating at the spot. Clowney will play a lot on passing downs I expect.
At the other defensive end spot will be Ziggy Ansah the
Seahawks signed as a free agent during the off-season. He has seven years in
the NFL with the Detroit Lions. Ansah saw no action during the pre-season so it
will be his first action for the Seahawks as well. So how much he plays against
Cincinnati is in question too. He is backed up by Rasheem Green and Braden
Jackson. Ansah may see action primary on passing downs as well.
Al Woods will be one of the tackles in the middle with Quinton
Jefferson being his understudy. Poona Ford known for stuffing on rushing downs
will start at nose tackle. His backup is expected to be Bryan Mone.
The most experienced starters and the best on the defense
side will be at linebacker. The strong side linebacker will be Mychal Kendricks
with Bobby Wagner in the middle and KJ Wright on the other outside linebacker
spot. Kendricks will be backed up by
second-year pro Shaquem Griffin while Cody Barton a rookie will back up Wagner.
Fellow rookie and former Washington Husky Ben Burr-Kirven will be Wright’s
backup. All three backup linebackers will see plenty of action on special
teams.
Another area in question is in the secondary. The Seahawks
will start Shaquill Griffin at left cornerback with Akeem King as his backup. This
will be Griffin’s third year with the Seahawks.
Tre Flowers will start at the right cornerback with Neiko Thorpe shown
as his backup. Thorpe plays to will be mostly on special teams where he is
listed as the captain. Newly acquired
Parry Nickerson is listed as the third right cornerback. He could see a lot of
action as the third cornerback in the Seahawks nickel package.
At strong safety, the starter will Bradley McDougal while Lano
Hill is listed as his backup. At free safety known for years as Earl Thomas
spot will now be played by Tedric Thompson. He is now in his second year with
the Seahawks. He played a lot when Thomas was injured. He has had a lot of
people wondering if he can start at free safety. He doesn’t play well at strong safety the
Seahawks could go with one of his backup’s rookies Marquise Blair or Ugo
Amadi. McDougal can play equally well at
both safety spots so the Seahawks could move him over from strong safety and
start Lano Hill.
The question about the pass rush besides the defensive ends
the Seahawks might send any of the linebackers at times as well. This will put
extra pressure on the defensive backs as well. Lack of experience in the
defensive backfield we will wonder whether the Seahawks be able to stop on long
passes. They will have to mix things up
if the Seahawks start the season giving up too many points.
The Seahawks have a tendency to start the season slowly so
how they begin the first few weeks won’t answer how they will do over the
season. So we shouldn’t panic at all. The Seahawks should make the playoffs
this season. Go Hawks!
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