Will the Seahawks Get to and Contain Drake Maye?
The Seahawks might not have the premier edge rushers that the Broncos and Texans do, but they still have a fierce and deep pass rush that can win from anywhere across the defensive line.
Seattle ranked 6th in pressure %, 7th in sacks, and were the only team to have 5 D-linemen with more than 40 pressures during the regular season according to NFL Next Gen Stats (DeMarcus Lawrence, Byron Murphy, Leonard Williams, Uchenna Nwosu, Boye Mafe).
However, the strength of their pass rush is really on the interior.
While the Patriots have struggled to protect Drake Maye during the postseason (15 sacks in 3 games), the interior of their offensive line has actually been pretty solid. Most of their struggles have come against pressure off the edge.
Which begs the question, will Seattle be able to generate enough pressure?
The other question is whether or not the Seahawks will be able to keep Maye from making big plays with his legs. He’s rushed for 141 yards and 11 first downs during the postseason, which at times has breathed life into a struggling Patriots offense.
Let’s take a look at how the Seahawks have handled other mobile quarterbacks this season to get some kind of clue as to how they might approach Maye.
Seahawks Defense vs. Mobile QBs
During the regular season, Seattle played against Kyler Murray, Trevor Lawrence, Jayden Daniels, and Cam Ward, who are some of the more athletic quarterbacks in the game. For the most part, they kept them contained:
Kyler Murray: 5 rush, 41 yards (4 scrambles for 38 yards, 1 first down), 6 sacks
Trevor Lawrence: 3 rush, 9 yards (1 scramble for 6 yards, no first downs), 7 sacks
Jayden Daniels: 10 rush, 51 yards, TD (9 scrambles, 50 yards, 1 first down), 4 sacks
Cam Ward: 6 rush, 37 yards, TD (4 scrambles, 30 yards, 2 first downs), 4 sacks
It wasn’t perfect. They allowed a decent run here or there. But for the most part, they kept each of these mobile quarterbacks from making drive-extending plays with their legs. And they picked up 21 sacks in those 4 games along the way. That was nearly half of their sack total for the season (47).
So how did they do it? There were two key aspects to their approach that led to success.
First, their pass rushers were conscious of not getting too far upfield, particularly on the edges. They rushed at the depth of the quarterback, helping to prevent the emergence of any escape lanes.
Second, they brought lots of stunts inside to create chaos in the middle, break down the O-line’s interior, and minimize the existence of any clean escape routes in front of the quarterback.
The Seahawks stunted at the 3rd-highest frequency during the regular season according to Cody Alexander of MatchQuarters, so this was a regular part of their defense. But the combination of stunts inside and under-control pass rushers on the edge were especially effective against the mobile quarterbacks they faced.
Let’s take a look at some examples below.
This first play comes from Seattle’s Week 9 win over the Commanders and is a perfect illustration of what I described above. This was a 4-man rush with a stunt in the middle and the edge rushers never getting past Jayden Daniels:
Of course this wasn’t a pass rush merely designed to contain Daniels and do nothing else. It was still meant to get to the quarterback.
Watch Leonard Williams (#99) deliver a powerful blow to the center, knocking him out of the middle. That allowed him to penetrate inside and get pressure on Daniels, who had nowhere to escape: