Getty Images
Jamal Adams, safety in the Seattle Seahawks, said after Sunday’s victory over the Los Angeles Rams that he believes they have the best defense in the NFL.
Such a remark would have been unfathomable for the team at the center of the season and after a 44-34 defeat against the Buffalo Bills. And while the Seahawks have no chance at all for the season to pull themselves statistically out of the bottom of the defensive rankings, they have completely reversed their performance in the second half of the year.
In the seven games since the loss in Buffalo, the Seahawks Defense offers 15 points per game in the league. Their 24 pockets across the team are for the most part in the league tied with the Rams and Arizona Cardinals. They also occupy third place in yards per game, and sixth in the running yards per game.
“We were so uncharacteristic, and so down and it all. It was like the last straw, “head coach Pete Carroll said on Monday. “We had to make sure we adjusted, and figured it out and adjusted it all.”
How bad were they after the Bills game? The 44 points the Bills allowed were the most in the Pete Carroll era in Seattle. The Seahawks allowed 362.1 passing yards per game and pace to allow 5,794 passing yards for the full season. No team in NFL history has allowed more passing yards than the 4,796 yards the 2011 Green Bay Packers gave up. This year’s Seattle team was on track to cross the mark by almost a thousand yards.
“There were times during the season here that everyone had enough stats to keep blowing us out as if we were worth nothing for the defense,” Carroll said after Sunday’s win. “This defense is good, and they showed it, and they declared it, and it’s the kind of defense we played in recent years when we were a good team at the end of the piece.”
Over the seven games since the loss to Buffalo, the Seahawks offer only 203 yards per game and are no longer on record. The acquisition of Carlos Dunlap from the Cincinnati Bengals in the middle of the season, a return to health from Jamal Adams, Shaquill Griffin and others, and the time to get on the same page with a number of changing pieces, finally brought unity let come together.
The schedule has also softened to a number of games against the Philadelphia Eagles, New York Giants, New York Jets and the Washington Football Team. That’s why Sunday’s performance against the Rams, a team that has beaten them five of the last six times, was a measure of unity.
“We found out and guys are just becoming accountable,” linebacker KJ Wright said. “We communicate like no other. just hearing guys’ voices every play is just really special. Defense wins championships. We know it will be some tough, tough fights as we stretch further. Play-off time is around the corner and defense always wins championships. ”
The Seahawks could still end up statistically as the league’s weakest defense. They are still the last place in the league, barely behind the Atlanta Falcons. But they no longer play like that kind of defense. The turnaround on the side of the ball could be the biggest reason the Seahawks will be a tough team to steer in the playoffs.