Seahawks has its defense to build on
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — There’s a new sheriff in town for the Seattle Seahawks. And his name is not Pete Carroll. For Seattle fans, that may or may not be a good thing. For 14 years, the Seahawks and their fan base rode the wave of Carrol and his way of doing things.
For 14 years, Carroll was the life and face of the Seattle Seahawks. The new face of the Seahawks remain to be seen. Unfortunately, for Seahawks followers, the past will be hard to let go, considering the success the franchise had under the tutelage of Carroll.
But at the end of the day, change happens. Seattle made a head coaching change and hired Mike Macdonald to lead the Seahawks now.
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“Hey, great first start,” Macdonald said in a press conference after the Seahawks defeated the Los Angeles Chargers 16–3 in a preseason game on Aug. 10. “I’m just proud of the mentality, the focus that we had taking game on.
“It felt like the guys played really hard, it felt like they were focused. You know, it’s the first game so its the first time doing all the operation stuff for real. I thought our operation was clean for the most part.”
Under Carroll, Seattle has become a well-known operator when it comes to placing a well-respected defense on the field. It’s only one game (preseason at that), but the Seahawks, under Macdonald, were impressive on that side of the ball against the Chargers.
Besides holding the Chargers to three points, the Seattle held Los Angeles to just 77 yards rushing and 121 yards passing. The Chargers tallied less than 200 yards (198) in total offense for the game.
Seattle also limited the Chargers to nine first downs. Chargers didn’t get a first down until 4:27 left in the second quarter vs Seattle.
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“Overall, I’d say it’s a foundational first game,” Macdonald remarked. “This is something we want to build on. There’ll be plenty of details on tape that we’re going to dive into and I can’t wait to watch the tape and see how the guys did.”
Carroll led Seattle to two Super Bowl appearances and one of those teams actually claimed the championship title. The signature approach of a Carroll-led team was an intimidating defense and a run-first, physical-style offense.
The teams Carroll coached made football fun to watch. He was animated. His youthful exuberance gave you something to cheer for week in and week out. Carroll created the legendary “Legion of Boom” defense for the Seahawks. When the roll call was shouted out, you immediately knew who they were.
Bobby Wagner. Richard Sherman. AJ Wright. Earl Thomas. And the enforcer, Kam Chancellor. The Seahawks were an all-time defense. That era has gone bye-bye. So has the aura of invincibility.
The tenure of Carroll and longtime quarterback Russell Wilson has long come and gone. What appeared to not have been left is the toughness of the Seattle defense.
— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) August 11, 2024
In may not be be anything except just another meaningless preseason game, but the defense of the Seahawks lived up the reputation of their predecessors. In their preseason game against the Chargers at SoFi Stadium, the Seahawks held their AFC opponents to just three points in the first half while building a 13–3 intermission lead.
“The offense struggled,” Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh said after the game. “It took us until our seventh drive before we had a first down. There’s always work to be done, a lot of work to be done. Now, we’ve begun, which is positive and we got a place to start. Yeah, offensively there were some good things. Not near enough. It’s back to work — you retool, you regroup and you get back to work on Monday.”
A trademark of the past seattle defense showed up in the second quarter when Sehawks K’Von Wallace leveled Chargers tight end Hayden Hurst after he put his hands on a pass thrown by Easton Stick.
Safety Coby Bryant got his mittens on the deflected pass ad returned the ball for a short gain. Seattle wound up getting a touchdown out of the tip-drill.
“I knew I had to get it,” Bryant said afterward. “Should had two, but you know, I’m thankful for the first one.”