There was once a time when holding down a downtrodden team like the Arizona Cardinals was not a particularly noteworthy event for the Seahawks. It was called "Sunday" (or on special occasions, when they really liked to show off, "Monday" or "Thursday.")
But that era, when the Seahawks became the first team since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970 to lead the league in scoring defense for four consecutive seasons from 2012-15, is long gone. You can characterize the past eight or so Seattle seasons as coach Pete Carroll's eternal quest to replicate the days when the Seahawks' Legion of Boom defense ruled the NFL world.
No, they're not there, and probably won't ever get there. It was a confluence of talent and personality that comes once a generation. But after suffering through multiple seasons of being gashed by opponents with depressing regularity, which no doubt cut straight into Carroll's defensive heart, you can now see the distinctive outline of a unit that can make him proud again.
You could hear the lilt in Carroll's voice Sunday after the Seahawks' 20-10 victory, in which they held the Cardinals to 249 yards. After giving up an average of 29.3 points over their first three games, evoking a "here we go again" reaction, they allowed 10 per game over the next three. Yards per game have dropped from 407.3 over the first three to 236 over the next three, and yards per play from 5.6 to 3.7.
In assessing the Seahawks' third consecutive vintage defensive performance, Carroll said, "You can tell. We've got something going on here."
What it is ain't exactly clear, to quote Buffalo Springfield (not to be confused with the Buffalo Bills, who are third in the NFL in sacks per game — one spot behind the Seahawks). No, it's not the second coming of the Legion of Boom, even if they have one common link in linebacker Bobby Wagner. That would be like saying Wings were the second coming of the Beatles because they had one common link in Paul McCartney.
Wings did have some massive hits, and so did the Seahawks on Sunday, especially one by cornerback Devon Witherspoon that had Carroll positively giddy.
"Did we know Witherspoon was out there today?" he crowed. "The Spoon was out there. Golly."
Witherspoon is the type of gaudy playmaker who would have looked at home in the Seahawks' glory days. They have been trying to repopulate that type of impact since the departure of players such as Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor, K.J. Wright and Michael Bennett.
Safety Jamal Adams said "the sky's the limit" with the 2023 Seahawks' defense, which might also be hyperbole. Especially when you consider that the past three dominant performances have come against the New York Giants, who rank 29th in the NFL in total offense; the Cincinnati Bengals, who rank dead last; and the Cardinals, who are an offensive juggernaut if you ignore the fact they have a journeyman quarterback with a 1-8 career record as a starter, a depleted running game with James Conner out and no receivers who scare you. We may well not yet know the true character of the 2023 Seahawks defense, and won't until they face the gauntlet of games against the 49ers (twice), Cowboys and Eagles in late November into December.
But when you look at where the Seahawks have been defensively in recent years — 25th in yards allowed in 2022, 28th in 2021, 22nd in 2020, 26th in 2019 — you take your triumphs where you can get them.
And those three games have provided plenty of highlights. They had 11 sacks and two takeaways against the Giants, held the reawakening Joe Burrow/Ja'Marr Chase-led Bengals offense to 17 points and shut down the Cardinals on Sunday, with four more sacks added to their total.
"The pass rush was alive again today," Carroll said.
This is the first time in a long time you can at least envision the makings of a dominant Seahawks defense. You can see old-school swagger developing in all three levels of the D, particularly in the secondary, where the rookie Witherspoon is a revelation, and the three-safety format with Adams, Quandre Diggs and Julian Love freed them to play much of the game in nickel and dime formations. The return of Wagner, coupled with linebacker Jordyn Brooks making a miraculous recovery from major knee surgery, has been a major boost as well.
What particularly warms Carroll's heart is that the Seahawks are once again stifling the run after being embarrassingly bad in that area last year — 30th out of 32 teams with 150 yards allowed per game. This year, after making vast improvement in that category a mission, they rank No. 6 in the NFL with 87.2 yards allowed rushing per game. That despite a 25-yard touchdown run Sunday by Cardinals quarterback Joshua Dobbs that had the entire defense lamenting the one that got away.
"We're really playing the running game well," Carroll said. "Every time we've been out, from preseason throughout, that's the commitment from the coaches and the players that is getting that done. That's consistency. And that's where it all starts. Remember way back when, it starts there. This is where we build from."
What is the potential of this Seattle defense?
"The highest of highs," Adams said. "A Super Bowl, that's our goal, but one game at a time. ... We still left a lot of things on the table. As a defense we're just so competitive to fix it and get it right and to hold people out of the end zone. That's our mindset, and as long as we do that, we'll be fine."
Maybe finer in that department than the Seahawks have been in a while.
