The Seattle Seahawks weren’t happy with how they played defensively in Week 2 against the New England Patriots.
How real is Seahawks’ defensive dominance? 10 stats that stand out
Sure, they managed to escape Foxborough with a 23-20 overtime win. But they were left with a bad taste after surrendering 185 rushing yards to the Patriots.
“It wasn’t to our standard,” Seattle safety Julian Love said after that Sept. 15 victory over New England.
The Seahawks responded in emphatic fashion with a dominant defensive performance on Sunday afternoon, shutting down the injury-plagued Miami Dolphins for a 24-3 win that moved them to 3-0 under new head coach Mike Macdonald.
The Seahawks held Miami to just 205 total yards, its fewest since 2021. They pressured the Dolphins’ quarterbacks with an onslaught of six sacks and 12 quarterback hits. And those run-defense struggles from a week ago? Seattle cleaned that up in a big way, holding Miami to just 65 yards rushing at a clip of 3.6 yards per carry.
“Last week, we were pretty sluggish,” Seahawks linebacker Tyrel Dodson said. “But we weren’t sluggish today. Guys came ready to play. People were pissed off. So yeah, I’m glad to see how we responded to that.”
There were some major caveats on Sunday, of course.
Miami was without starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who is on the injured reserve after sustaining another concussion. The Dolphins then lost backup Skylar Thompson to a rib injury early in the third quarter, forcing them to play the rest of the way with third-stringer Tim Boyle. They also were missing starting running back Raheem Mostert due to an injury.
However, Miami still had one of the NFL’s most dangerous receiving duos in Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. Even with their quarterback issues, the Dolphins’ two blazing-fast wideouts present a challenge.
The Seahawks rendered them a complete non-factor. Hill finished with just three catches for 40 yards, while Waddle had just four catches for 26 yards. Since Hill was traded to Miami in 2022, this was the first time both he and Waddle had been held to 40 scrimmage yards or fewer in the same game.
“At the beginning of the week, I told the guys, put the track shoes on,” Dodson said. “And guys, we put our track shoes on today. We were in the Olympics. We were running to the ball, we were meeting each other at the ball, we were trusting each other with the angles.”
Former NFL quarterback Brock Huard had a similar take Monday morning on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk.
“Hill’s just electric fast,” Huard said. “But you know what the second and third level of this defense is? Electric fast. Seriously. I mean, these linebackers can run. Dodson can run. (Devon Witherspoon) can run. (Riq) Woolen can run.”
The finer details
Speed certainly makes a big difference, but it takes more than that to shut down Hill and Waddle. During his Monday press conference, Macdonald pointed to some of the finer details that enabled his defense to do so.
“I’m proud of our effort and our eye discipline in the second and third level,” Macdonald said. “The perimeter screen was a massive emphasis going into the game. They’ve made so much hay out of that play, and they did a great job setting it up and blocking it.
“So it takes interior pursuit from the D-line, which there were some great plays. I thought we set a good edge on the perimeter. And then it’s about getting guys up in the alley and second-level support. So they did a great job of that. And then when (Miami) decided to take shots, we had a roof on the defense and forced them to check the ball down.”
Those details also were evident in the run game, as former NFL linebacker Dave Wyman explained Monday on Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob.
“Being really good in football is kind of boring at times,” Wyman said. “It’s about your eyes, it’s about your leverage, your hands, your feet. I saw a lot of that (on Sunday).”
Through three weeks, the Seahawks rank among the NFL’s best defenses after shutting down a favorable stretch of opponents in the Denver Broncos, Patriots and Dolphins. But the schedule ramps up significantly next week, when Seattle travels to face Jared Goff and the Detroit Lions on ESPN’s “Monday Night Football.”
“I know a lot of Seahawk fans are thinking this: How much of this is real? How much of this is your opponent and everything else?” Huard said. “You’re gonna get a great stress test on Monday night.”
