Is it Seattle's defensive system or the players

[buddahjoe445]

Watching Seattle play defense was night and day compared to Dallas. Seattle blitzed, change coverage, and played aggressive. It was the complete opposite of how Dallas played defense. So, I'm wondering is it the players that made Seattle's defense so good or was it the system. Its probably a combination, but how much of an improvement can Dallas make on defense this year with the right coach?

If Eberturd was the Seattle's coordinator with the same players, how good would Seattle's defense be? And if McDonald was Dallas coordinator with Dallas players, how good would their defense have been?

 

[big dog cowboy]

 

[gimmesix]

Always the right answer. A great coach can't do anything with scrap parts, and players in a weak system can't maximize their talent.

 

[gimmesix]

Watching Seattle play defense was night and day compared to Dallas. Seattle blitzed, change coverage, and played aggressive. It was the complete opposite of how Dallas played defense. So, I'm wondering is it the players that made Seattle's defense so good or was it the system. Its probably a combination, but how much of an improvement can Dallas make on defense this year with the right coach?

If Eberturd was the Seattle's coordinator with the same players, how good would Seattle's defense be? And if McDonald was Dallas coordinator with Dallas players, how good would their defense have been?

Seattle's defense would have been upper half in the league even with Eberflus because he could run his scheme with the talent that they have. No coach could have effectively run his scheme with what we were putting out there, especially at linebacker (until Overshown came back ... and he wasn't himself) and in the secondary.

 

[75boyz]

Seattle's defense would have been upper half in the league even with Eberflus because he could run his scheme with the talent that they have. No coach could have effectively run his scheme with what we were putting out there, especially at linebacker (until Overshown came back ... and he wasn't himself) and in the secondary.

This is the most accurate answer.
Give it up scheme/coaching guys, the linebackers and secondary sucked.
The players sucked.
I could care less about Eberflus's scheme or who coached it.
My gosh man, the Jerry minions will not give up on over rating the existing trash.

 

[Rayman70]

As with any system, BOTH. But you need another key cog, and that's coaching. The coaching makes it all flow.

 

[5Stars]

Watching Seattle play defense was night and day compared to Dallas. Seattle blitzed, change coverage, and played aggressive. It was the complete opposite of how Dallas played defense. So, I'm wondering is it the players that made Seattle's defense so good or was it the system. Its probably a combination, but how much of an improvement can Dallas make on defense this year with the right coach?

If Eberturd was the Seattle's coordinator with the same players, how good would Seattle's defense be? And if McDonald was Dallas coordinator with Dallas players, how good would their defense have been?

It's both, but the players need to have the heart of a champion to make it happen, as of now, they are to pampered and weak to want it. Punks that just want money.

 

[ConstantReboot]

Watching Seattle play defense was night and day compared to Dallas. Seattle blitzed, change coverage, and played aggressive. It was the complete opposite of how Dallas played defense. So, I'm wondering is it the players that made Seattle's defense so good or was it the system. Its probably a combination, but how much of an improvement can Dallas make on defense this year with the right coach?

If Eberturd was the Seattle's coordinator with the same players, how good would Seattle's defense be? And if McDonald was Dallas coordinator with Dallas players, how good would their defense have been?

Outside of Witherspoon, most of these guys are free agents or mid- to late-round picks. That points more to the scheme than to the talent. When McDonald first took over, this defense wasn’t playing anywhere near this level.

The jump came when he moved away from a man-heavy approach and leaned into more two-high safety shell looks from the Fangio tree. His scheme is run mostly in nickel, relying primarily on coverage concepts. Therefore, it’s not the players’ individual talent that makes this work; it’s the players executing the scheme. Running the scheme to perfection gives the four-man front time to get home.

 

[beware_d-ware]

It's both. Seattle's got some registered dudes, but the amount of unblocked pressures they got last night showed that there was some excellent scheming going on as well.

 

[DandyDon52]

Wou

It's both. Seattle's got some registered dudes, but the amount of unblocked pressures they got last night showed that there was some excellent scheming going on as well.

would that not also have to do with NE Offense and their coaches? They didnt seem prepared for seattle ,and refused to adjust till late in the game.

 

[kskboys]

Watching Seattle play defense was night and day compared to Dallas. Seattle blitzed, change coverage, and played aggressive. It was the complete opposite of how Dallas played defense. So, I'm wondering is it the players that made Seattle's defense so good or was it the system. Its probably a combination, but how much of an improvement can Dallas make on defense this year with the right coach?

If Eberturd was the Seattle's coordinator with the same players, how good would Seattle's defense be? And if McDonald was Dallas coordinator with Dallas players, how good would their defense have been?

Both.

SEA has 3 starting quality FSs. We have none.

A different coach for DALL w/ the same players would have about the same results.

SEA's D would be very good w/ Eber.

 

[kskboys]

Outside of Witherspoon, most of these guys are free agents or mid- to late-round picks. That points more to the scheme than to the talent. When McDonald first took over, this defense wasn’t playing anywhere near this level.

The jump came when he moved away from a man-heavy approach and leaned into more two-high safety shell looks from the Fangio tree. His scheme is run mostly in nickel, relying primarily on coverage concepts. Therefore, it’s not the players’ individual talent that makes this work; it’s the players executing the scheme. Running the scheme to perfection gives the four-man front time to get home.

It is 100% both. W/o individual talent, you get the clusterfudge that was the DALL D. No matter the DC.

 

[zrinkill]

Both ...... but also a front office that is all about Football.

 

[Chasing6]

It is 100% both. W/o individual talent, you get the clusterfudge that was the DALL D. No matter the DC.

I think our D was a 100% both as well.

 

[beware_d-ware]

Wou

would that not also have to do with NE Offense and their coaches? They didnt seem prepared for seattle ,and refused to adjust till late in the game.

McDaniels definitely didn't help Maye out. When the rush is getting to your QB on every snap, you've got to go max-protect, or throw some quick beaters, or do something to answer it. McDaniels spent 3 quarters doing more of what failed.

Ultimately though, I think it was just Seattle's night. Their players brought their A game and were clearly jacked up, and Seattle's coaches brought their A game. When the #1 regular season defense (by points) comes out playing their best, no team is going to have much luck against them.

New England's defense played championship level football too. Seattle didn't score a touchdown until the 3rd quarter, and that should have been good enough to win. Then I think the Patriots D just ran out of gas late in the game, after the Pats offense forced them to rally for the 50th time.

 

[Chuck 54]

Watching Seattle play defense was night and day compared to Dallas. Seattle blitzed, change coverage, and played aggressive. It was the complete opposite of how Dallas played defense. So, I'm wondering is it the players that made Seattle's defense so good or was it the system. Its probably a combination, but how much of an improvement can Dallas make on defense this year with the right coach?

If Eberturd was the Seattle's coordinator with the same players, how good would Seattle's defense be? And if McDonald was Dallas coordinator with Dallas players, how good would their defense have been?

It’s both. I don’t care who the coach is; you can’t be great without both.

 

[JohnsKey19]

With the Cowboys LBs and Ss? Fuhgeddaboudit. There would be receivers running free all night long. They cant even execute a basic static zone, let alone one that changes on the fly.

 

[Robbieac]

They don’t have an 82 year old GM.

 

[sbark]

The players fit the scheme.
Long, athletic & big enough to go from S to slot...to even Lb as announcers pointed out.
Rookie Emmanwori a prime example

 

[KMY_Amber]

Both, but Mike McDanold's schemes have been proven to work. They worked in Baltimore, which is why het got the HC job. Eberflus as the Seattle DC, and they're probably a middle of the pack defense.

McDonald knows how to scheme up blitzes that free up players that can penetrate the backfield...and knows how to disguise these blitzes pre-snap. Once a QB doesn't know where a blitz is coming from pre-snap, now you're in that QB's head. And then, at the snap, many QBs stat looking down at the front 7 to try to identify the blitz before looking downfield to read the coverage.

And oftentimes, in the 2nd half, the QB's clock is sped up...they feel they have to rush on every passing play.

For a 2nd-year QB, you just can't prepare for that...it takes experience. And even veteran QBs fall victim to such schemes.

But yes, ultimately, Seattle can stop the run with a solid front 7, which then sets up 2nd and 3rd and long. But McDonald's blitzes a lot on first down too, guessing the run play direction. He's REALLY smart, and his defenses are well coached...no matter the players.

Hec, not many football fans could name more than 1 or 2 people on Seattle's defense....not a lot of known studs, just a lot of solid, well-coached players.

So McDonald deserves A LOT of credit....to win a Superbowl in your second season as a head coach, with a new QB, it's impressive. And he's young. Sky's the limit.