Is it Seattle's defensive system or the players

I can't imagine MacDonald playing Kenneth Murray majority of the snaps all year. Along with Hooker and Wilson at safeties. Eberturd didn't change anything all year. Played the same scheme with the same players. I would bet the house MacDonald would have changed players and adjusted scheme throughout the season and made the defense respectable. Middle of the pack defense gets this team in the playoff. Probably would have been a one and done because of Dak, but still would have been fun to see since there was no dominant team this year.
 
I give Mike McDonald a lot of the credit. It’s quite impressive. So you don’t have to wait 10 years with a new coach to win
 
KMY_Amber said:
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.
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The only players I really know are Riq Woolen, Weatherspoon, and D. Law. Despite the amount of pressure they put on an O-line, none of them has more than 15 sacks.

They can also afford to lose players such as Riq Woolen because they have someone else who can fill that spot. Not only do they have the right players, but their GM knows exactly what they need to make their system work. I envy their organization because it is so well managed.
 
buddahjoe445 said:
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?
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both. the system fits the players. aggressive, good tacklers (can't tell you how many open field and tackles made in space), speed.
 
Does it matter if its the system or not. They won. Dont mock the team but you build a team to beat the champs.

If you mock a team that team will beat you.
 
Was reading yesterday that the Patriots had many more 4 and 5 Star recruits than the Seahawks on their team. I found that pretty interesting.
 
beware_d-ware said:
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.
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This^^^^^
BTW.......The Pats defense played well enough to win, but when your QB and O-line play as poorly as they did, you have zero chance in a game this big. In other words, a bye and home-field advantage gave Vrabel a chance to hide them until he couldn't. Maye was average at best in both playoff games and the LT had the same issues throughout the season.
 
Coaching and scheme and good players with a few very good ones. When Iooked at their off-season it didn't seem that great.
 
Hawkeye0202 said:
This^^^^^
BTW.......The Pats defense played well enough to win, but when your QB and O-line play as poorly as they did, you have zero chance in a game this big. In other words, a bye and home-field advantage gave Vrabel a chance to hide them until he couldn't. Maye was average at best in both playoff games and the LT had the same issues throughout the season.
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they did have a good defense too. they gave up 7, 16 and 3 points in the playoffs. and to your point, their offense couldn't get in gear mostly because of seattle defense. the seattle offense slowly chipped away at them.
 
gimmesix said:
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.
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It may not have been as good but generally I agree. That D is loaded with talent. But I think coaching is what puts that talent over the top. When to blitz, design of blitz and such
 
buddahjoe445 said:
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?
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That’s almost like asking if Buddy Ryan could have taken a JV high school team’s defense and somehow expect them to win state.

The 2025 Cowboys defense was not talented enough. No scheme or miracle coordinator could have put enough duct tape and baling wire on that D to make it “middle of the pack”.
 
buddahjoe445 said:
I can't imagine MacDonald playing Kenneth Murray majority of the snaps all year. Along with Hooker and Wilson at safeties. Eberturd didn't change anything all year. Played the same scheme with the same players. I would bet the house MacDonald would have changed players and adjusted scheme throughout the season and made the defense respectable. Middle of the pack defense gets this team in the playoff. Probably would have been a one and done because of Dak, but still would have been fun to see since there was no dominant team this year.
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Coaching matters in the NFL. Demarcus Lawrence over the last few years with Dallas was solid but not a pro bowl impact player. He goes to a well coached defense and bam, impact player. Go figure. That being said, Dallas had a lot of JAGS playing defense that the great GM put out there.
 
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