Closing Thoughts: Defensive Line Molding Into Strength, Keys Seahawks Win Over Cardinals

With Carlos Dunlap serving as the catalyst, a once-maligned defensive line suddenly has become a strength for Seattle in recent weeks and flexed their muscles in a dominant all-around effort in Thursday's win over Arizona.

Entering the month of November, the Seahawks ranked near the bottom of the NFL in sacks and pressure percentage. They were coming off a disheartening 37-34 overtime loss in Arizona in which they failed to muster even one quarterback hit against Cardinals star Kyler Murray.

After such a dismal performance, general manager John Schneider knew he needed to make a move to address the pass rush and with the trade deadline quickly approaching, he shipped a seventh-round pick and center B.J. Finney to Cincinnati for disgruntled defensive end Carlos Dunlap. Two weeks later, the 31-year old made his Seahawk debut, recording a sack and two quarterback hits in a 44-34 loss to Buffalo.

While the Seahawks' defense continued to struggle in that contest, however, even with Dunlap only having a few practices under his belt and still trying to learn a new scheme, the team produced a season-high 7.0 sacks, nearly equaling their previous season total. In last Sunday's loss to the Rams, they got to Jared Goff three times, including a strip sack by safety Jamal Adams.

Then in Thursday's rematch with Arizona, Dunlap produced a pair of sacks, including a game-clinching tackle bringing down Murray on fourth down to force a turnover with less than a minute to play. These were the types of plays Schneider envisioned the former Pro Bowler making when he was acquired four weeks ago, but aside from making impact plays on his own accord, Dunlap's presence has also positively impacted the performance of others around him as Seattle's defensive line has evolved into a formidable one in quick fashion.

Throughout the evening at Lumen Field, the Seahawks managed to consistently manufacture pressure with three and four-man rushes to fluster Murray, something they haven't been able to do for most of the 2020 season. Both of Dunlap's sacks as well as a first quarter sack by L.J. Collier came with at least seven defenders dropping back into coverage.

"We didn't make the plays with the pressures last night like we hoped to," Carroll said on Monday. "But more than anything, that's what we need to see because so many of the snaps in the game - 70 percent of the game or 65 [percent] of the game - is four man pressure. You really need to get some activity and this is our best rush night that we've had."

With those three sacks, Seattle has now vaulted into the top 10 in the NFL with 25 sacks on the season, only three less than the team produced all of the 2019 season. It's been a highly impressive turnaround with Dunlap serving as the obvious catalyst.

In total, Seattle's defensive front produced 21 quarterback pressures, eight combined hits, and three sacks against Murray and Arizona. Dunlap led the charge with eight pressures and three quarterback hits, Poona Ford contributed a whopping six pressures from the interior, and Collier generated four pressures while also forcing a safety by drawing a hold in the end zone during the fourth quarter. Jarran Reed, Rasheem Green, and Alton Robinson each pitched in with one pressure apiece in a complete team effort.

Along with doing a stellar job of pressuring Murray, the Seahawks also did a fine job in the trenches defending the NFL's No. 1 ranked rushing attack, starting with sound play off the edge. The young quarterback wasn't able to find success on read option plays and was limited to 15 yards on five rushes, while Kenyan Drake and Chase Edmonds combined for just 42 yards on 13 carries.

"The scheme worked out great and the coaches did a really good job of making players understand if they held the edges like they did and were really disciplined about it that we could control him to some extent," Carroll elaborated. "You could see there were times we had Jamal [Adams] come on the blitz and was basically free off the edge and he [Murray] still got outside of him... But we corralled him for the most part and really kept his impact down."

While Adams and linebackers K.J. Wright and Jordyn Brooks deserve plenty of credit for helping bottle up Murray, the tone for the entire defense was set in the trenches on Thursday night, starting with Dunlap's contagious energy. The rest of the line fed off of him and easily turned in their best game of the season.

Sitting in first place in the NFC West, the Seahawks now have a deep stable of defensive ends and versatile defensive tackles to rotate in and keep everyone fresh. Collier and Green have been highly disruptive reducing inside in pass rushing situations, Damon Harrison has added girth to the middle of the defense in short yardage situations to complement Reed and Ford, and Robinson continues to emerge as a viable all-around edge rusher who can play either end spot.

As soon as next week, Seattle may also welcome back rookie Darrell Taylor, who has been on the Non-Football Injury list since the start of training camp. The second-round pick out of Tennessee figures to give Carroll's defense another quality rotational rusher to add to the equation down the stretch.

As the secondary gets healthier in the near future, including the return of cornerback Shaquill Griffin next week, everything appears to be finally be coming together for the Seahawks to make a 180 degree turn defensively. With six games left to play, what was once viewed as a weakness has transformed into a strength and with Dunlap leading the way, the front line may hold the key to a deep playoff run in January.