Closing Thoughts: Seahawks Defense Shows Signs of Progress in Win Over Dolphins

Still giving up over 300 passing yards to Ryan Fitzpatrick and over 400 yards of total offense for the fourth straight week, the Seahawks aren't close to where they want to be defensively. But the elimination of explosive plays is a good starting point.

Though they hadn't lost in the first three weeks of the season, the Seahawks traveled to Miami this weekend with something to prove, particularly on the defensive side of the football.

While Russell Wilson passed Patrick Mahomes for the most touchdown passes through three games in NFL history, coach Pete Carroll watched his defense surrender an NFL record 1,292 passing yards, including over 470 to Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott in a 38-31 Week 3 victory. At the root of these issues, Seattle surrendered 18 pass plays of 20-plus yards and six passes of 40-plus yards, ranking first in both categories.

Though the Seahawks still gave up 315 passing yards in Sunday's 31-23 win over the Dolphins, the team did make substantial progress eliminating those aforementioned explosive pass plays. They allowed just two receptions of 20 or more yards, with the longest being a 26-yard catch and run by running back Matt Breida, which helped them hold Miami out of the end zone until the final two minutes of regulation and forced them to settle for five field goals.

"Really, we kept them in front of us all day long and made them run their way down," Carroll said after the game. "Really played well, backed up and got the job done, other than the one time I guess we scrambled in. Yeah, that's an improvement."

After re-watching the game for a second time, here are some closing thoughts from Seattle's Week 4 victory.

• Returning in dominant fashion from a knee sprain, Chris Carson deserves all of the praise he received after the game and then some. But he wasn't the only running back who impressed on Sunday, as DeeJay Dallas made a couple nice plays in his first extensive action out of the backfield. On his first NFL carry, he made a sweet cut at the line of scrimmage, hit the crease hard, and then wiggled his way through a tackle attempt for six yards. Then on his first NFL reception, he caught a dump off pass from Russell Wilson and broke through another tackle to pick up three extra yards. Later in the second half, he evaded another tackler on a nine-yard reception to pick up his first NFL first down. In total, he forced three missed tackles on just four touches and also made a couple of excellent blocks picking up blitzers in pass protection, shining in limited snaps.
• After struggling to find consistency during his first three NFL seasons, David Moore looks to have finally turned the corner and he's emerged as a viable third receiving threat behind DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. After posting catch percentages at 50 percent or less the past two years, he's caught 10 of 11 targets from Wilson for a 90 percent catch rate so far this year, averaging 17.3 yards per reception. Both of his touchdown catches, including a 17-yard grab where he somehow got both feet down in the back right corner of the end zone, have been highlight reel-worthy. He's currently on pace for 40 receptions, almost 700 receiving yards, and eight touchdowns, which would easily be career-highs and fantastic overall production from a third receiver in any offense.
• Due to hot, humid conditions in Miami, it's not a surprise Seattle rotated offensive linemen during this game. Only tackle Duane Brown and center Ethan Pocic played every single offensive snap, as guards Jordan Simmons and Jamarco Jones spelled Damien Lewis and Jamarco Jones with 19 combined snaps and Cedric Ogbuehi replaced Brandon Shell for 13 snaps at right tackle in his Seahawks debut. These rotations produced mixed results, as Ogbuehi surrendered a fourth down sack by allowing defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah to get past him and bring down Russell Wilson in the second quarter. But Simmons once again played well with 10 snaps and Jones had a couple of nice blocks in pass protection, showcasing Seattle's stellar depth at guard.
• Last week, Seattle seemed to find a bit of a rhythm rushing the passer with the defensive line late in a victory over Dallas. Unfortunately, that didn't carry over into Week 4. Playing against a rookie left tackle in Austin Jackson and a journeyman right tackle in Jesse Davis, this matchup looked like one where the Seahawks could create pressure off the edge, but that rarely happened. Fitzpatrick stayed comfortable for the most part, getting hit just six times on 46 drop backs. When the final horn sounded, they had just one sack all afternoon, which was created by pressure from L.J. Collier forcing the veteran quarterback to step up into the arms of defensive tackles Bryan Mone and Anthony Rush. Such minimal production may not have mattered in Miami, but with the team on pace again for just 28 sacks, the lack of a pass rush continues to be worrisome.
• Now in his ninth season, it doesn't seem like Bobby Wagner is getting quite enough credit for how well he's playing. After producing a game-high 12 tackles on Sunday, he's on pace for 152 tackles and already has four passes defensed in coverage, bouncing back nicely from a down season for his standards in that regard. He's only given up seven completions on 13 targets for 53 yards and opposing quarterbacks have posted an underwhelming 63.9 passer rating on those targets. It's also worth noting, per Pro Football Reference, after uncharacteristically missing 10 tackles last year, he's only missed one through four games so far. Seattle has plenty of defensive issues still to address, but with Wagner and K.J. Wright continuing to perform at a very high level, linebacker play isn't one of them.
• The Seahawks have to be giddy about the contributions Ryan Neal has provided the past two games filling in for Jamal Adams. He's already picked off a pair of passes, but he's done far more than just that on his 100 defensive snaps. He already has three passes defensed and 10 tackles, including a devastating hit on Dolphins running back Myles Gaskin on a third down screen play that forced them to settle for a field goal. Even in a small sample size, it's apparent how smart and instinctive of a football player he is. The coaching staff couldn't have possibly asked for more out of him and if Adams needs to miss one more game before the bye week, they'll be comfortable throwing Neal into the lineup again to start against the Vikings next weekend.