–The Seahawks will have a chance to feast on Detroit’s lowly run defense, which ranks 30th in the NFL in rushing yards per game, but it won’t be near as easy with the Lions unexpected move to acquire former All-Pro defensive tackle Damon “Snacks” Harrison from the Giants.
Harrison, who already has 31 tackles and a forced fumble in seven games with the Giants, will instantly plug up the middle for a Detroit defensive line that has been gouged during the early stages of the year. Generously listed at 335 pounds, he’s a mountain of a man in the interior who head coach Pete Carroll believes can disrupt all phases of the game.
“There’s not much you can do (to) that guy. He’s really a monster in there,” Carroll said on Wednesday. “Running game yes, but he also causes problem in the pass game, too. He came on our radar when he was with the Jets and he was kind of in there where there was a chance, but he had emerged too far too fast for us and we couldn’t get to him, and he wound up going to the Giants. So we have a lot of respect for him.”
Though the trade wasn’t listed on Wednesday’s transactions report, Harrison should officially be a member of the Lions on Thursday, presenting a giant problem for Seattle’s offensive line both figurately and literally depending on how quickly he can get up top speed with the team’s defensive scheme.
–Already without several former defensive stars such as Michael Bennett and Richard Sherman heading into this season, the Seahawks somehow managed to weather the storm with linebacker K.J. Wright on the shelf during the first six games of the year recovering from knee surgery. Among those who helped fill the void during his absence, head coach Pete Carroll says veteran Barkevious Mingo has offered more value than he could have anticipated when the team signed him in March.
Acknowledging Wright has been a “fixture” in Seattle’s defense over the years, Carroll said Mingo has given the Seahawks unexpected flexibility, adding, “He really showed us some stuff that we were surprised to see. He hasn’t played behind the line of scrimmage that much in his career, all the way back to college even. He looked very comfortable and he’s learned a lot over the years watching, paying attention and through practice reps and stuff like that, he did a nice job for us.”
Mingo opened the season playing SAM linebacker in Seattle’s base defense, contributing extensively on special teams, and occasionally rushing the passer off the edge in sub-packages, but after Mychal Kendricks was suspended indefinitely prior to Week 5, he learned to play weak-side linebacker on the fly. Over the past two games, he’s recorded 14 tackles, one tackle for loss, and a quarterback hit, filling in admirably while Seattle waited for Wright to return to action.
–While rushing the passer hasn’t been a strong point for the Seahawks this season, the team harassed Raiders quarterback Derek Carr in London, sacking him six times and forcing multiple fumbles. Head coach Pete Carroll isn’t ready to anoint his defense as one of the league’s best, but he’s seeing improvements, especially when it comes to turning up the heat on opposing passers.
“We played good, solid football. Our guys rushed consistently throughout, and they took the opportunities and made the most of them,” Carroll said. “It turned into a big pass-rush day and a day that really slowed them down. That’s the kind of day that you can have, a game where you can get close to a shutout or you can keep the score way down because they were having trouble just protecting the passer. When that happens, it’s hard to move the football. Guys took advantage of it and really, they had a taste for the opportunity and really went for it.”
Carroll knows the Seahawks need to take things a game at a time and the Lions offensive line has played splendid football of late, presenting a much more difficult challenge for Frank Clark and his fellow rushers trying to pressure Matthew Stafford. Detroit’s line has allowed pressure on only 19.7 percent of total dropbacks, the best mark in the NFL, while also allowing running backs to rush for 487 yards before contact, eighth-best in the league rankings.
BY THE NUMBERS: 5.4 – Yards per play by Seahawks out of 11 personnel with one running back and one tight end this season, the fifth-highest mark in the NFL.
