Problem with Seahawks' run defense is when it's bad, it's really bad

RENTON, Wash. — The Seattle Seahawks’ run defense has been something of an all-or-nothing proposition lately.

That’s the way coach Mike Macdonald sees it anyway, noting that for most of their recent games the run defense hasn’t been too bad.

The issue is that on those plays when it’s been bad, it’s been really bad.

“We’re either playing it really well or it’s an explosive,’’ Macdonald said on his weekly radio show Friday on Seattle Sports 710 following the Seahawks’ 36-24 loss to the 49ers.

He expanded on that when he met with the media later.

“The variance is too high,’’ Macdonald said. “A lot of great plays on tape. However, when we’re not doing it the way we need to do it the ball’s getting out. Those are the things we need to eliminate.”

By the most basic stat — rushing yards per attempt — the Seahawks indeed have a bad run defense.

After games of this weekend, the Seahawks rank 28th, allowing 5.0 per attempt. That would break the team record of 4.9, set four times. The Seahawks allowed 4.6 per rush last year.

As Macdonald noted, a healthy chunk of that has occurred on five big plays — runs of 76 and 38 yards allowed in Thursday’s loss to the 49ers to Isaac Guerendo and Jordan Mason; runs of 27 and 25 yards by Tyrone Tracy Jr. in the previous Sunday‘s 29-20 loss to the Giants; and a 45-yarder by New England’s Antonio Gibson in the 23-20 overtime win over the Patriots in Week 2.

Via ESPN, that is the second-most running plays of 25 yards or longer allowed by any team this season.

Those five plays account for 211 of the 868 rushing yards the Seahawks have allowed on 174 carries. They have allowed 657 yards on the other 169 rushing attempts by opponents, or 3.9 per attempt.

That would rank fifth in the NFL.

“We’re either stopping them right now at the line of scrimmage or the ball is spitting and it’s explosive,’’ Macdonald said. “When that happens on the front line, it’s guys getting out of their gaps, second level not fitting correctly, and not getting it on the ground in the third level. That’s what’s going on.’’

Of course, you can’t take those plays out when assessing the run defense.

It’s part of how running attacks work that teams keep pounding it in the hope that eventually they catch the defense in an inopportune spot and break a big one. While the Seahawks held the 49ers to 3.6 yards per carry on their other 31 attempts in that game, San Francisco began the second half with runs of 8, 4, 6, 6 and 6 to power a nine-play, 70-yard drive that made the score 23-3.

That 3.9 per-carry number on runs other than the five big ones is why Macdonald has been preaching that the issues are fixable.

A review of the five big runs reveals a variety of breakdowns.

On Gibson’s run in the Patriots game, Boye Mafe broke through and appeared to have him stopped for a loss before Gibson wiggled away and down the sidelines.

Mason broke through tackle attempts by Rayshawn Jenkins and Tre Brown about 10 yards downfield on his 38-yarder Thursday.

The stats show that the Seahawks’ tackling, while not great, isn’t as bad as it may seem at times. According to Pro Football Focus, the Seahawks had 13 missed tackles against the 49ers, their most of the season.

Through six games, they have 53 missed tackles, via PFF, or 8.8 per game.

That’s better than a year ago, when they missed 181, or 10.6 per game. The Seahawks’ tackling grade is 14th after six games. Last year, it was 31st for the season.

On Mason’s run Thursday, the defensive front featured little-used second-year players Mike Morris and Cameron Young, the latter playing his first game since last season. A trade Monday for veteran Roy Robertson-Harris adds more experienced depth.

The Giants tried to take advantage of the Seahawks when they were in two-high safety defenses. On both of Tracy’s long runs, after he got by the first wave of defenders, he was able to make more yards when safeties either took bad angles or he was able to make them miss.

On Guerendo’s long run, a few bad angles once he got past the line allowed him to break into the open.

Jenkins has the worst run defense grade by PFF of any defensive starter, at 42.0 (on a scale of 1-100), though a few other starters aren’t much better — defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins is at 46.1, middle linebacker Tyrel Dodson at 50.6 and defensive end Dre’Mont Jones at 50.8. At the top of the list are cornerback Devon Witherspoon (80.3), Julian Love (77.4), defensive lineman Leonard Williams (74.8) and weakside linebacker Jerome Baker (73.5).

But a review of the plays backs up what Macdonald says: the issues appear fixable but aren’t because of any specific issue.

“If it was just one thing, you’d just be, ‘OK, we’ll just hit the one-thing button and we’ll get it fixed and that’s it,’” he said Friday. “But if you do think about just football in general, if you do create explosive plays, either you’re getting beat one-on-one down the field, which right now that’s not happening, or it’s missed tackles and angles. And so, there’s creating lanes where guys can run through your defense unimpeded, which there’s just too many of those right now. So that’s something that we’re going to attack.”

Dodson, who signed as a free agent in March to fill the MLB spot after the Seahawks decided to move on from Bobby Wagner, took full responsibility Monday for his role in the run defense problems while vowing to get them fixed.

“It’s like a brick wall,’’ he said. “Take one brick out of the brick wall, the whole wall is going to fall down. So everyone has to be on the same key of music. And then when it gets to the back end, we’ve got to make those plays.

“It starts with the linebackers, because you think of the run game you think of linebackers stopping it. And me and Bake (Baker) we are going to take full ownership in that. I will not stop taking ownership in that until I’m no longer a Seahawk. This is on me. I’m going to fix it and we are going to be a better defense.’’

Seahawks place Burns on IR

The Seahawks on Tuesday placed cornerback Artie Burns on injured reserve with a lingering toe issue that knocked him out of Thursday’s game. That means he will have to miss at least the next four games.

The move creates a spot on the 53-man roster for Robertson-Harris, whose addition to the team will become official once he passes a physical.

Burns was the starting nickel Thursday after being added to the 53-man roster. The Seahawks hope to get Riq Woolen back this week, and Tre Brown not going on IR indicates the ankle injury he suffered isn’t overly serious. They have rookie Nehemiah Pritchett to add depth and can use Coby Bryant at cornerback.

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