Offense Sells Tickets, Defense Wins Championships
The Seattle Seahawks made a statement on Super Bowl Sunday. Their talented defense obliterated the best offensive team (statistically) in NFL history. The 2013/2014 Seahawks ended the NFL season raising a question- are they one of the best defenses of all time? This game was a huge win for the defensive side of the ball. In recent years, offense has taken over the game of football with explosive spread and tempo offenses gaining popularity. Seattle proved one thing- a strong, well coached defense will win a championship over an explosive offense and do so with authority.
Another excellent example of a Super Bowl dominant defense- in 2007 when the New York Giants defeated the offensive machine that was the New England Patriots and undefeated Tom Brady.
Seattle’s Championship Defense
- Sure tackling– hardly a missed tackle. Best tackling team in the NFL by far.
- Relentless pursuit. The Seahawk defense acted as a bunch of sharks on the football field. Their defense swarmed to the football.
- Attitude. They played with confidence. They play with great passion.
- Get physical. This team was very aggressive and played an extremely physical game.
- They stopped the run. Denver was behind and did not run the ball very much but at the times that they did, the Seahawks ate it up.
- Defensive line pressure with only rushing 4 players. They were able to get pressure with a limited amount of rushing defensive players. They did a few great zone blitzes where a defensive lineman would drop into coverage, taking away the quick hot read. When you can have success with only rushing 4, you can commit players to coverage.
- They did not give up the big play. They did not let these receivers get yards after the catch. They bent, but did not break. They took away the kept everything in front of them and made tackles. Their relentless pursuit really put a lid on these big plays.
- Created turnovers. Seattle created multiple turnovers throughout the game. It was apparent that they committed a lot of practice time towards creating turnovers.
- Took Denver’s heart out. The Seahawk defense was smothering. They had consistent pressure, sure tackling, and relentless pursuit to the ball carrier. For defensive coaches, it was a thing of beauty.
Let’s not forget the special teams aspect of the Seattle Seahawk’s game plan. They played lights out on special teams as well. They had the #1 kickoff coverage in the NFL- lots of starters on special teams. A big difference was that they were able to slow Denver’s explosive kick return team. Just goes to show- dominating defenses and special teams will win championships.