RENTON — As soon as Julian Peterson left his feet, he knew he had broken one of the NFL’s pass-rushing commandments.
“The cardinal rule,” the Seattle Seahawks linebacker said this week, “is to never jump.”
And so after Peterson fell for a pump-fake from Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb last Sunday, the result was somewhat predictable. McNabb side-stepped the airborne Peterson and delivered a 16-yard pass to Kevin Curtis.
Another Seattle blitz, another big play for the offense.
It’s been all too common of a theme this season, adding another log to the campfire that is the Seahawks’ to-do list this season.
“If you rattle the quarterback, most of the time you’re going to win the game,” Peterson said. “Some people can do it with a four-man rush, and you consider that a blessing. If not, you bring a little extra pressure. But you have to get there, and when you do, you have to make plays.”
Peterson has been one of the NFL’s best blitzers in recent years, but even this season his efforts have too often gone unrewarded. While he ranks second on the team with four sacks, Peterson has also missed some tackles, been unable to shed blockers and — in the Philadelphia game — jumped too soon.
And he’s been the most successful of Seattle’s blitzers. Fellow linebacker Leroy Hill is still looking for his first sack of the season, while nickel back Jordan Babineaux has been unable to get to opposing quarterbacks despite numerous attempts.
Other than Peterson, the only non-lineman to register a sack this season is safety Brian Russell, who has one.
Asked what has gone wrong, defensive coordinator John Marshall said: “We’ve just got to do a better job with our rush. Guys are coming hard. Schematically, we’ve got guys open. … Our pressure’s not been very nice to us right now, and it’s because we’re not making plays at the ball or initially up front.”
Marshall said the biggest factor has been missed tackles. That was the case on four of the Seahawks’ 16 blitzes in Sunday’s loss to Philadelphia. McNabb continually avoided trouble, as the only sack came when defensive end Darryl Tapp tackled him as the quarterback rolled out and could not find an open receiver in a goal-line situation.
When McNabb wasn’t side-stepping the Seahawks, the Eagles’ huge linemen were swallowing them up. On 11 of the Seahawks’ 16 blitzes, Seattle got little or no pressure at all. McNabb ended up completing 11 of his final 13 passes against Seattle blitzes, rendering them ineffective as the game wore on.
“When you put pressure on, you’ve got to make the tackle,” safety Deon Grant said. “We’ve been putting pressure on them, but when we get there, we’re stumbling. We’ve been jumping in the air. We’ve been killing our leverage, taking bad angles.
“The thing is, when we get there, we’ve got to make that tackle.”
Some of the most devastating plays against Seattle’s defense this season have come against blitzes. The San Francisco 49ers hit long balls against Seahawks blitzes multiple times in a 33-30 overtime win over Seattle in Week 2. The New York Giants’ Eli Manning completed a long pass while getting hit by Seahawks linebacker Lofa Tatupu in Week 3. Green Bay’s Greg Jennings made Seattle pay for a blitz by catching a 45-yard touchdown pass.
The most humbling plays of all might have come last Sunday, when Philadelphia’s backup tight end, Brent Celek, caught three long passes against the Seattle blitz.
“Anytime you call a blitz, you’re exposing your coverage to some degree,” Seattle’s Russell said. “That’s the trade-off. If you rush four, you have seven guys in coverage. If you rush extra guys, you lose some guys in coverage.
“So whoever’s coming, whether it’s a safety blitz or a ‘backer, you have the responsibility to get into the backfield and rush the quarterback.”
As Tatupu pointed out this week, the Seahawks still rank ninth in the league in sacks, with 20 this season. But 13 of those have come in two meetings with San Francisco, and 15 have come from defensive linemen.
A blitz package that saw five non-linemen get sacks in 2007 has resulted in four from Peterson and one from Russell this year. And Peterson has been lining up at defensive end in nickel situations.
“If we could just hold it a little bit longer — at times, we’re just an inch away — it might change the momentum of the game,” Peterson said. “We’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing, and eventually it will turn over.”
Notes: Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck still has yet to practice this week, although coach Mike Holmgren said Hasselbeck will work with the scout team at some point. … Starting guard Floyd Womack continues to be sidelined by a sore foot.
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