The Seattle Seahawks are coming off their worst defensive performance of the year.
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Facing early MVP candidate Baker Mayfield and a strong Tampa Bay Buccaneers offense, Seattle’s short-handed defense allowed a season-worst 38 points and 370 yards through the air while Mayfield was ultra-efficient in completing 29 of 33 throws (87.9%) with a season-high 11.5 yards per attempt.
It was the first time this season the Seahawks had given up more than 20 points or 300 passing yards.
Things don’t figure to get much easier for Seattle this weekend. Its defense is still dealing with injuries to key players, and its Sunday opponent, the Jacksonville Jaguars, are one of the league’s biggest surprises at 4-1 through the first five weeks.
Former NFL QB Brock Huard sees a particularly concerning part of Seattle’s matchup with Jacksonville, which is that Tampa Bay gave first-year Jaguars head coach Liam Coen the blueprint on how to attack the Seahawks’ defense. Huard explained why during his Blue 88 segment on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk.
“One of the concerning elements to me is Liam Coen watches that game and goes … that’s my stuff,” Huard said. “He was play caller there for Baker last year (with the Buccaneers) and their passing game coordinator got elevated to OC, and there is nothing that Liam Cohen saw in that entire playbook and game plan that Tampa Bay did (that his offense doesn’t do).”
“That’s the one little element that is a bit unique in this back-to-back weeks, is a coordinator that knew that quarterback, that (runs) that system and is doing a lot of the same things in Jacksonville and wanting his very talented quarterback (2021 No. 1 overall pick Trevor Lawrence) to go execute it,” Huard added.
Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player in this story. Listen to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.
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