The Seattle Seahawks’ defense is doing something the NFL has not seen since 2021. It isn’t perfect yet, but it is working reasonably well. If [Mike Macdonald can get](https://12thmanrising.com/spark-mike-macdonald-needed-appearing-before-seattle-seahawks-eyes) his front-line players healthy, it could lead to great success by the end of the season.
Through five games, Macdonald’s defense is not as dominant as he expects. No one likes to use injuries as an excuse, but Seattle has been hit hard early on, and that has had an impact. [Devon Witherspoon](https://12thmanrising.com/seattle-seahawks-devon-witherspoon-made-history-this-season), Nick Emmanwori, Julian Love, DeMarcus Lawrence, and Uchenna Nwosu – all major contributors – have missed a combined ten games already.
Therefore, Seattle’s broad defensive rankings – twelfth in points-allowed, 17th in total yards – aren’t all that surprising. If its stars get healthier, those rankings will climb into the top ten, where they should be. But even with the injuries, Macdonald is sticking to a general defensive philosophy that he employed with the Baltimore Ravens, and for the most part, it is working.
Seattle Seahawks defense gives opposing quarterbacks a lot to process
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So far in 2025, the Seahawks do not blitz. They do mix up rush schemes. They move players around the defensive front. But when the ball is snapped, usually there are just four defenders attacking the quarterback.
Seattle’s 13.7% blitz rate is the lowest in the NFL since the Las Vegas Raiders' 12.3% in 2021. The next closest team this season is San Francisco, nearly two points higher. Overall, the league median checks in at about 23%. Seven teams, led by the Atlanta Falcons, are blitzing on more than 30% of all passing plays.
There’s no right or wrong answer here. Defenses can be successful regardless of whether they blitz or not. Clearly, blitz-happy defensive coordinators like Brian Flores in Minnesota and Steve Spagnuolo in Kansas City want to force opposing quarterbacks to get the ball out of their hands quickly. They have proven that the strategy can work, provided you have the athletic pass rushers to get home.
Macdonald takes the opposite approach. By sending just four pass rushers, he can drop seven into coverage. With his versatile group of back-seven defenders, he can and does try to confuse the quarterback by disguising those coverages. He plays a lot of zone and rarely risks a poor read or a slip, allowing a receiver to run free.
Of course, this only works if those four pass rushers generate pressure. If they don’t, then the QB has ample time to decipher those disguises and find soft spots in the zone. So, whereas a blitz-heavy scheme tries to force the passer to release the ball quickly, Macdonald’s strategy is to confuse him and make him hold the ball a beat or two longer, giving the pass rushers extra time to apply pressure.
When Seattle’s defense is hitting on all cylinders, the line is getting interior push from Leonard Williams and Byron Murphy II, edges like Lawrence and Nwosu are collapsing the pocket, and the back seven are blanketing downfield zones. There are a lot of players for a quarterback to track.
No matter what scheme you employ, the proof is in the results. In 2021, the Raiders had pretty good success. They made the playoffs and finished in the top ten in yards per play. But they were a bit of a bend-but-don’t-break type of defense. That is not what Macdonald expects. He wants his defense to make game-changing plays, even though they do not blitz often.
To that end, Seattle currently ranks eighth in the league in pressure rate. That means that even without blitzing, they are getting to the quarterback and either sacking him, forcing him to leave the pocket, or making him throw earlier than he wants to. Usually, when your pressure rate exceeds your blitz rate, it is a good sign for a defense. Seattle has the highest differential in the league.
That has resulted in the second-most interceptions in the league and the ninth-most sacks, despite the lack of blitzing. When the Raiders employed a similar philosophy in 2021, they finished in the bottom third in sacks and dead last in interceptions.
Injuries are not going to magically vanish, but if Seattle gets a bit more good fortune, Macdonald could have the dominant defense he wants. Specifically, if his most talented, versatile defensive backs – Witherspoon, Love, Emmanwori – are able to return at full strength, this low-blitz philosophy will be very hard for opposing offenses to handle.