The defense was rarely great under Knox but has
been consistently dreadful since he left after 1991.
Let's face it, the words "Seahawks" and "great defense" have rarely been uttered in the same sentence.
In 32 seasons as an NFL franchise, the Seahawks have cracked the league's top 10 in yards allowed only four times, and never have they cracked the top five.
I'm going to pause a moment and let those numbers sink in because they're important, not only as a reason why the team has never captured a championship (that and bad refs... ahem) but why it may be that new head coach Jim Mora will have more success than any previous Seahawks coach.
To continue...
Enter the Walrus
All four of Seattle's trips into the top 10 as a defense came before the arrival of head coach Mike Holmgren. (three came under Chuck Knox)
Renowned as one of the best offensive minds of his generation, Holmgren set about revamping a Seattle offense that at its best, had seen only spurts of greatness (a year under Warren Moon here, a year under Jim Zorn there).
But when Holmgren won the Super Bowl with the Packers in 1996, he also had the league's number-one defense in both yards and points allowed. In fact, in seven years in Green Bay, he only twice had a defense that ranked outside the top 10 and never outside the top 15.
Sam Adams was busy being a vital part of one of the all-time great
defenses in Baltimore while Seattle's defense struggled without him.
Where did all the talent go?
Unfortunately for Seahawks fans, he never enjoyed that same success in Seattle. Despite a few seasons in the top 10 in points allowed, the unit rarely flashed championship-caliber dominance.
Still, Holmgren inherited a defensive unit that had some big names, especially along the defensive line. DT Cortez Kennedy was still a Pro Bowler, while DE Michael Sinclair was coming off his third-straight Pro Bowl and a career-high 16.5 sacks.
Helping out those accomplished veterans were two young studs in future Pro Bowl DT Sam Adams and DE Philip Daniels. Both were gone after 1999, while Kennedy retired after 2000. Sinclair was the last to leave after 2001.
The Seahawks would never quite recover from losing so much talent at the most important positions on the defense. By 2001, their defense had plummeted to dead last in yards allowed, and from there, it was a slow crawl out of the bottom.
Seattle could have used a veteran 37-year-old Cortez Kennedy in 2005 butchose not to re-sign him in 2000, and he chose retirement.
We have the offense, now where's the defense?
What did develop, and develop rapidly, was Seattle's offense. By 2003, the Seahawks were back in the playoffs behind the arm of QB Matt Hasselbeck. But the defense continued to keep the team from progressing far in the playoffs, until 2005.
In the 2005 playoff run, they allowed just 280 yards per game, down from the season average of 317 yards per game. To compare, the number-one defense that year gave up an average of 278 yards per game.
The leaders of that defense included a revamped front seven, featuring four new starters: DT Chartric Darby, LB Lofa Tatupu, LB Leroy Hill and DE Bryce Fisher.
The defense was fast, aggressive and unusually stout up front. It was a great playoff run but one that wouldn't last. By 2006, the defense was back to being mediocre, finishing 19th in both yards and points allowed.
Stay tuned tomorrow, when I actually get to the point and discuss why this promising unit failed to perform well in 2006 and beyond, and why Seattle may be undergoing a defensive renaissance in 2009.
Reach Jeff Richards at nextseasonsports@gmail.com
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