Pete loves to engage in team bonding activities that put many rookies and younger players to being outside their comfort zones while still allowing them to "be themselves" as individuals. This is part of our Seahawk culture without compromising established standards. What is going on with Pete?
Pete's rep as a dinosaur who seems "unaware" of the current "passing and even more passing" atmosphere has earned a bonafide "step" in the right direction as our recent drafts and free agent "blue chip" signings reflect a clear emphasis on addressing the PASSING game...even our RB stable has leaped in the direction of serious WR4 options as alternatives to Noah Fant.
In 11 personnel sets the reality of this typical 3WR formation is transformed/morphed into serious 5WR options when those 11 personnel use DK/TYler/JSN/Fant and either RB2 (Charbonnet) or RB3 (McIntosh) as WR1/WR2/WR3/WR4/WR5. Early in camp K9 seems to recognize losing snaps to his fellow RB team mates who "catch better" or block better in pass pro. Our improving O-Line and spread offense "fit" of Geno at QB screams of matching Kyle Shanahans offensive juggernaut in 49ers personnel with Ram's McShay's understudy Shane Waldron being the architect of our own. Pete can now trust his time and efforts be spent on fashioning a defense designed to shutdown such a dynamic modern offense.
We didn't match the high draft capital that filled the elite 49er front...but FA signings of Uchenna last year and Dre'Mont Jones this year have quickly closed the gap especially in the wake of adding back to back years of 2nd round edge defenders Boye Mafe and Derick Hall. In the "background" is Darryl Taylor who each of the past 2 years has been tabbed to be our D-line/edge "X" factor. To pile on this fast developing pass rush we hired a Pass Rush "Sensai" Coach...BT Turner. This solid grouping will make it hard to get an individual to gather all the attention but as a group I imagine they will make it quite uncomfortable for our opponents QB to stand still and set his feet in the pocket.
But Pete and John didn't just ratchet up our pass rush...they hired Karl Scott to shape and mentor a diverse young cadre of secondary ball hawking/football popping mix of safeties and corners. Many of these players are not confined to single roles to excell in...I think Jamal Adams set Pete and John on this method of assembling "how do we utilize unique passion/athletic skill sets"?
Several years back I lamented Tre Flowers as an example of exposing players not really suited for switching into man coverage based on what offenses were being presented...our new secondary has that capability. QB opponents like to use motion to determine whether defense is showing zone or man coverage "pre-snap" but we now have personnel who can shift Pre snap looks into Post snap coverage hesitation for the QB resulting in the popular term of "coverage" sacks.
Since the NFL as a whole has shifted to lighter/quicker LB or even "hybrid" LB...many teams whose passing doesn't quickly translate into early 10 Pt+ leads become vulnerable to punishing runners and heavy athletic guards/centers washing out lighter "would be" tacklers and opening cut back lanes or just plain wide open holes. Sadly our own defense got a steady dose of such nightmarish runners forcing tacklers to have poor angles of attack and pursuits from behind.
Our offense although much improved still suffered in creating sustained first downs out of 3rd down opportunities making the "clock" our enemy as the game progressed. With passing now clearly forcing its way forward without compromising ball security (offered by a balanced running attack)...we have exciting sharpening on both sides of explosive offense against dynamic "shut down" coverage...each side now has the tools to challenge each other well before we take the field. Go Hawks