Allgemein » The box score says Russell Wilson had a solid game against

the San Francisco 49ers. Completing 23 of 31 passes for 237 yards and 2 touchdowns is nice reading. Indeed Seattle Seahawks Hoodie , the bigger issue for the Seattle Seahawks last Sunday was the defense. And they were still only a missed PAT away from winning the game in normal time. Yet the 49ers had intelligent gameplans on both side of football. The under pressure Robert Saleh employed various coverage concepts that slowed Wilson’s process and made the signal caller play with a distrust that damaged the passing game. Once a member of Pete Carroll’s training school, the former padawan caused “I HATE YOU” Anakin Skywalker pain to his old Jedi master.The defensive coordinator’s deployment of triple stud variations, Tampa-2, match quarters and two-high cover-3 brought out the quarterback’s weaknesses. Like chocolate’s impact on a greasy adolescent’s skin; it was spotty. Brian Schottenheimer’s adjustments presented openings, but Wilson—slowed earlier—appeared to not trust what he was seeing. Let’s get to the tape.Triple studIn the first encounter with the Seahawks, Saleh was gashed running cover-3 matching concepts like three mable. It was clearly apparent that this is what Wilson wanted to face heading into the second match-up. Saleh denied him that opportunity right from kickoff.In the following example, Schottenheimer faced a 3rd and 7 with 5:39 left in the first quarter. He aligned the offense in a gun trips formation via 11 personnel (1 RB-1 TE-3 WR). Saleh responded with nickel personnel; his two linebackers sugared the a-gaps. The single-high safety look pre-snap would have encouraged Wilson that he was going to face a preferred coverage.Instead, Saleh rotated his other safety high post-snap. San Francisco ran their version of triple stud. We’ve covered this pass coverage from Seattle’s perspective in a previous iteration of Seahawks on tape. I’ve long suspected, after much tape grinding and “my wife left me” moments, that both Seattle and the 49ers don’t have the exact same rules as Nick Saban when it comes to the style of pass defense. This was confirmed to me by Scott Geelan, an expert on San Francisco’s scheme. There are still matching rules, but it’s looser than Saban’s triple stud and “clamp”. For instance, Richard Sherman played more of a “read” assignment on this 3rd and long. This saw him drop into a deep quarter rather than jump on Tyler Lockett’s quick out route—as clamp rules would dictate. Lockett’s pattern into the flats formed part of one Schottenheimer’s favorite concepts from the past few weeks: stick. Doug Baldwin’s stick route was the primary read for Wilson; the 49ers took this away with two defenders. Their slot defender, D.J. Reed—rather than fully clamping—went to a hook at the sticks (an example of San Francisco’s variation) that had him cover Baldwin. Meanwhile, Fred Warner was tasked with matching Baldwin’s route vertically.Seeing Baldwin double covered and the two-high safety spin, Wilson may well have thought the coverage was a cover-2 that had Lockett dealt with too. Still, it was strange to see Wilson not execute the natural read progression; he locked on to Baldwin, never even glancing at Lockett. With Sherman occupied by David Moore’s go route, Lockett had catch-and-run room. Perhaps Wilson decided pre-snap not to test Sherman?Instead, faced with the initially disguised two-high defense, Wilson decided to check the ball down to Chris Carson over the middle. Wilson must have sensed time running out, but a progression to Lockett would have required few additional milliseconds. The decision forced the Seahawks to punt.Tampa-2In truth, the above coverage could be more of a Tampa 2-style defense—shaded towards the trips side. With one second left in the first quarter, Saleh called a pass coverage that felt more like a creative Tampa-2 pressure. Seattle’s bad 3rd and 10 situation enabled this.Schottenheimer put the Seahawks in another 11 personnel trips formation—though on this occasion tight end Ed Dickson aligned to the trips side and David Moore was isolated on the backside. As Baldwin shifted into the slot, the 49ers once more showed a single-high safety. Their three down linemen look in the 3-3-5 had four second level players looking ready to tee off in two-point stances. Pre-snap Gary Jennings Jr. Jersey , Wilson likely expected a type of cover-3 blitz.San Francisco was deceitful again though. On the trips side, they sent their big nickel Reed from the slot. Behind this, they played conventional Tampa-2, with Sherman taking his hook to the sticks. Their three linebackers dropped into Tampa-2 style zones. To the isolated Moore, the 49ers pretty much played man-to-man.Nevertheless, Schottenheimer adjusted well for such trickery. Layering off his stick concept, he had Baldwin’s stem look very similar. Rather than run a stick route though, Baldwin ran a crossing route. This was the perfect call to beat the Tampa-2, as it forced linebacker Warner to run with the route over the middle of the field. This was a great one-on-one mismatch for the Seahawks. Dickson picked up the blitzing Reed with little issue. Lockett and Moore occupied the corners on out routes. Baldwin only had to beat Warner. And then Wilson blew it. Maybe it was the twist up front that spooked him (Mike Davis picked this up well). He had plenty of room and time in the pocket to hit Baldwin but was frightened by pass rushers who weren’t close to arriving. As Baldwin came wide open after cutting across the field, Wilson had already decided to run to where the actual pressure came from.Wilson probably felt Elijah Lee was going to keep dropping underneath Baldwin’s route. However, there was no deep safety on that side of the field, given the way San Francisco had matched the pattern. Schottenheimer’s design worked, Wilson just didn’t process it.By running towards the pressure, Wilson shortened his available time considerably and made only one route available. As Wilson vacated the pocket, Sherman sagely flattened the improvisation of Lockett and Wilson threw the ball away. This was another opportunity wasted. Saleh’s disguise befuddled Wilson into a missed 3rd and long. Speed bootleg brainfartThere isn’t much more to be said about this play. The main difference in the game was the 49ers playing assignment sound football on defense, whereas Seattle made numerous mistakes—more on this in the next Seahawks on tape. Wilson overthought this play. All he needed was a yard. San Francisco camped well in the flats and caused dire hesitation for Wilson in throwing to Carson. He didn’t notice the open wheel of Tre Madden downfield after taking too long to dump the ball to the flat—surely this was a simple low-high read of Sherman? Wilson’s hesitation in releasing the ball to the flat led to a near disastrous attempt to a well covered Jaron Brown over the middle of the field. This was a terrible failure to convert on 3rd and 1. Again: the play-design worked. Again: was Wilson scared of Sherman?Cover-3 cloud/quartersThe previous play was a cover 1/3 warped by the short yardage situation and reaction to the bootleg. Throughout the game, Saleh didn’t solely run cover 2/4 coverages. Of course, cover-3 was featured! Saleh just did it less obviously with some aggressive rules. Really, it played out more like quarters. Versions of the Y-Cross concept are what Schottenheimer and Wilson love in the passing game. Nonetheless, through capable linebacker coverage and some forced missed opportunities, the 49ers were able to contain it early. Schottenheimer’s solution was to use play-action to remove the linebackers from getting underneath the crosser.Seattle’s 20 personnel I-formation on 2nd and 12 trailing 17-13 saw Saleh respond with a cover-2 man look. This was—to borrow cockney rhyming slang--another porky-pie from San Francisco’s defensive playcaller. Following the snap, Wilson faked the handoff to Carson. This halted the linebackers from getting depth in their hooks. But the 49ers were playing what matched into a cover-3 cloud zone, not cover-2 man. This placed Sherman, Antone Exum and Marcell Harris in deep matching shells. The corner to the single receiver side, Moore http://www.theseahawksfanshop.com/Cody-Barton-Jersey , played the “buzz” role (hook-curl, buzz to flat). This initially two-high look slowed Wilson and highlighted how quickly he gives up on a play if his pre-snap indicator doesn’t materialize. Baldwin’s crossing route is open in behind the linebackers, even with Exum matching it aggressively over the top. Wilson, though, seemed to think that he was facing another Tampa-2 and that Warner would drop deep to get underneath Baldwin. The quarterback rapidly checked the ball down to Carson. He had time to process the coverage and hit the open Baldwin.Schottenheimer moving forwardSaleh had a crafty game against the Seahawks, Schottenheimer and Wilson. His positioning of linebackers at the line of scrimmage combined with his disguised coverages made life tricky despite the overall lack of talent on San Francisco’s defense. Moving forward, Schottenheimer’s concepts do still work. He, of course, needs to keep adjusting in-game and adding more layers. But he’s done a solid job of that this season, while maintaining a clear identity that has seen the attack tie in with a head coach’s goals and produce an ultra-efficient quarterback. Finding a way to halt linebackers from getting underneath the favored crossing route is tricky, other than play-action. Wilson’s height limits the threat of shallow crossing routes considerably and, frankly, you’re approaching a different concept when you start talking shallow crossers anyway. Wilson is a top five quarterback who, like any passer, has his flaws. Well disguised coverages will make every signal-caller uncomfortable. Fortunately, Schottenheimer has proved effective at providing numerous pre-snap coverage indicators which lessen defensive camouflage. Wilson’s development behind Mike Solari’s offensive line has been remarkable in both its quickness and its extent. He will still act skittish though, particularly when a third string right guard is playing. Learning to wait on concepts a bit longer still has room for growth, but we must learn to accept that processing a defense after the snap is a weakness of Wilson’s that will see him slowed by intelligent schemers. SEATTLE (AP) — Doubted before the season began, questioned even more after a 0-2 start, the Seattle Seahawks are back where they've spent most seasons since Pete Carroll arrived.The Seahawks are in the playoffs and perhaps as the type of opponent no one would like to see in the postseason."You hear it. You hear the noise. You hear the 4-12 predictions, the 5-11 and that stuff motivates you," Seattle linebacker K.J. Wright said. "We kept believing." Seattle clinched its spot in the NFC playoffs after toppling Kansas City 38-31 on Sunday night, thanks to three touchdown passes from Russell Wilson and a pair of TD runs by Chris Carson.Wilson got the better of Kansas City's Patrick Mahomes and helped lead Seattle back to the postseason after missing the playoffs a year ago. Seattle has now made the playoffs in seven of the nine seasons with Carroll in charge, and six of seven with Wilson at quarterback.It was an unexpected accomplishment after Seattle overhauled its roster in the offseason. But the discovery of the best run game in the NFL, coupled with vets like Wilson D.K. Metcalf Jersey , Bobby Wagner and Doug Baldwin was enough for Seattle to navigate its way into the postseason."There's an emotion to it that's deep and it's because there wasn't very many people that thought we could do this," Carroll said. "Most everybody thought we didn't have a chance and to hang together, hang through it, we got it done before the season is even over."The Seahawks (9-6) can wrap up the No. 5 seed and a matchup with Dallas by beating Arizona in Week 17.Wilson was 18 of 29 for 271 yards, including a 2-yard touchdown pass to Ed Dickson with 7:31 left for his third TD. But it was Seattle's next drive that stood out as the best run team in the NFL put the game on the arm of its quarterback and receivers in the fourth quarter.Leading 31-28, Wilson hit David Moore for 7 yards to convert a key third-down and after Kansas City used its first timeout with 3:04 left. He followed with a 45-yard strike to Tyler Lockett, and Baldwin added a one-handed catch for 29 yards to the Chiefs 1. Carson capped the decisive drive with his second TD run with 2:29 left gave Seattle a 38-28 lead.Carson rushed for 116 yards, while Baldwin had seven catches for 126 yards and an acrobatic 27-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter."When it's our time to make plays and we're given opportunities to make plays, we are going to make them. We have shown that," Baldwin said.Mahomes had a few of his own magical moments that will enhance his MVP candidacy. But for the second straight week the Chiefs (11-4) were unable to come through with a victory that would have wrapped up the No. 1 seed in the AFC and will go into Week 17 with the chance of being division champs for find themselves on the road for the opening weekend of the postseason."I know if you take care of business, you don't have to talk about anything," Kansas City coach Andy Reid said. "When we play the way we can play, and we are going to play, we are a tough team."Mahomes was 23 of 40 for 273 and three TDs. Mahomes had only 83 yards passing in the first half. He had 76 and was 6 of 6 on Kansas City's first possession of the second half, finishing the drive with a scrambling, sidearm fling to Charcandrick West for a 25-yard touchdown that pulled the Chiefs even at 17-all midway through the third quarter.That was the last time the teams were tied.Harrison Butker's 32-yard field goal with 1:20 left pulled the Chiefs within seven, but the onside kick went out of bounds and Seattle ran out the clock."It's frustrating knowing that we've had it so close both times," Mahomes said. "Luckily we are still in the position where we will have the opportunity to go out there and win it next week."Damien Williams rushed for 103 yards and caught a 2-yard touchdown pass in the first half. But Seattle managed to keep Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce from taking over and the Seahawks pass rush did enough to disrupt the Chiefs passing attack. Mahomes was sacked only once, but was hit 11 times. Kelce had five catches; Hill had four. Neither scored."We knew (Hill) and (Kelce) were the go-to guys and if you eliminate those two guys you have a good chance of winning," Wright said.RECORD WATCHCarson became the first Seattle running back since Marshawn Lynch in 2014 to have 1,000 yards rushing. … Kelce passed Tony Gonzalez for most yards receiving in a single season by a tight end in Chiefs history. … Mahomes has 31 touchdown passes on the road, most in NFL history. Tom Brady had 29 in 2007. … Wilson is first QB in NFL history with winning record in each of first seven seasons.INJURIESKansas City running back Darrel Williams suffered a hamstring injury in the first half and did not return. Seattle's banged up offensive line saw J.R. Sweezy go down with an ankle injury in the second quarter and he did not return. D.J. Fluker, who was only supposed to play a limited number of snaps filled in and played the entire second half.KICKING ITSeattle had kicking concerns arise after Sebastian Janikowski was roughed on a field goal attempt in the second half. He was able to hit a 28-yard field goal later in the drive, but it was punter Michael Dickson handling the next two kickoffs with drop kicks. Dickson has done it in special situations this season.UP NEXTChiefs: Kansas City hosts Oakland in Week 17.Seahawks: Seattle hosts Arizona to close out the regular season.