L.O.B. Not Deterred By Loss

After suffering their second defeat in the past four games, Earl Thomas and the 3-2 Seattle Seahawks are facing some tough questions heading into their Week 7 battle with the St. Louis Rams, particularly on defense.

Last week in a 30-23 home loss to the Dallas Cowboys, the Hawks defense allowed 400 yards of offense for the first time all season. Not since the divisional round of last year’s playoffs, when shot for shot with the high octane offense of the New Orleans Saints had Seattle allowed as many yards.

“I’m not frustrated, we got beat straight up,” Earl said of the Dallas game. “It’s going to happen. I’m going to take the hard lessons and go. Adverse situations always make you stronger.”

The performance by Dallas was a noted setback for the Seahawks defense, and afterward Hawks defenders were questioned on the defensive effort, going as far to ask if the Seattle defense had taken a step back. But the members of Seattle’s defensive backbone, the Legion of Boom, believe that notion to be premature.

“I wouldn’t say that,” Sherman replied. “A lot of people say a lot of things. They don’t play the game and they don’t know the game.”

The 2014 season has been a learning and growing experience for Earl and the LOB and Sunday’s game was just the latest moment in an inevitable adjustment period for them. The Legion of Boom has been so successful not only because each player is so talented, but also because each player works so well with each other.

But after being so strong through the team’s Super Bowl run, the Seattle secondary has seen many changes over the last several months. A year ago, Seattle had Walter Thurmond and Brandon Browner as part of their cornerback rotation. Thurmond went to the New York Giants in the offseason and Browner signed with the New England Patriots, leaving the Seahawks thin at corner.

The LOB got even thinner when projected starter Jeremy Lane went down to injury in the Week 1 win over the Green Bay Packers. No. 29 and the rest of the Legion of Boom was given an even bigger challenge when starting cornerback Byron Maxwell went down with a calf injury in the second quarter.

After the injury, Seattle altered its defensive strategy and put Sherman on Dallas’ star receiver Dez Bryant for the remainder of the game.

“We just told Sherman to travel wherever Dez went,” Earl revealed.

Sherman, who typically sticks to the left side of the field regardless of matchup, did a good job of containing one of the top receivers in the NFL, holding Bryant to just two catches for 39 yards after Maxwell was injured.

Maxwell’s injury and Sherman’s coverage of Bryant also forced the Seahawks to match second-year corner Marcus Burley with explosive second-year receiver Terrance Williams. Williams, ninth in the NFL with 17.8 yards per catch, only hauled in two catches on Sunday, but they went for 70 yards. Both were against Burley, and both were at crucial moments in the second half.

The first was a 47-yarder on the first play of a Cowboys drive. Dallas had just turned it over twice in the previous three minutes and 12s had the stadium rocking—until Williams broke free. Just over two minutes later, Dallas tied the game with a 56-yard field goal.

Then, on a 3rd-and-20 with just under five minutes remaining in the game, Dallas quarterback Tony Romo avoided numerous Seattle defenders and found Williams along the sideline for a 23-yard catch. Seattle Head Coach Pete Carroll challenged the ruling, but the replay showed Williams clearly completed the catch while dragging both feet inbounds. Three plays later, the Cowboys scored the go-ahead touchdown.

After the game, Carroll had to give praise to the Dallas QB for the play.

“Boy, we really had ‘em, and Tony Romo came up with a great play, and a great throw, and they make a great catch and get a first down. And bang, bang, they’re down there scoring.”

Though Dallas did have some success through the air against Seattle, their late game comeback was fueled by their ground game. Heading into the game against the Cowboys, Earl and the Seahawks wanted to focus on stopping the run game, led by running back DeMarco Murray, who entered the game as the leading rusher in the NFL after rushing for more than 100 yards in each of his first five games.

The Seahawks had success in that area early and contained Murray for most of the game. But Murray finally began to break through in the fourth quarter.

To compensate for the scheme changes, ET III focused more on pass coverage in the second half, especially as Bryant and Williams began winning their one-on-one matchups.

With No. 29 hanging deeper in the secondary to help stop the deep ball, Murray was able to take advantage of small holes in the front seven and pick up speed. Immediately after the Cowboys completed that long third down, Murray ran it three times in a row for 25, six and 15 yards, respectively. The 25-yarder was his longest run of the day and the 15-yarder scored the go-ahead touchdown. The Dallas tailback picked up 57 yards in the final quarter alone, including 52 on the go-ahead drive.

“The running back just did a great job being patient and riding the wave and cutting back,” ET III said after the game. “He had a good feel out there today because we let him get a rhythm.”

But the fact that the results were explainable may bode well for Seattle. The LOB are known for their adjustments and after Sunday’s loss, Earl was already talking about getting back in the film room, watching Sunday’s game and taking it as a learning experience. From there the Seahawks will move on and try to make sure the Week 6 loss is a mere blip on the radar.