Seattle Seahawks defense must adjust to vulnerabilities

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What's wrong with the Legion of Boom?That's the question running through everyone's minds after watching the squander yet another fourth-quarter lead . The defense's subpar effort in the later stages of games is one of the Xander Bogaerts Jersey  reasons Seattle is sitting at 2-4, on the verge of falling out of playoff contention. Given the ineffectivene s of the ' defense in critical moments, I thought it was time to take a look at the and try to figure out why the "Legion of Boom" is failing to close out games. Here's what the tape revealed:1) The blueprint is out on how to attack the Seahawks' coverage.The NFL is a copycat league, with coaches quick to steal ideas from succe sful game plans against winning teams. The ' defensive dominance over the past three seasons has forced offensive coordinators to spend more time in the film room looking for a weakne s in the scheme. After watching , and put up strong performances in wins over the over the past two seasons, offensive play callers are attacking the single-high safety coverage (Cover 1 and Cover 3) with a myriad of seam routes, pick plays and checkdowns that exploit the vulnerable areas of the scheme. the Cover 1-Robber and Cover 3 tactics employed by the defending NFC champions. The traditionally keep a safety in the middle of the field, with the other safety playing as a curl-flat dropper or in the hook zone (Cover 3 Buzz). The cornerbacks will pre s on the single-receiver side and use a "bail" technique (side shuffle) if they are on the side with two or more receivers. The presence of a safety in the middle of the field discourages deep throws between the hashes, while the pre s coverage on the outside neutralizes the fade and go-route. If the are playing Cover 1-Robber, the defensive backs and linebackers are matched on the wide receivers, tight ends and running backs, with the lurk safety hanging between the hashes to switch off on shallow cro sers or dig routes. To attack the Cover 3, the offense must attack the seams along the hashes or send receivers down the boundary on wheel or rail routes, to put the curl-flat defender in a bind. Additionally, the quarterback must exhibit patience and take the checkdown when the second-level defenders drop underneath intermediate routes inside the numbers. These are the tactics veteran quarterbacks (, Rivers, Brady and Rodgers) have used to move the ball succe sfully against the . In other words, offensive coordinators have paid attention.The revealed opponents repeatedly attacking the down the seams. , offensive coordinator Hue Jackson exploited the ' Cover 3 using a few intricate and cleverly designed routes. In the play depicted below, the are aligned in an empty formation, with receiver positioned on the outside. He is instructed to run a seam-post route, with tight end running down the boundary on a rail route. Running back is running a flat route to the boundary. The pattern stre ses the ' secondary defenders with the switch concept, leaving a Tyler Thornburg Jersey  void on the second level for the post. Quarterback delivers the ball on time, resulting in a 44-yard gain (TO VIEW THE PLAY, SCROLL LEFT TO RIGHT ON THE IMAGE BELOW)ater in that same game, Jackson attacked the Cover 3 with a snag-seam-flat concept, as you can see in the play depicted below. The are aligned in a dubs formation, with Eifert positioned at Y. He runs a seam, with Jones running a snag behind him. safety is a signed to play the hook zone, but he jumps the snag route. Chancellor's aggre sivene s leaves a void down the middle, resulting in an easy touchdown for Eifert (TO VIEW THE PLAY, SCROLL LEFT TO RIGHT ON THE IMAGE BELOW):Against Cover 1, opponents are using various cro sing routes to set picks on defenders over the middle. In the play depicted below, from Seattle's to the , Carolina runs a mesh route, with tight end running a shallow cro s underneath 's high cro ser. With corner shadowing Olsen on the cro ser, Dickson is able to create a pick and free the er for a big reception (TO VIEW THE PLAY, SCROLL LEFT TO RIGHT ON THE IMAGE BELOW):Two plays later, the run a wheel route to exploit linebacker in coverage. Olsen is aligned in the slot and runs a flat-and-up to get down the boundary. He quickly wins on the route, leaving quarterback with a big-play weapon to target, resulting in a 22-yard gain Steven Wright Jersey  that sets up a touchdown (TO VIEW THE PLAY, SCROLL LEFT TO RIGHT ON THE IMAGE BELOW):Opponents are finding increasing succe s attacking with seams, wheels and switch routes, meaning the must discover a way to adjust their coverage to match those routes. Pattern reads are not normally a part of Seattle's coverage, but opponents attacking the "spot drops" and voids are coming up with big plays in the pa sing game.2) The ma s exodus of blue-chip cover corners has hurt.Credit coach Pete Carroll and his staff for developing a handful of late-round picks and street free agents into the most dominant secondary in the NFL. The have suffocated foes with stifling bump-and-run tactics on the perimeter, utilizing a couple of single-high safety coverages (Cover 1 and Cover 3) to eliminate throws down the middle. With opponents forced to throw the ball to the edges against a number of long, rangy defenders on the perimeter, quarterbacks struggled to complete pa ses at an efficient clip. In 2013, the held opposing quarterbacks to a 59.1 percent completion rate and 5.8 yards per pa s attempt. Most importantly, they surrendered just 30 completions of 20-plus yards and held opponents to a 63.4 pa ser rating. This dominance continued in 2014, when opposing quarterbacks posted a 61.7 percent completion rate and 6.3 yards per attempt, and Seattle allowed only 32 completions of 20-plus yards and a pa ser rating of 80.4.While most observers attributed the ' succe s to the stellar play of , and Chancellor, I believe the unheralded contributions of , and played a major role in the unit's dominance over the past few seasons. The trio capably manned the right cornerback and nickel back positions, respectively, which allowed Carroll to confidently employ a variety of man-to-man tactics on the perimeter. Most importantly, their spectacular play on the perimeter allowed the to play it straight in the back end without forcing their top corner (Sherman) to "travel" to match up with the opponent's WR1.Alas, Browner, Maxwell and Thurmond were all lured away as free agents, leaving the to count on youngsters to fill key roles in the secondary. emerged as a standout nickel corner prior his injury in XLIX, but he has yet to hit the field this season, and his absence has forced the team to turn to other options in secondary. shortly after his release in Philadelphia to fill the CB2 role opposite Sherman. Despite his struggles with the , the veteran brought experience and a gritty game to the Pacific Northwest. Considering the supporting cast around him, most observers expected him to hold up well in the ' scheme.But the shows that Williams has repeatedly been picked on by opponents in recent weeks. Quarterbacks are targeting the veteran on a Chris Sale Jersey  variety of throws, including go-routes, short cro sers and slants to exploit his deficiencies in one-on-one coverage., Dalton specifically targeted Williams throughout the game whenever he spotted the veteran in bump Dustin Pedroia Jersey -and-run on the perimeter. In the play depicted below, Dalton sees Williams aligned opposite and takes a shot down the boundary on a fade route. Green wins quickly at the line of scrimmage and works to get on top of Williams on the route, and Dalton delivers a dime along the sideline for a 22-yard gain (TO VIEW THE PLAY, SCROLL LEFT TO RIGHT ON THE IMAGE BELOW):Williams' struggles have forced the to move Sherman from his traditional LCB spot to "travel" more against elite WR1s. Most importantly, it has left the vulnerable to deep throws, leading to an uptick in explosive plays allowed by one of the premier defenses in the NFL (23 plays of 20-plus yards through Week 6, ). and have spent time on the field as sub-defenders, but neither has played up to the lofty standards established by their predece sors -- Thurmond, Maxwell and Lane were upper-echelon CB3s. Shead must show opponents he can lock down shifty slot receivers to discourage throws between the numbers. Until Shead or another young defender steps up and becomes a dependable nickel corner, the ' secondary will continue to have problems defending "11" personnel (1 RB, 1 TE and 3 WRs) on the perimeter.With the veteran core of the "Legion of Boom" also experiencing their share of struggles due to holdouts (Chancellor), injuries (Thomas) and miscommunication, the ' vaunted secondary looks ripe for the picking this season. 3) The defense is still adjusting to new coordinator Kris Richard.A unit often takes on the personality of its coach -- so it is not surprising that the ' defense looks like a work in progre s at this stage of the season, with the