Seahawks’ Secondary Injuries Put ‘Next Man Up’ Mantra to Ultimate Test
RENTON, Wash. - Coming off of a disappointing loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald expressed guarded optimism earlier this week regarding the health of a banged up defense that had as many as five starters sidelined by the end of Sunday’s contest.
Without giving any guarantees on his weekly radio show, Macdonald held out hope cornerback Devon Witherspoon, safety Julian Love, and defensive end Demarcus Lawrence, who each sat out the loss to Tampa Bay, would be able to work back onto the practice field by the end of the week with a chance to play in a key Week 6 road tilt against Jacksonville. With each of them participating in Monday’s walkthrough, it seemed possible all three could be back in action by the end of the week.
Unfortunately, however, injuries come with the territory when it comes to playing professional football, and while Lawrence will suit up after practicing all week, the Seahawks will likely once again have to survive without Witherspoon and Love, who received doubtful designations on Friday after not practicing this week. Making the situation all the more concerning, cornerback Riq Woolen also was listed as doubtful in concussion protocol before being ruled out on Saturday, turning a difficult situation in the secondary into a downright dire one that makes finding the “next man up” to help fill the void even trickier.
“It's the life we chose. It's unfortunate for those guys,” Macdonald told reporters after Friday’s practice. “Our guys work extremely hard, they put it on the line all the time, they play hard, and they play for each other, they play unselfishly. When those opportunities get taken from you as a player, it's a tough deal, but this is this how it works, this is how you have to operate. This is how you have to work through things. The silver lining of the thing is that a lot of guys are getting a lot of opportunities at this point in the year that we're going to need later in the year, so it's going to give us depth.”
As Macdonald noted, if there’s a positive for someone who views things through a glass half full lens, the Seahawks already have plenty of experience playing without Witherspoon and Love this season. The former has missed three of the past four games due to a lingering knee injury, while the latter re-aggravated a hamstring strain in a Week 5 win against the Cardinals and has sat out two of the previous three contests, thrusting several backups into extensive action in their respective steads.
Minus Witherspoon, who has been a dynamic weapon from the slot since entering the league three years ago, Rams castoff Derion Kendrick has been incredibly productive in three games as a replacement. While he didn’t get his hands on the ball at all last weekend and missed a pair of tackles against Tampa Bay, he picked off two passes in his first two starts, including a crucial end zone interception against Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers in a Week 2 comeback win. He also has added three pass breakups, two of which probably should have been intercepted.
As for the safety spot, while they haven’t been perfect by any means, the tandem of Ty Okada and D’Anthony Bell have made positive contributions of their own. Last week, albeit with a few plays Macdonald indicated Seattle would “want to see improvement from,” Okada generated a pair of pass breakups in coverage, while Bell has generated a sack and a tackle for loss in the past two home games with limited defensive snaps in sub-packages.
Even considering how poorly the Seahawks executed in coverage last week allowing Baker Mayfield to complete 29 out of 33 passes for 379 yards and a pair of touchdowns, Macdonald has at least seen enough from the trio of Kendrick, Okada, and Bell to believe the defense can remain successful with them on the field, as that trio helped lock down the Saints in Week 3. But Woolen’s absence creates a bigger problem, as the team doesn’t have many options left on the boundary with him and Witherspoon both out.
When Woolen exited midway through the third quarter last week, second-year cornerback Nehemiah Pritchett checked in and Mayfield immediately picked on him, connecting with Emeka Egbuka over the top for a 20-yard touchdown on 3rd and 15 with the young defender trailing in coverage. He later allowed a second touchdown to Egbuka that knotted the game at 35 apiece, appearing to struggle mightily in his first extensive action of the season.
Coming to his defense, Macdonald suggested Pritchett wasn’t solely to blame for those two touchdowns, again taking the sword by shouldering some of the blame for play calling and not putting his players in position to be successful.
“Nehemiah was the guy closest to the ball, so it's easy to attribute to him, but that play is not on Nehemiah,” Macdonald said. “That's on our defense and really everybody. He happens to be on the defense, so he takes part of it. I happen to be in charge of the defense, so I take part of it. Nehemiah did a good job, but that play is not solely on him, it's not even close.”
Such a response would seem to suggest Macdonald believes Pritchett can perform at a higher level in Woolen’s place against the Jaguars, especially with a full week to prepare as a starter. But yet, at the same time, he didn’t shoot down the possibility of experienced veteran Shaquill Griffin getting an opportunity as a practice squad elevation this week either, keeping that option on the table as well. The Seahawks elevated the former third-round pick on Saturday afternoon.
At one point a Pro Bowler for the Seahawks in 2019, Griffin missed most of training camp for personal reasons, which put him behind the eight ball to an extent. Without being able to compete against Josh Jobe and Pritchett most of the summer, the team cut him and re-signed him as a proven insurance policy on the practice squad, and now that he has had more than a month of consistent practice, Macdonald should have the utmost confidence in him stepping up if called upon.
“I love having Shaq out there, because he competes. The guy just attacks all the mental stuff, he knows it. He's got a great attitude, and he competes, and we can go into games with that for sure,” Macdonald said of Griffin.
Regardless of who Macdonald plugs and plays on Sunday in Jacksonville, the Seahawks will be at a clear talent and depth disadvantage in the defensive backfield without the likes of Witherspoon, Woolen, and Love, as their backups will be put to quite the test by a Jaguars’ receiving corps headlined by young stars Brian Thomas and Travis Hunter. Any further injuries at cornerback and safety would put the defense on the verge of catastrophe, especially if Lawrence’s return doesn’t bolster a pass rush that went AWOL last Sunday.
In the event that happens, it won’t matter who lines up at cornerback or safety. Rushing quarterback Trevor Lawrence effectively will be crucial to giving the secondary any shot at slowing down Jacksonville’s weaponry at the skill positions playing short-handed on the back end.
But while Macdonald obviously wishes he could have his injured starters available this weekend and it’s not impossible Witherspoon or Love could try to give it a go, it appears that wasn’t meant to be in the cards and Seattle will have to make the best of less-than-ideal circumstances. Looking in the mirror after an unsatisfactory showing last week that he took the fall for, he trusts the coaching staff as a whole will have reserves such as Okada and Pritchett much better prepared this week and ready to play in a mid-October game that could have a playoff like atmosphere in Jacksonville.
“We’ve seen that the guys that have stepped in over the last two years have come in and a lot of times played winning football for us, so that's the expectation and we've said this all the time, but in your mind, the standard doesn't change on what we're shooting for, how we want to operate, and how we want to play.”
