Kyle Posey goes through a year's worth of game tape to find the weaknesses of the Seahawks' vaunted defense, in hopes that the San Diego Chargers can exploit them and pull out a win.

Seattle has the best defense in the NFL.

Shocking, I know. If I had to describe this defense in two words, I'd use "sophisticated" and "simple". It seems like 8 out of 10 plays the Seahawks will line up with a single high safety and play Cover 1 or Cover 3 and basically challenge the offense to throw over their head. It's an aggressive defense that asks their back four secondary players to be physical, yet rangy. All 11 players on the field are fast, and they all are sound. When they get there, they make the tackle. Did I mention that they were fast? How's this for a stat: Last year, the Seahawks had 25 less tackles than the Chargers and played over 35 more snaps than San Diego. They don't make mistakes.

You can move the ball on them, though. Last year five teams score 20 points on Seattle. I went back and watched those offenses, along with last week's Seahawks game against the Packers, to see what tendencies give the Seahawks the most problems. I came up with four areas where the Chargers must attack Seattle if they want to be successful on Sunday.

Establishing the run in between the tackles

Stretching the field horizontally

Timing Routes outside the numbers

Using their aggressiveness against them

Establishing the run in between the tackles

Those five teams that scored 20 points against Seattle a year ago carried the ball 72 times in between the tackles for an average of 4.9 yard a carry. Against a speedy defense like this, you have to run right at them. Whether it's an inside zone play, a power run, or a trap, you can run on Seattle. It just has to be right at them. The Texans were a team that had success up the middle, usually with a lead blocker. David Johnson could play a pivotal role on Sunday as paving the way for Ryan Mathews. Last week, Mathews had only four carries between the tackles. That can't happen versus the Seahawks. You have to keep pounding the ball, and stay patient, in order to have success.

Stretching the field horizontally

Because Seattle plays so much of a single high safety look, teams always look to attack them vertically. Whether it's verticals, or a hi-lo passing concept. That's not how you beat them. That's exactly what they want you to do. They want you to throw that go route to the outside or challenge Earl Thomas up the seam. Defensive coordinators can live with 50/50 throws, and with these defensive backs, it's more like a 70/30 throw (in SEA's favor).

What you have to do is stress the linebackers, and Kam Chancellor. Seattle will run a boat load of Cover 3 Sky where Chancellor is the curl to flat defender and sprinkle in some Cover 1 where Chancellor is then the "robber." By attacking this way, you stress the field horizontally and put each defender in a bind. This then becomes an easy read for Philip Rivers and a high percentage throw. Here are a few examples.





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This was a big part of what San Diego did so well a year ago.





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