Seahawks/Cardinals Preview: Offensive Gameplan

September 13, 2007 by Walter Mitchell

The Seahawks’ defense, despite starting slowly last week, gave up 284 total yards to the Tampa Bay Bucs (194 passing/90 rushing). They surrendered no offensive touchdowns. The strength of their defense is the linebacking trio of Leroy Hill, Lofa Tatupu and Julian Peterson who combined last week for 22 tackles and 2 sacks (both by Peterson). They have an atheltic and slippery front four in DEs Patrick Kearney, Darryl Tapp, DTs Rocky Bernard and Chuck Darby, and boast two solid corners in Marcus Trufant and Kelly Jennings. If the Seahawks have any real defensive weakness it’s at the safety position where veterans Deon Grant and Brian Russell are adequate, but Grant is not an especially good cover SS on a team that like to play man-to-man and Russell is often left trying to play the whole field as a centerfielder. So, what will the Cardinals need to do to rack up yards and touchdowns against this defense?

Offensive Gameplan:

1. Pound the middle. Rocky Benard is a hit-or-miss type tackle who can make a play in the backfield one play via explosive penetration and get ridden sideways on the next. Chuck Darby is agile and quick, but is not particularly powerful at the point of attack, and thus has a very hard time taking on double teams. At MLB Lofa Tatupu relies on quickness and instincts, but has a hard time matching up physically when inside blockers get a clear shot at him. Note: the Cardinals can’t get discouraged if they take an occasional one yard loss…this is a hit or miss interior for the Seahawks and after taking a one yard loss, the Cards might easily gain seven to ten on the next play, running the same call.

Best Bets? (a) run the double team on Darby and isolate MLB Tatupu with the FB Terrelle Smith; (b) run a counter trap on Bernard by pulling the off-side guard and filling on Darby with FB, which will allow the center, Lyle Sendlein, to screen off Tatupu.

2. Play-action pass with occasional bootlegs and waggles. If the Cardinals demostrate some success running up the middle–which is why the #1 key here is so critical, what will happen is the DEs will get sucked into scraping to the inside to help defend the run and cutback lanes, and thus allow the Cardinals excellent opportunities for play-action. Misdirection play-action passes will allow Matt Leinart more time to survey the field and locate the open man…and they will also put pressure on the Seahawks’ defense to defend the QB scramble, which is the fly in the ointment for man-to-man defenses.

Best Bets? (a) fake isolation on Tatupu and hit Boldin or Pope on a crossing pattern over the middle…same play as the 4th quarter TD to Boldin; (b) fake counter, FB delay pass to Terrelle Smith; (c) fake off-tackle, bootleg z-corner to Fitz, backside drag to Pope, backside post to Boldin.

3. Have a package ready to attack sticky man coverage. While the Cardinals new success running the football presents some issues for Seattle’s defense, the book on the Cardinals is pretty clear: dog Boldin and Fitzgerald with sticky man coverage…and the Seahawks have two corners in Trufant and Jennings who are very good at it. Jennings isn’t very physical, but he’s quick and speedy. Trufant is stronger, but not as quick to recover if he gets turned the wrong way.

Best Bets: (a) motion Boldin a way from Fitzgerald to the TE side and run him on quick outs, seams, corners, and fake-quick out-comeback drags; (b) establish the TE as a deep middle threat…an absolute must in this game…which will cause Brain Russell to play true centerfield, which will then allow Leinart to throw to Fitzgerald on the fade and go routes; (c) motion into twins and trips and rub Boldin and Fitz off of crossing patterns; (d) throw frequent swing passes to the RB, and he’ll have one man to beat for a five to ten yard gain; (e) the Cards could really use Jerheme Urban as a deep threat in this game as well.

Ace up the Sleeve: Line Boldin up in a split backfield with James. BJ wide left and Fitz wide right. Motion with the TE. On the snap, have James run a swing to his side, taking his man with him, have the TE run the out and up, thus clearing the middle for Boldin, who will likely be covered by a linebacker or a nickel back. Boldin would be unstoppable in this role. Use James as the safety valve. The Giants used to run this play for Dave Meggett. Boldin breaks to an open area and Leinart throws on his break.

4. Leinart, if need be, needs to run when the opportunities present themselves. He ran four times last week versus SF’s man-to-man. This frustrates man-to-man defenses as much as anything.

Ken Whisenhunt has been blaming himself for putting in too many plays and not having them game ready. Look for him to have simple packages ready, with four or five basic running plays, play actions for each of those running plays, a couple of trick plays and four to five basic plays to run against sticky man coverage. Just a hint…look for Boldin the backfield!

Tomorrow: Special Teams considerations.

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