Word of Muth: Penning In Peterson

by Ben Muth

With the Broncos off this weekend, and the Cowboys and Browns off for the next seven months, I was looking forward to covering a new team this week. The wild-card slate wasn't the most exciting in NFL history, so no game really jumped out at me, but one thing did catch my eye on Sunday, so I wanted to look at it further in this space. The thing I found most interesting was the Seattle Seahawks holding the league's leading rusher Adrian Peterson to 45 yards on 23 carries.

Typically, I focus on offensive line performance when I write this column, but this week I'm going to mainly focus on Seattle's defense. That's because I think Peterson's poor game can be attributed more to good play by Seattle's defense than poor play by Minnesota's offensive line (though there were some definite miscues on that side).

I thought there were four key factors in Seattle shutting A.D. down. The first thing I want to focus on is how disciplined Seattle was in their run fits.

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This ended up being a 2-yard gain, but I love how Seattle fits this. The Seahawks slanted their defensive ends inside a lot on Sunday, and that caused Minnesota a lot of problems (in fact, it's one of the things I'm going to touch on later). But anytime you're going to slant the front, you have to make sure the second-level guys are on the same page so there aren't any unfilled gaps. Anyone who watched the Clemson-Alabama game on Monday night knows how disastrously that turns out.

On this play, K.J. Wright (50) does a great job of recognizing the tight end coming in motion, which creates an extra gap that he has to fill. That means he has to get downhill, and try get as tight to the offensive tackle as possible while still keeping his outside arm free. Here, he reads it quickly and meets the fullback on the line of scrimmage so he can't get reached. Because the tight end is blocking a safety, the hole Wright has to fill is huge, but since he meets the fullback quickly and with the correct leverage (keeping his outside arm free), he is able to play a lot of open space. Peterson eventually cuts all the way back into the B-gap into Seattle's pursuit.

Speaking of the safety, it may look like Kam Chancellor (31) is not great here, but this is a pretty nice job for a defensive back. He isn't as aggressive as you would like, but he keeps his leverage (again, the outside arm is free) and forces Peterson back inside. He doesn't get completely washed out and holds his gap decently. There are so many defensive backs who either get washed completely out of the play or just get completely swallowed up by the blocker and give the ballcarrier a two-way go. Chancellor plays his gap and turns Peterson to help. It's actually a nice example of how good Seattle's entire secondary is in run support, and the Legion of Boom's ability to offer actual support in run support was the second key to stopping the Vikings run game.

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This was actually the first play of the game. Look at how quick and decisive Richard Sherman (25) is as the force defender on the edge. As soon as he gets a run key, he's a yard past the line of scrimmage, shoulders square to the line of scrimmage, ready to turn Peterson inside or make a play if the back tries to bounce it outside. Then he comes flat down the line of scrimmage and helps make a tackle for loss once Peterson cuts it back. Again, this might not seem like an all-world play, but you just don't see corners this aggressive in run support. He looks more like an outside linebacker than a cornerback. It's the type of fundamentally sound and aggressive play that Seattle's secondary made all day.

Sherman was awesome on that play, but the guy who really stands out is Michael Bennett (72). He's the backside 3-technique who makes the play with Sherman. What he does is just textbook run defense by a defensive lineman. He fires off, bench presses his man, walks him back to close down any space between the guard and center while maintaining his gap integrity, and finally sheds and makes a play. By walking the guard into the gap he saves Bobby Wagner's bacon -- the linebacker played too aggressively to the play-side and left the back-side A-gap empty.

Bennett's domination was actually the third key factor in the game. It didn't matter if he was lined up inside or outside, no one on the Vikings could block him. He was the best player on the field Sunday, and it was a field that included All-Pros like Sherman, Earl Thomas, and Adrian Peterson.

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Bennett misses the tackle here, but he kills the play (also note how Sherman once again fits perfectly into the only hole that is open). As Rotoworld's Josh Norris is fond of saying "disruption is production." Bennett is certainly a disruptive force on this play.

What I love about Bennett here is his hands. When offensive tackles run outside zone, some teams teach them to carry their inside hand low and behind the rest of their body so it can catch a defensive end that is slanting inside (I've heard it called a catch or trail hand). The theory is that if the end slants inside, you can grab and hold on as he runs by for an instant hook block, and the odds of getting called for a hold when your hand is that low (it should be just above the defender's hip) are minimal (holds typically get called when your hands are outside the defender's frame, which means shoulder pads; hand on the hip will be inside the pads and rarely called).

Here, Bennett throws a nice swipe move and catches Matt Kalil's trail hand. Usually guys only throw moves on pass rushes, but Bennett recognizes outside zone immediately and throws the perfect hand move to get into the backfield.

Of course, guys who didn't play as good as Bennett also had a ton of success with the slants and games up front. Seattle's other defensive end Cliff Avril also had a huge day, and it was this designed movement from the edge that was the final key to shutting down Peterson.

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Here, the Vikings' right side just isn't on the same page. The tackle doesn't even try to come inside with Avril (56) because he thinks the guard will pick him up. The guard is dealing with a 3-technique, so he is occupied. When the tackle comes up on the linebacker, no one stays with Avril, who makes a tackle for a 7-yard loss. There were just too many of these miscommunications for Minnesota to sustain any offense.

It didn't help that Seattle always seemed to slant inside to the play side. I don't know if the Pete Carroll and the coaching staff saw something on film (tendencies based on formations or personnel) or they just got lucky, but they were dialed in on when and where to slant. It ate the Vikings up.