If the Seattle Seahawks offense has looked like it’s taking heat early, that’s because it has. Through three games, opponents have blitzed Seattle on 43.4% of pass plays, according to NFL Pro/NextGenStats, the second-highest rate in the league behind the Chicago Bears.
That number fits a broader NFL pattern, and Seattle is right in the middle of it. Across the league, defenses are attacking more aggressively as offenses lean back toward under-center football.
Through Week 3, teams are going under center on 42.0% of plays, the highest rate the NFL has seen since 2013. On first and second down, that under-center rate is 49.6%, also the highest since 2013.
Even with all that extra pressure, offenses are still producing under center at a 47.4% success rate, the best mark in that same span.
The defensive response has been just as clear. Through three weeks, the leaguewide blitz rate against under-center passes is 51%, the highest TruMedia has tracked since it started keeping that data in 2006. In other words, coordinators are meeting heavier personnel and play-action looks with pressure, and a lot of it.
Seattle has been built for that kind of counterpunch. The Seahawks are one of the teams that runs most of its offense from under center, and they also use play-action at the second-highest rate in the NFL.
That matters, because defenses have been especially aggressive against those looks. Opposing teams are blitzing under-center play-action passes at a 52% clip through three games, the highest rate TruMedia has ever recorded.
That’s been the reality for Seattle in particular. More than 60% of the Seahawks’ under-center dropbacks have been blitzed.
Last season, they were blitzed on less than half of those snaps. There is, though, one wrinkle worth watching: offensive coordinator Brian Fleury has not yet shown an under-center pass game without play-action.
Out of 32 under-center dropbacks, only two have been non-play-action attempts, and one of those was the tying touchdown to Jaxon Smith-Njigba against the New England Patriots. For comparison, the San Francisco 49ers have 15 non-play-action passes on 30 under-center dropbacks.
With only two games of Drew Lock and one with Sam Darnold, it may be too early to lock in any real tendency for Fleury, but the setup is obvious enough.
The encouraging part for Seattle is that the blitz hasn’t broken its quarterbacks. Drew Lock and Sam Darnold have combined to go 30 of 41 for 382 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions and just two sacks against the blitz, whether those snaps came from under center, shotgun or pistol. Seattle’s EPA per pass against the blitz ranks third in the NFL, behind only the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs.
The Seahawks are also dealing with the run-game side of this same defensive wave. Their stacked box rate sits at 32.2%, one of the highest in the league, and their run game has struggled by EPA per play against those looks. So Seattle is seeing defenses load up against the run while also bringing extra rushers against heavier personnel and under-center formations.
The bigger picture is hard to miss: defenses across the NFL are blitzing more, period. The leaguewide blitz rate of 32.3% is the highest since 2010.
These aren’t just random heat-check calls after a big gain. They’re deliberate answers to what offenses are doing now.
Seattle is an exception in one important way. While the league is turning up the pressure, the Seahawks themselves rank 31st in blitz rate. That could change once the secondary gets healthier.
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