by: William P. Tomisser
Hey gang,
I've been taking a bit of a sabbatical while my band is learning a new set of Tower Of Power music. It's pretty demanding music and we have to learn it from listening to the recordings and picking out our individual parts by ear. It's pretty time consuming, so I'm basically taking a couple of weeks off until we're done with the intense rehearsals.
Today I got tired of listening to music, so I took a break to browse Seahawks stuff and came across several references to Brady's interview with the media. After reading Sando's take on Seattle's defense, I thought it might be a good subject for discussion.
I appears as if the Seahawks will be starting from scratch with their defense this season. I say this not just because the team will have a new defensive-minded head coach and new assistants in Dan Quinn and Tim Lewis, but also because they are rewriting the defensive playbook from scratch, starting with the terminology they'll use to describe everything with.
From the transcript of the Gus Bradley interview, he talks about the diverse experience of the new defensive assistants:
"We’re in a unique situation where Dan Quinn was with the Jets in a 3-4 scheme, Tim has been both [in a] 3-4 and a 4-3, I’ve been familiar with the 4-3, similar to Seattle. So we’ve been gathering all that information and trying to evaluate personnel while we’re doing that with those concepts."
Danny O'Neil from the Seattle Times has also written a piece that talks about Bradley and his defensive staff interview and how Seattle is starting from scratch in building its defense this season:
The Seahawks have started from scratch in assembling their defense under new coach Jim Mora and defensive coordinator Gus Bradley, revising everything from the formations and the nomenclature to the way guys huddle up.
Mora also talked about his new staff:
"I've hired a tremendous defensive staff," Mora said. "We've added some outstanding coaches who have a very similar philosophy to me in terms of how you become a great defensive football team."
To Continue . . .
For those fans who have been wishing we had a coach who paid more attention to the defense for the last 10 years, it looks as if the Seahawks are about to begin the new era that you've always dreamed about.
Mora has a vision of a suffocating defense coupled with a versatile offense that can take what the opponent's defense gives them and make it work. The more I hear from these new coaches and see the enthusiasm they have for their jobs, the more excited I'm getting about having a look at how the 2009 version of the team will appear.
One thing I think all of us can agree on is that we've had enough of the Marshall defense we saw on display last season. The news that this year's defense is a whole new deal starting with a new playbook and a new team of coaches with diverse backgrounds designing it from the ground up is like a breath of fresh air.
I like the idea that coaches with backgrounds in different defensive schemes will be looking at our players and designing what should be the best fit. Having coaches with experience in 3-4 defensive sets working alongside coaches familiar with the 4-3 sets the team has been running can only give us a broader spectrum of possibilities.
I have to comment on the way Mora has assembled a team of energetic coaches who are focused in making the Seahawks the best team they can be. After seeing who was available in the coaching carousel this offseason, I have to believe that we've got about as good a deal going as we could have hoped for at this point and right now I wouldn't change a thing.
Are you guys satisfied with how our team is shaping up so far and how Mora has approached his first offseason with the club? Are you satisfied with the newly hired coaches so far and how they have integrated themselves into the coaching mix? Did Mora do the right thing by only changing four coaches and leaving the rest of the coaching staff intact?
I'll try and post something now and then if I can find the time, but mostly I'll be back in a couple of weeks.
Hasta,
Bill T
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