Did you see Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars get dismantled by the Seahawks?
The above video looks at how it happened.
The Seahawks pressured Lawrence more than any other quarterback this season, and they did it while hardly bringing any extra pass rushers.
Head coach Mike Macdonald repeatedly picked on the Jaguars offensive line by overloading one side to manipulate pass protection rules and generate favorable one-on-one matchups for his guys.
With just over nine minutes left in the second quarter, we start to see our first serious glimpse of how the Seahawks overwhelmed the Jaguars offensive line. The first play in the video is a good example of how Seattle played around with different body types on the defensive line — along with overloading on one side — to cause havoc for Jacksonville.
Later in the second quarter, we see the Seahawks go back to that three-man overload, but this time with a different approach. Play 2 illustrates how Seattle used heavier defensive tackles to create a twist for defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence, who loops inside for a sack.
Now let’s fast forward to the end of the game: a third-and-11 with Jacksonville’s last hope to win hanging in the balance. The third play illustrates the Seahawks’ very intentional plan to remove the center from the play, leaving the guard and tackle alone to sort through another stunt.
Those were just a handful of ways the Seahawks got to Lawrence. On the day overall, the Seahawks pressured Lawrence 26 times, tied for the highest mark in a game by any defense this season. That amounted to pressures on 51 percent of Lawrence’s dropbacks, the 13th-highest mark in a game all year, according to TruMedia.
What’s more is that the Seahawks did it without really blitzing. The Seahawks only sent five or more pass rushers on 12 percent of plays — nearly half the league average for a typical game.
The Seahawks’ plan of attack against the Jaguars offensive line is proof that you do not need extra pass-rushers to get to the quarterback.
With the right collection of players and knowledge of how to use a team’s pass protection rules against them, a defense like Seattle’s can wreak havoc up front without sacrificing anything in coverage. Performances and strategies like this are exactly why defenses around the league have tried to copy what Macdonald is doing on defense.
Oct 18, 2025
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