Can the Seahawks pass defense continue keeping explosive plays to a minimum?

In the final two seasons under Pete Carroll, the Seattle Seahawks defense had a huge problem allowing explosive plays, especially against the pass. According to Stathead , the Seahawks gave up 110 pass plays of 20+ yards from 2022 to 2023, "good" for eighth most in the NFL. For context, the "Legion of Boom" gave up 104 explosive pass plays from 2012 to 2014, which is an extra season's worth of games.

Two weeks into the Mike Macdonald era, and the Seahawks pass defense has been excellent. They've only allowed two explosive passes—one to Josh Reynolds in the Denver Broncos game, and a screen pass to Hunter Henry in the New England Patriots game—which is a number only bettered by the Broncos and Cincinnati Bengals .

The obvious caveat outside of the two-game sample size is the fact that the Seahawks have played non-explosive passing offenses. Bo Nix has thrown for just 384 yards, 0 TDs, and 4 interceptions over his first two starts, while Jacoby Brissett only has 368 yards passing in three games. Nix did have four 20+ yard pass plays against the Pittsburgh Steelers , but Denver still scored just six points. Until further notice, the Seahawks thwarted two bad passing offenses with mediocre (at best) quarterbacks and generally lackluster wide receivers. Hunter Henry is the only player to break Seattle's pass coverage and he had one catch after halftime.

And yet, I'll take the early positives to some degree. Why? Because even though previous Seahawks defenses have teed off on poor offenses before, they've also gotten reamed by Mason Rudolph, PJ Walker (who had six explosive plays even interspersed with his turnovers in the Cleveland Browns game), Marcus Mariota, and Colt McCoy. This isn't even to include the many "mini-explosives" allowed between 10-19 yards during that span.

Seattle is allowing 3.5 net pass yards/attempt, which is tops in the league in this early season. The schedule gets much tougher and possibly as soon as the Miami Dolphins game, even though Tua Tagovailoa isn't playing. Skylar Thompson likely isn't going to be marching up and down the field based on his history, but Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle are still much better receiving options than what the Seahawks have faced to date. The Detroit Lions are next with Amon-Ra St. Brown, Sam LaPorta, and Jameson Williams available for Jared Goff. Even the New York Giants have Malik Nabers as a potentially dangerous option, regardless of how not good Daniel Jones is. Then, of course, you get the San Francisco 49ers and all of their stars (as long as they're actually healthy) in the huge Week 6 test on Thursday.

I'm probably a little more reserved than most regarding the potential improvement of the Seahawks defense. If the pass rush and coverage units continue to play at a high level through the next handful of games, I'll be a believer that Mike Macdonald has quickly fixed this group.