Thread: Mike Haynes outlines Seattle Seahawks' dominance

from article:

It's no coincidence that coach Pete Carroll shows clips of Haynes and Hayes to teach his cornerbacks how to play press-man coverage.

In an email exchange with Around The League, Hall of Famer Haynes explained how the Seahawks' secondary bullied the Denver Broncos' receivers at the line of scrimmage, lowered the boom across the middle and shut down the league's best screen-pass game.

Haynes expects to see a carry-over effect from the Seahawks' thundering -- but still legal -- blows, such as the one from Kam Chancellor that knocked Demaryius Thomas backward and might have separated his shoulder.

"Seattle's secondary sent a clear message to Denver and all other NFL teams that feature underneath crossing routes: 'Get ready to see some spittle in the air,'" Haynes explained. "I really liked that they are able to do it without hitting receivers above their shoulder pads, demonstrating that it is doable!!! That's their preferred style of play and it's still very intimidating."

full article - http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap200...awks-dominance

I kind of view this as similar to the read option, in that the first time it works
because the other team hasn't seen it before. The second time, it isn't so
successful because defenders are professionals who can figure it out.

In that respect, when the Broncos go to Seattle this year, they will have seen
it before, first hand. And they still have Manning and the bevy of receivers,
plus an even more experienced Julius Thomas. The Seahawks will still have a
tough defense, of course, but I don't look for them to have the same degree
of success they did in the Super Bowl, IMO.

In fact, even in the Super Bowl, the offense seemed to begin to crack that
defense, and Manning and DT began to have some success against it late in
the game. Too late, of course, but they can take that into this next year.
.