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Skins Stats & Snaps: Redskins @ Seahawks (DEF/ST)

A look at the stats and snap counts for every defensive and special teams player on the Redskins in the team's amazing Week 9 upset of the Seattle Seahawks

Washington Redskins v Seattle Seahawk Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images

Snaps- Greg Manusky used 19 of his 25 defenders over the course of a season-high 83 defensive snaps. The 6 that did not get time on defense included 4 players who worked only on special teams (Josh Harvey-Clemons, Chris Carter, Fabian Moreau and Joshua Holsey), 1 inactive (Matt Ioannidis) and 1 player who was technically active, but too injured to play in any capacity (Montae Nicholson).

Quarterback Pressure- The defense recorded two sacks on Russell Wilson to extend the team’s league-high streak of consecutive games with a sack to 32. The Redskins are one of just five teams with multiple sacks in every game this season (Steelers, Panthers, Bears and Rams).

Perhaps the most interesting stat of the game is that Wilson was pressured on a whopping 25 dropbacks, which is the second most pressures he has faced in his 88-game career. Going into Sunday he had completed 52% of his throws under pressure, but in this game that was number was cut in half 26% (5 of 19).

Third Down- Washington only allowed 5 third-down conversions on 14 attempts for the second week in a row (35.7%).

Their third-down performance was even more impressive this week, considering Seattle only needed to gain 4 or fewer yards on six of those third downs. The Seahawks went three-and-out more times (6) than they moved the chains on third down (5). They went 1-for-8 on their first eight third-down plays of the game.

Through eight games this season, the Redskins have held their opponents to a third-down conversion rate below 36% four times and below 50% on five occasions. They only did that five and seven times over 16 games last season, respectively.

Tight End Defense- The defense was great on Sunday, but as usual, this did not include their production allowed to the tight end position. Jimmy Graham and Luke Wilson combined for 6 receptions, 69 yards, 5 first downs and a touchdown on 10 targets.

I’m not even sure how disappointed I really am about this, because the Seahawks have one of the best tight end groups in the league, and the defense just gave up what basically equates to their season-long averages against the position.

Rushing Defense- Russell Wilson and company ran the ball 28 times for 148 yards and 6 first downs. The 148 yards and 5.3-yard average were the third and second worst marks allowed by the defense this year, respectively. The Redskins have allowed enemy rushing attacks to total over 125 yards on the ground in four of the last five games.

The real problem isn’t so much with opposing running backs, it’s with quarterbacks. Wilson led the Seahawks with 77 yards and a 7.7 YPC average. He accounted for 52% of the team’s rushing yards and 50% of the rushing first downs allowed.

The Redskins currently rank 31st in QB rushing attempts against (38), 32nd in QB rushing yards allowed (238) and 29th in QB YPC against (6.3 yard).

INTs & PDs- This was the seventh game this year that the Redskins have intercepted a pass in. The only team they failed to get a pick against was the Chiefs (Week 4).

The defense was also responsible for defending a season-high 11 pass defenses, their most since Week 12 of 2015.

Points- Washington has not allowed their opponent to score any points on the opening drive of the game since Week 1. This seven-game streak is the team’s longest such run since 2007.

This was the second time this year that the defense has shutout the opposing offense in the first half of a game.

Penalties- The Seahawks bailed out the Redskins by committing 16 accepted penalties in the game for 138 yards, with 10 of those infractions and 85 of those yards being committed by the Seattle offense.

The 16 penalties and 138 penalty yards were the most and third most for any team this season, respectively.

A Redskins opponent has only committed more than 16 penalties once since 1940 and that game took place in 1949. There have only been seven games since 1940 in which a team totaled more than 138 penalty yards against Washington, with the last time coming in the 2015 “You like that!” win against the Buccaneers.

Road Warriors- Going into Sunday, the Seahawks were riding a four-game winning streak in which they defeated their opponents by a combined margin of 54 points. They were undefeated at home this year and had won 11 of their last 12 games at Century Link Field.

In fact, since the Russell Wilson era began in 2012, the Seahawks have won 42 of their total 47 games at home (including playoffs). Their .857 winning percentage in the last six years at home ranks 1st in the NFL. The Cardinals (3 times), Rams, a 15-win Panthers team and a 12-win Dallas team are the opponents who had won in Seattle since 2012. Well, you can now add a battered and bruised .500 Redskins team to that list.

The Redskins are 2-2 at home on the season with a -8 point differential in this games. The combined record of the opponents they have faced at home is 17-18 (.486). Washington is also 2-2 on the road with a point differential of -9. The only difference is that their road opponents have posted a combined record of 25-9 (.735).

DEFENSIVE LINE

Ziggy Hood- Ziggy Hood played on 58 snaps against the Seahawks, which is an insane total for a nose tackle, no less almost any defensive lineman. Yet, somehow he only made 1 tackle in the game; granted, it was a tackle on 2nd-and-3 that held J.D. McKissic to a gain of 2. Thomas Rawls was stopped short of the first down on the next play by Josh Norman.

Hood was not officially credited with any pressures, but he did cause Seahawks’ right guard, Oday Aboushi to commit a pair of holding penalties. Seattle would’ve gained 19 combined yards on those plays, instead they lost 20 yards on them.

So, all in all, this was a slight improvement over your typical Ziggy Hood o-fer.

Terrell McClain- McClain got his first start of the year and played on a season-high 40 defensive snaps.

He recorded 5 solo tackles for the second week in a row. Unfortunately, Seattle gained at least 5 yards on four of those five tackles; they did not, however, move the chains on any of those plays.

McClain’s fifth and final tackle of the game was a sack on Russell Wilson with about 10 seconds left in the game. That play nearly sealed the win for the Skins by both moving Seattle out of field goal range and taking up most of the remaining time left on the clock

McClain has definitely stepped up his game since Jonathan Allen and Matt Ioannidis went down with injuries.

Anthony Lanier- After being inactive for the first 6 weeks of the season, Lanier played on a season-high 31 snaps against the Seahawks.

He didn’t record a tackle of any kind for the second time in three games, but he did notch a career-best 2 QB hits, which actually matched his career total for hits (2) coming into the game. He led all Washington D-lineman with a 14% pressure rate.

Stacy McGee- Stacy McGee played on 31 snaps and tied season highs in solo (2), assisted (2) and total tackles (4). Seattle didn’t move the chains on one of his takedowns. He was also able to hurry Russell Wilson on one dropback. McGee has registered at least 1 pressure in all but two games this season.

His 84.3 PFF grade in the game ranked 2nd on the team.

Arthur Jones- Your newest Redskin, Arthur Jones, took 23 snaps with the defense, but failed to record any stats or pressures in his debut with the team. Jones suffered a shoulder dislocation in the game and will likely miss at least a game or two.

OUTSIDE LINEBACKERS

Ryan Kerrigan- Ryan Kerrigan’s 56 snaps in the game are tied for his third most this season, yet because the defense as a whole played so many snaps on Sunday, he set a new season-low with a 67.5% snap share. I’m not quite sure what to make of this. Perhaps, the coaches are trying to keep Kerrigan on some sort of a pitch count.

Kerrigan made 3 tackles in the game and Seattle failed to pick up a first down on all three plays. He did not sack and hit the quarterback for only the second time this season and for the first time since Week 3, but he did hurry Wilson on multiple dropbacks.

Preston Smith- Smith led the OLB corps in snaps for the second consecutive week and for the third time this year. His season-high 62 snaps didn’t help him do much damage on the stat sheet, though.

For the second straight week, he recorded a season-low 1 tackle, and this time it was of the assisted variety on the sixth defensive snap of the game. Smith’s day was, however, buoyed a bit by his 2 QB hits on Wilson.

After recording at least a half sack in each of his first five games, Preston Smith has gone three weeks without recording a sack of any kind. It sure seems like Smith was benefiting a lot from the interior pressure that Jonathan Allen was providing. He has yet to record a sack in a game that Allen did not play in this season.

Junior Galette- Galette was on the field for 31 snaps, but he did not record a traditional stat for the second time in the last four games. He did, however, hurry Wilson on multiple dropbacks and cause Germain Ifedi to commit a holding penalty that negated a 47-yard reception by Doug Baldwin.

Ryan Anderson- The rookie outsider backer recorded his first tackle since Week 3, when he and Will Compton teamed up to stop Thomas Rawls for no gain on 2nd-and-1.

He got a hit on Russell Wilson, the first QB hit of his career. This was Anderson’s second game of the season with a QB pressure.

He also played a little ironman football, as he took 3 snaps at fullback in place of the injured Niles Paul.

Chris Carter- Carter hasn’t played on defense since the Monday night game against the Chiefs that took place over a month ago.

Lack of Sack- Sunday’s game marked the first time all year that no Redskins outside linebacker recorded at least 1 sack.

INSIDE LINEBACKERS

Zach Brown- Zach Brown was an absolute monster in this game and was one of the biggest contributors to the Redskins’ shocking upset.

He led the team in tackles, just as he has in every single game this season, as he posted 11 tackles (8 solo and 3 assisted) against the Seahawks. This was Brown’s third consecutive game with double-digit tackles this season and his sixth such game overall.

He is tied for an NFL high 57 solo tackles this season, and his 86 total tackles on the year are 10 more than second place C.J. Mosley’s 76 tackles. Mosley and the Ravens have yet to have their bye week and have played one more game than Brown and the Redskins have.

Brown was also very active as a pass rusher on Sunday. He recorded a sack on Russell Wilson and led the team with 3 QB hits, which was the second highest hit total of Brown’s career and the third highest such total by any Redskins player this season. One of those hits led to a Wilson interception by fellow ILB Will Compton.

Zach Brown, Jonathan Allen and Matt Ioannidis have been the catalysts up front for the defense’s amazing turnaround this year, but only Brown was left standing for this game. There is no question that he has been Washington’s defensive MVP this season.

We may not all be comfortable with giving Cousins a $30M per year contract, but I think we can all agree that the Redskins need to make signing Zach Brown to a long term deal their highest priority on the defensive side of the ball.

Will Compton- Will Compton made his first start of the season and played on all but one snap. His 82 snaps in the game were more than double his 2017 total going into the night (36 snaps).

Compton basically single handedly shut the Seahawks down on their last two drives of the third quarter. He made two tackles and recorded his first interception of the year on one series. Then, on Seattle’s next drive, he made another tackle and defended a pass on back-to-back plays to end the drive; he nearly intercepted both of those PDs, as well.

He finished the day with a career-high 3 pass defenses and 8 tackles (7 solo), his highest tackle total since Week 11 of last season. His interception was his first in nearly a full calendar year and the third of his career. He recorded a hurry as a pass rusher.

This was one of the best outings for Compton in his 56-game career.

Martrell Spaight- It looked like it would be Spaight, and not Compton, who would take over for Mason Foster opposite Zach Brown; but as you just read, that is not how it played out on Sunday.

In the three games Foster has missed or been limited by injury in, Spaight played on 90%, 57% and 56% of the snaps; in this game he saw just 2 defensive snaps (2.4%).

Compton may have played over Spaight because he was healthier. Spaight was questionable and only practiced on a limited basis all week. Nevertheless, Compton’s performance against the Seahawks may keep Spaight in a reserve role for the foreseeable future.

Josh Harvey-Clemons- JHC was active for the second straight week and for the third time this season. Harvey-Clemons worked exclusively on special teams on Sunday; he has yet to take a snap on defense this season.

CORNERBACKS

Josh Norman- Norman was out there for 100% of the defensive snaps for the third time this season.

He tied season highs with 5 solo and 6 total tackles, including a huge stop against Thomas Rawls on a 3rd-and-1 run in the fourth quarter. He recorded a PD on a deep pass in the first quarter too.

Norman played great overall on Sunday, but he did make a couple of costly mistakes. He was called for a blatant horse collar tackle on Jimmy Graham in the second quarter that moved the Seahawks into the red zone (luckily Blair Walsh bailed him out with his second missed field goal.

He was also primarily at fault for giving up what could have easily been the go-ahead touchdown to Doug Baldwin with 1:34 left in the game. In fact, if Baldwin would have just taken a knee instead of scoring, the game probably would have been over.

Kendall Fuller- Kendall Fuller’s breakout season continued as the sophomore out of Virginia Tech put forth yet another impressive showing.

He recorded 3 tackles and a third-down interception on the Redskins’ side of the field. The pick was Fuller’s third of the year, he had none last year as a rookie and he is the only player on the team with more than one interception on the year. In fact, the rest of the team has combined for just 5 picks, which is only 2 more than Fuller’s total.

The interception made Fuller the youngest Redskins player (22 years old) to record 3 interceptions in a season since 21-year-old Sean Taylor picked off 4 balls in 2004. The only other Redskins who have accomplished this feat since the 1970 merger were Fred Smoot, Tom Carter, A.J. Johnson and Champ Bailey.

Quinton Dunbar- Dunbar got the start at outside corner for the fourth straight game, but with Norman and Bashaud Breeland both finally relatively healthy, he saw his snap percentage drop below 89% for the first time since Week 4.

He made 3 solo tackles, including a TFL that he scored when he touched Wilson down after a recovered fumble on the Seahawk’s first play from scrimmage. Dunbar defended and nearly picked off a pass thrown at Tyler Lockett on the final drive of the game, as well.

Dunbar, however, may have been responsible for blowing a coverage on Luke Wilson’s fourth quarter touchdown.

Bashaud Breeland- Breeland returned from injury, but did not start and played on a season-low 47% of the snaps.

He made 2 solo and 1 assisted tackle (3 total) and defended a deep pass thrown to Tyler Lockett. He was flagged for pass interference against rookie Amara Darboh (12 yards).

Other Cornerbacks- Rookies corners Fabian Moreau and Joshua Holsey only saw time on special teams for the second consecutive contest. The pair have only combined for 62 defensive snaps so far this season.

SAFETIES

D.J. Swearinger- This may have been Swearinger’s best game in a Redskins uniform. The veteran safety made 3 tackles, 2 of which came within a yard or two shy of the line to gain, and recorded a season-high 2 pass defenses (tied with 5 other games for a career high) on a pair of deep shots to Doug Baldwin.

Swearinger also picked off a Russell Wilson pass on a fourth quarter two-point conversion and almost returned it 100 yards (with some help from Josh Norman) for two points of his own.

He played on every defensive snap for the fifth time this year.

DeAngelo Hall- The soon to be 34-year old Hall had not played in a game since last September and had only suited up in 17 of a possible 48 games since the start of the 2014 season.

That didn’t mean anything on Sunday, when Hall started at free safety and played on all 83 snaps. Hall wasn’t just another warm body out there, either; the 14-year pro balled out and played a major role in the Redskins’ upset of the Seahawks.

He made 4 solo and 5 total tackles and recorded a pass defense on two of the three targets thrown in his direction. One PD came on a third-down throw to Luke Wilson and the other came against giants Tanner McEvoy and Jimmy Graham in the end zone on the game’s final play, a desperation Hail Mary by Russell Wilson.

Hall earned an 85.2 PFF rating in his return, the highest grade on the team.

Montae Nicholson- Montae Nicholson (shoulder injury) was the lone active player on defense who did not take a snap of any kind in the game. He didn't even dress for the game and likely would have been declared inactive if not for the slew of even more severely injured Redskins who occupied that 7-man list.

Nicholson averaged 50 snaps per game between Weeks 2 and 8, and he started in five of those six contests. The question now becomes: will it be Nicholson or DeAngelo Hall starting at free safety for the Redskins going forward.

Deshazor Everett- Deshazor Everett was only on the field for 1 defensive snap against the Seahawks, despite the fact that he was one of just three healthy safeties on the roster. He played on at least 8 snaps in every other game that he was active for this season.

Everett was viewed as the team’s starting strong safety heading into Week 1, but his mediocre play, the emergence of Montae Nicholson and the return of DeAngelo Hall have relegated him back to his former role of top special teamer and fourth safety.

ALL DEFENSIVE SNAPS

SPECIAL TEAMS

Snaps- The Redskins used 34 of their 43 healthy players over the course of 28 special teams snaps against the Seahawks. The group of 34 consisted of 21 defenders, 10 offensive players and 3 specialists. Josh Harvey-Clemons, Chris Carter, Joshua Holsey and Fabian Moreau were the only players that got action exclusively on special teams.

Chris Carter and Deshazor Everett tied for the team lead in special teams snaps for the second straight week. Harvey-Clemons and Moreau finished right behind them in snaps for the second consecutive game, as well.

Kick Coverage- Martrell Spaight led the way with 3 tackles on special teams (1 solo and 2 assisted) and Chris Carter added a solo and assisted tackle.

Deshazor Everett and Will Compton also had solo takedowns and Fabian Moreau, Brian Quick and Josh Harvey-Clemmons chipped in with assists. The assists by Quick and Harvey-Clemons were their first teams tackles of the season.

The 78 total return yards by the Seahawks in this game represent the second most return yards allowed by the Skins’ special teams in a game this season (83 vs. Rams in Week 2). The game against the Rams was the only other time that a team returned more than three total punts and kicks against them (7 total returns in both games).

Nick Rose- Rose was basically perfect for the second time in his three games with the team. He connected a 28-yard field goal in the third quarter and hit on both of his extra points.

He booted three of his four kickoffs for touchbacks, and the fourth kick was only returned 21 yards out to the Seattle 18.

Tress Way- Prior to Sunday, Way’s season high for punts in a game was 5. He had 8 punts in this game, and as a result he posted new season highs in punts yards (320), net yards (275), punts returned (5) and return yards allowed (45). The increased opportunities certainly did not help his efficiency.

He averaged a season-low 40 yards per punt and his net average of 34.4 was his second worst mark of the year in this category. Three of his punts went for 32 or fewer yards and he only pinned Seattle inside their own 20-yard line on one or 12.5% of his eight punts. His previous season-low in this metric was 25%. Way also had one of his punts partially blocked.

The conditions were far from optimal, but all things considered, this still may have been worst game of any already down season for Way.

Kickoff Returns- Rob Kelley and Samaje Perine took over kickoff return duties for Chris Thompson and Bashaud Breeland in this game.

I understand the idea of wanting to protect two of your more valuable players by relieving them of this duty, but I would think you could find better replacements than a pair of running backs that ran a 4.60 or worse at their pro days.

Kelley and Perine each had one return on the day that went out to the Washington 22-yard line, and they gained 16 and 20 yards respectively on those returns.

The Redskins have still not taken a single return out past the 25-yard line this season. Unless you have a Pro Bowl level return guy back there, I’m not sure why you would have any reason to return a kick that drops anywhere near the end zone. This definitely appears to be something that Washington’s coaching staff has not yet figured out.

Punt Returns- Jamison Crowder was out with a hamstring injury, so DeAngelo Hall took over punt return duties for the team.

Hall took his two returns for gains of 0 and 7 yards. His 7-yarder was his longest return since the 2007 season. This was the first time Hall had returned a punt since Week 17 of the 2012 season. You have to go back to 2009 to find the next game in which he had a return.

The biggest impact on a Seattle punt may have actually come on a punt that Hall didn’t return. Hall chose not to fair catch John Ryan’s second punt and it rolled to the Redskins’ 6-yard line. Kirk Cousins was sacked in the end zone for a safety on the next play.

Field Goal Defense- All three of Blair Walsh’s field goal attempts went wide left on Sunday. With that, he became the first kicker to miss three field goals against the Redskins since former Colts kicker Toni Linhart went 0-for-3 against the team in November of 1978, almost exactly 39 years ago to the day.

*All statistics are courtesy of CSN Mid Atlantic, ESPN, Football Outsiders, NFL.com, NFL Gamebooks, Pro Football Focus, Pro Football Reference, Redskins.com and Sharp Football Stats*

COMING SOON: Skins Stats & Snaps: Redskins @ Seahawks (Offense)

Poll

Which one of the following players should start on the Redskins’ defense for the remainder of the year?

This poll is closed

  • 18%
    Will Compton
    (23 votes)
  • 5%
    Quinton Dunbar
    (7 votes)
  • 39%
    DeAngelo Hall
    (49 votes)
  • 15%
    Anthony Lanier
    (19 votes)
  • 20%
    Terrell McClain
    (26 votes)
124 votes total Vote Now