‘I tell the truth’: Quandre Diggs says Seahawks haven’t been tough enough; changes coming

There’s sunny Pete Carroll, remaining positive about these early stages of remaking his Seahawks.

“The future looks bright. ...Yeah. Yeah! The next few weeks,” Carroll said of his 1-2 team Monday. “I think this is the time for us to really go.”

Then there’s Quandre Diggs.

“I tell the truth,” he said Sunday.

Seattle’s co-captain and a Pro Bowl safety the last two seasons raised some eyebrows last week when he said: “We shouldn’t be feeding into all the hype, anyway. ...Obviously, we’re not that good.”

That was after San Francisco ran over the Seahawks for 189 yards rushing in a 20-point Seattle loss.

Then Atlanta romped through Seattle for 179 yards on the ground in the Seahawks’ 27-23 home defeat last weekend.

After the latest game Diggs told it like it is for Seattle heading into its test Sunday at Detroit (1-2), which is at the top of the NFL in multiple offensive categories for rushing.

“They did whatever they wanted (Sunday),” Diggs said of the previously winless Falcons. “They threw the ball and they ran the ball. And we didn’t stop either.

“They came out and kicked our tail. That’s what it is.

“People got mad at me for my comments last week. But if you don’t want to hear the truth then don’t ask me questions, you feel me? I tell the truth.

“My teammates understand that, so they don’t take it the wrong way.

“We’ve just got to be better.”

Seattle’s inexperienced defense

The Seahawks have inexperience all over a defense Carroll completely changed for this season. It’s gone from 11 years in his base 4-3 to a new, varied, 3-4 scheme.

These first three games of the season have been the first NFL starts for cornerback Michael Jackson and rookie Tariq Woolen at the opposite corner. Rookie Coby Bryant has been the fifth, nickel defense back for 66% of defensive snaps the past two games.

Jamal Adams is out for the season following surgery to repair a torn quadriceps tendon. Josh Jones is replacing him at strong safety. That has changed Carroll’s and defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt’s plan to feature Adams with Diggs and Jones in three-safety schemes. Those would have had Adams close the line of scrimmage as another run stopper and blitzer on passing downs.

Ryan Neal, injured most of August, would be the third safety with Adams out.

“We haven’t shoved our way into the Jamal Adams thought having the three-safety thing yet (since Adams’ injury),” Carroll said. “And so, we are working on it.”

Inside linebackers Jordyn Brooks and Cody Barton are full-time starters at that position for the first time in their careers.

Yet Diggs sees beyond the inexperience. He sees some guys taking plays and entire days off. It angered him after the loss at San Francisco that the Seahawks seemed to cruise some after a 17-16 win over Russell Wilson and Denver in the opener Sept. 12.

“What I’m saying is, we obviously aren’t that good to take days off,” Diggs said after the loss to Atlanta. “Real people that know football know exactly what I mean. If we were the team we were two years ago, we could take days off. We were 12-4, you feel me? We’re not there yet.

“At the end of the day I’m not saying we can’t be that. But...we’ve got to work to get to that point.”

And now it’s onto Detroit.

The Lions will run right at Seahawks

The Lions are averaging an NFL-best 5.9 yards per rush. They are third in the league with 170 yards on the ground per game through three weeks. Detroit leads the NFL in scoring 31.7 points per game. The Lions scored 35 yet lost their opener against Philadelphia. They scored 36 to beat Washington. They lost a 24-14 lead with 8 minutes left in a 28-24 defeat at Minnesota Sunday.

If Lions coaches watch any film of any Seahawks game this season, Detroit may run everybody back to Barry Sanders right at Seattle.

The 49ers romped 45 times for 189 yards rushing through the Seahawks two weeks ago. The Falcons rushed for 179 more yards and 5.8 yards per carry last weekend.

Seattle is allowing 157 yards rushing per game, next to last in the NFL.

The Seahawks have been awful in run “fits,” defenders being in and controlling their assigned gaps. The front three of Al Woods, Shelby Harris (currently injured) and Poona Ford with Bryan Mone and Quinton Jefferson alternating have been blocked down inside while backs run outside them for huge gains.

Those big run plays have happened because linebackers either aren’t filling the lanes outside the tackles, are freelancing outside their assigned areas or because the front three have allowed offensive linemen to get past them to block the linebackers.

Seattle’s linemen and linebackers aren’t synchronized in run defense.

Uchenna Nwosu, others freelancing

Uchenna Nwosu has been Seattle’s best player on a bad defense so far. Even he admitted to guessing and leaving his assigned run fit on a key play of the loss to Atlanta.

The first play after Seattle took a 23-20 lead late in the third quarter, Nwosu jumped outside guessing Falcons quarterback Marcus Mariota would roll out there on a first-down bootleg, run-pass option. Instead, Cordarrelle Patterson ran off left tackle, inside the freelancing Nwosu — exactly to where the outside linebacker was assigned to be.

Patterson’s 40-yard run changed the game’s momentum. It set up Atlanta’s final, winning points.

“They ran like a Y stretch and they cut it back. Me? I was playing the boot thing and they were trying something, and they gashed the ball for I think it was like 45 or 50 yards,” Nwosu said.

“It’s little things like that that we have to clean up. ... And it can’t happen again.”

Yet it keeps happening.

“Do your job, longer,” is how Jefferson said the defense needs to improve.

Pete Carroll: Jobs are changing

Carroll said Monday he needs to change his coaching to make assignments simpler for his defensive front.

He also said new players will be in expanded roles for the Detroit game.

Carroll got intrigued by how well rookie outside linebacker Boye Mafe, drafted to be an edge pass rusher, set and held his edge in run defense against Atlanta. In the 3-4, the outside linebackers have to set the edge versus runs at them; they essentially become defensive ends.

The head coach also likes the versatility and more rugged play 6-foot-6, 260-pound Darryl Johnson gave the defense in 19 snaps against the Falcons on the line and at outside linebacker. Carroll said Mafe and Johnson are going to play more this week, and on earlier downs than passing ones.

That would appear to be at the expense of playing time for Darrell Taylor. He’s been almost invisible for three games. The team’s second-round pick from 2020 has been out of position or blocked just a couple steps after snaps.

Carroll responded to a question about how Taylor’s played by saying: “With Boye playing better and showing some good signs and us falling for Bam (Johnson), that combination of how we mix those guys is really something we are trying to zero in on.”

Taylor’s playing time has gone from 80% of snaps in the opener to 70% to 67%. His best attribute is speed edge rushing. But Seattle’s been so bad in run defense foes aren’t getting into enough obvious passing situations that would put Taylor in his best spots to succeed.

Run defense isn’t it.

Run defense hasn’t been it all month for the Seahawks.

“We’ve just got to be more physical. That’s what I live to do. I mean, I live to be physical,” Diggs said. “It’s cool to go and get interceptions. But when you can set the tone and just hit somebody, that’s what it should be about, you feel me?

“I just don’t think we’re doing that right now.”