SPORTS
Thursday, January 3, 2019
East Oregonian
B3
Modern NFL makes it harder for D to lead way to title
By JOSH DUBOW
AP Pro Football Writer
From Pittsburgh’s Steel
Curtain in the 1970s to Chi-
cago’s Monsters of the Mid-
way in the ‘80s to Seat-
tle’s Legion of Boom more
recently, dominant defenses
have often been the story of
the NFL postseason.
High-powered offenses
might generate the high-
lights, the fantasy points and
victories in the regular sea-
son. But more often than not
the top defenses have man-
aged to hold those dynamic
offenses in check when the
weather turns colder and the
games get more important
in the postseason.
Yet, after one of the
most prolific offensive reg-
ular seasons in NFL his-
tory, the question is can
defenses still lead the way
to a championship?
“I have no idea,” said
San Francisco cornerback
Richard Sherman, a key
member of Seattle’s 2013
championship defense. “I
don’t think the league really
wants that or cares to have
that thing again. They care
more about offensive foot-
ball, so that’s what they’ll
get. To have a special defen-
sive group to play that well
for so long would be very
difficult to do because of
the style of defense and the
rules. ... I think it’s going
to be harder and harder to
make the Hall of Fame from
defense.”
Playing defense in the
NFL perhaps has never
been harder, with the intim-
idating hits on receivers and
quarterbacks now outlawed,
even the most minor down-
field contact resulting in
penalties, and quarterbacks
more accurate and efficient
than ever while running the
new spread offenses.
This year featured the
highest passer rating (92.9),
most yards per play (5.6)
and second-most points per
game (46.7) in NFL his-
tory. It seems like play-
ing great defense is almost
impossible.
“You can’t use it as an
AP Photo/D. Ross Cameron, File
In this Dec. 23, 2018, file photo, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Nick Mullens (4) is hit by Chicago Bears defensive end Akiem
Hicks, left, and outside linebacker Khalil Mack during the second half of an NFL football game in Santa Clara, Calif.
excuse because they still
let us hit, OK?” said Dal-
las defensive coordinator
Rod Marinelli, an assistant
on the 2002 Tampa Bay
team that won a Super Bowl
behind its defense.
“I’ve always believed in
the speed of the defense.
And that’s the hitting.
They’ve got holes. We’ve
got to hit the holes. We’ve
got to hit them. And we’ve
got to make it a physical
game. We’ve got be smart,
helmet to helmet, got to be
smart on the quarterback,
some of those things. And
you try to teach it, keep
our speed and playing fast.
Some of the things down
the field, push-offs and all
that stuff, it’s tough.”
The story of this NFL
season has been the
offenses, with the highlight
being a 54-51 win for the
Los Angeles Rams over the
Kansas City Chiefs back in
November.
That’s been part of a sea-
son that had first-year starter
AP Photo/Harry Hall, File
In this Jan. 12, 1975, file photo, Pittsburgh Steelers tackle Joe
Greene (75) gets ready to block a pass as Minnesota Vikings’
Andy Maurer (66), Ed White (62), Mick Tingelhoff (53) and
Ron Yary (73) protect quarterback Fran Tarkenton (10) during
NFL football’s Super Bowl IX in New Orleans. Steelers’ L.C.
Greenwood is at top right.
Patrick Mahomes throwing
for 50 TD passes and more
than 5,000 yards for Kansas
City, Drew Brees set more
records at age 39 in New
Orleans, Tom Brady main-
tains his winning ways in
his 40s for New England,
and Sean McVay’s offense
tormenting opposing teams
all year long for the Rams.
But those teams that fea-
ture four of the five most
efficient offenses in the
league, according to Foot-
ball Outsiders, and defenses
that have been far less con-
sistent will get the opening
weekend of the postseason
off.
That will provide a bit of
a throwback look on wild-
card weekend with many
of the league’s top defenses
taking center stage in hopes
that they can get on a run
like the one the Denver
Broncos had three years ago
to win a Super Bowl.
“I think it’s still defi-
nitely possible,” said Bron-
cos linebacker Todd Davis,
a member of that title-win-
ning team. “I don’t feel like
it has to be (54-51). It really
doesn’t. I feel like you can
really stop teams if you play
close defense, you play tight
on receivers, play great in
man coverage and you can
really stop people.”
Many of the teams play-
ing this weekend have
shown that ability this sea-
son, led by the NFL’s top-
ranked scoring defense in
Chicago. An already-strong
unit only got better with
the acquisition of elite pass
rusher Khalil Mack before
the season.
With Mack and Akiem
Hicks wreaking havoc up
front and Eddie Jackson
and Kyle Fuller provid-
ing big plays from the sec-
ondary, the Bears appear
to have the defense best
equipped for a long postsea-
son run, starting with Sun-
day’s home game against
defending champion Phila-
delphia Eagles.
“Dominant, that’s it,”
Hicks said. “We are aggres-
sive. We like to hit. All the
stuff that I was (saying)
before the season started,
we’re everything that we
said we were. And hope-
fully we can get to another
level for these playoffs.”
The Bears aren’t alone.
Six of those 10 most effi-
cient defenses are playing
this weekend: Baltimore,
Houston, the Chargers, Dal-
las and Indianapolis.
Ball-control offense and
dominant defense have been
a tried-and-true formula for
teams like Baltimore and
Seattle, who have combined
for three Super Bowl cham-
pionships and five appear-
ances in the title game this
century with that recipe.
The Seahawks still have
that capability despite the
absence of most of the stal-
warts from the Legion of
Boom such as Sherman,
Earl Thomas, Kam Chan-
cellor, Michael Bennett and
Cliff Avril.
But Bobby Wagner
remains at middle line-
backer, Frank Clark has
been an elite pass rusher,
and coach Pete Carroll’s
scheme is still effective
after all these years.
“You either believe in
something or you don’t,”
Carroll said. “I think just
staying the course and
knowing we’re on to some-
thing. Believing in the his-
tory. We know what we’re
capable of doing. We’ve
shown it over a lot of years.
You’re always adapting, but
it’s staying what you’re true
to. I think that’s what is hap-
pening. We look like a team
that we have seen before,
and that’s powerful.”
Seahawks place
safety Delano Hill
on injured reserve
By TIM BOOTH
Associated Press
Scott Clause/The Daily Advertiser via AP
New Orleans Saints receiver Michael Thomas makes a catch during an NFL football game against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday in New Orleans.
Saints, Rams and Bears finish as top 3 in AP poll
By SIMMI BUTTAR
Associated Press
NEW YORK — The chase to
Atlanta is on.
The regular season is over
and there are 12 teams remain-
ing in the run to the Super Bowl.
And at the top of the AP
Pro32 poll, the new year starts
right where the previous one
ended.
The New Orleans Saints,
Los Angeles Rams and Chicago
Bears, the top three seeds in the
NFC, retained their top three
spots in the final AP Pro32 poll
of the season.
New Orleans received 11 of
the 12 first-place votes for 382
points in balloting on Wednes-
day by media members who reg-
ularly cover the NFL. New Orle-
ans will open the playoffs at
home in the divisional round on
Sunday, Jan 13.
“The Saints lost in Week 1
and Week 17, both at home,”
said Ira Kaufman of Fox 13 in
Tampa, Florida. “In between,
Drew Brees and company estab-
lished themselves as the team to
beat in the Super Bowl chase.”
The Rams, who also finished
13-3 in the regular season, will
start their postseason at the Coli-
seum on Saturday, Jan. 12.
The Bears will close wild-
card weekend when they host
the defending Super Bowl cham-
pion Eagles on Sunday.
The next six spots in the poll
are all taken by the AFC’s play-
offs teams.
The Chiefs, who have the
AFC’s top seed, are No. 4. Kan-
sas City, which received the
remaining first-place vote —
from John Czarnecki of Fox
Sports — has won the AFC West
for three consecutive seasons.
Patrick Mahomes, who fin-
ished with 5,097 yards and 50
TD passes, will try to get Kansas
City its first home playoff win
since the 1993 season.
“MVP front-runner Patrick
Mahomes finished a brilliant first
season as a starter with 50 touch-
down passes,” said Newsday’s
Bob Glauber. “With home-field
advantage in the AFC playoffs,
is a Super Bowl berth next?”
The Los Angeles Chargers
and New England Patriots fin-
ished in a tie at No. 5 in the poll.
The Patriots, who won the
AFC East for the 10th straight
season and 15th time in the
past 16 seasons, are the No. 2
seed in the AFC. They are try-
ing to reach their ninth Super
Bowl in the Bill Belichick-Tom
Brady era. They are also trying
to become the first team since
the 1990s Buffalo Bills to return
to the Super Bowl after losing it
the previous season, and the first
since the 1992 Bills to make a
third successive trip to the big
game.
The Chargers, despite fin-
ishing with the same record as
the Chiefs at 12-4, lost the tie-
breaker and are the No. 5 seed in
the AFC. They will head to Bal-
timore to face the AFC North
champion Ravens on Sunday.
The Ravens are No. 9 in the poll.
AFC South rivals Houston
and Indianapolis are Nos. 7 and
8 in the poll. Those teams will
open the postseason in Houston
on Saturday when they meet for
the third time after splitting their
previous meetings.
“Just wish they had another
WR,” Czarnecki said of the Tex-
ans. Houston’s DeAndre Hop-
kins finished second in the NFL
with 1,572 yards, but the depth
took a hit when Demaryius
Thomas was lost for the season
with an Achilles tendon injury.
Seattle and Dallas, who meet
Saturday night in Texas, are 10th
and 11th in the poll. The Sea-
hawks and Cowboys both fin-
ished 10-6. They met in Seattle
in Week 3, when the Seahawks
won 24-13.
The team that made the big-
gest climb from the first poll,
which was released before the
season started, was the Bears,
who started out at No. 28 and
finished at No. 3. And the team
that had the biggest drop was the
Jacksonville Jaguars, who began
at No. 7 and ended up at No. 28.
RENTON, Wash. — The Seattle Sea-
hawks placed safety Delano Hill on injured
reserve after suffering a non-displaced frac-
ture in his hip in the regular-season finale
against Arizona.
The loss of Hill is somewhat countered
by the expectation that fellow safety Tedric
Thompson will be able to play after missing
the past two games with a pair of injuries.
Seattle coach Pete Carroll said on Tues-
day that Hill’s injury didn’t become appar-
ent until the day after the Seahawks closed
the regular season with a 27-24 win over
the Cardinals. Hill started the final two
games of the regular season at strong safety
while Thompson was dealing with chest
and ankle injuries that forced Bradley
McDougald to switch to free safety.
Hill had a fumble recovery in the Week
16 win over Kansas City and had five tack-
les last week against the Cardinals. The
loss of Hill will also have a trickle-down
in some of Seattle’s special defensive pack-
ages, as Hill has played extensively when
the Seahawks have gone to six and some-
times seven defensive backs.
“He can get around and all that but he
can’t play. He was playing great ball. ...
He played his best game. He played really
well, hits, running, tackling, all kinds of
good stuff. Pressuring. So a very bright
future for him.”
The expected return of Thomp-
son is an important boost for Seattle, but
there remain questions about cornerback
Shaquill Griffin after he suffered an ankle
injury in the first half against Arizona. Car-
roll said the hope is Griffin may be able to
practice some on Thursday before the team
leaves for Dallas.
On the offensive line, D.J. Fluker will
return to the lineup, but J.R. Sweezy is con-
tinuing to rehab his sprained foot and will
be a game-time decision. Carroll has said
Sweezy’s injury is typically a three-to-four
week recovery, but Sweezy is trying to
return after being hurt in Week 16.
“Sweezy is getting around pretty good.
We’ll have to see. It’s going to go all the
way until game time,” Carroll said. “He’s
getting around OK. He’s not in a boot
or any of that kind of stuff. He’s moving
around, but he’s very positive he can make
it back.”