The Seattle Seahawks headed into this season fixing to have one of the NFL's best secondaries, at least on paper.
The presence of veterans like Quandre Diggs and Jamal Adams, the second-year return of 2022 Pro Bowler Riq Woolen, the draft addition of No. 5 overall pick Devon Witherspoon and the triumphant return of Bobby Wagner gave many fans "Legion of Boom" flashbacks.
But that paper has been crumpled up and tossed into the incinerator, as the underachieving Seahawks haven't seen the defensive talent live up to expectations. Seattle (6-7) finds itself on a four-game losing streak headed into Monday night's home game against the Philadelphia Eagles (10-3) at Lumen Field.
However, the struggles have been noticeable for Woolen in particular. Coach Pete Carroll and defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt admitted as much when speaking to the media this week.
"There's some aspects of his game that have gotten better," Hurtt said. "Others we just have to continue to improve upon. That starts with us coaching him, making sure he understands exactly how he needs to do it, getting that level of consistency. Still a young player, second year in the league. Has done a lot of good things. But there's still a lot of room in his game for him to continue to grow."
As Gregg Bell of The News Tribune points out, Woolen has eight missed tackles this season, which is tied for 10th-most in the league. He also has eight penalties for 122 yards, which is the most penalty yardage for a single player in the NFL this season.
On Monday, Carroll said that Woolen's tackling ability needs to be "continually addressed."
“It hasn’t been the season he had dreamed of," Carroll said. "He got a knee injury in camp ... it took a lot out of him. His tackling needs to be continually addressed so he doesn’t get knocked around, doesn’t miss his opportunities, missed a couple the other day. We’re continuing to try to develop him, but I think it’s been a work in progress, it hasn’t been the smooth transition from year one to year two and capture all of the benefit of that, he’s working hard at it.”
Despite his struggles, the defense's failures obviously aren't all on Woolen. The Seahawks have surrendered the eighth-most passing yards per game (243.6) this season and the seventh-most points per game (24.5).
This season, Woolen's posted 43 total tackles, two fumble recoveries, nine passes defended and two interceptions.
Seattle will need Woolen to find the Pro Bowl-level he played at as a rookie last season if the team want to secure a season-saving win over the Eagles on Monday night.
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