The defense in 2010 had a lot of struggles especially with injuries. In the beginning of the year we were having somewhat of success but then injury after injury lead to us to enduring some big plays made against us.
Defensive Line: This is big highlight for us during the beginning of year as we were able to get pressure and defend the run. Red Bryant, Brandon Mebane and Colin Cole had proven themselves before in years past and were again doing a very decent job. Then Big Red had a season ending injury and Chris was moved into his defensive end where he emerged as a great end and had 11 sacks for the year.
After the season we made sure to keep Bryant and Mebane around by extending their contracts. This was a good foundation along with Clemons for 2011.
Linebackers: For 2010 we hoped that Aaron Curry would be faster and more reliable seeing that 2009, his rookie season. We had drafted him 4th overall that year and we needed him to play like it. We needed more production out of him. We also needed Lofa Tatupu to be health. The previous three seasons he had suffered injuries that kept him sidelined for most of the seasons. We really needed him to be on the field leading the defense as he was the cornerstone that held it all together. And for our weak side linebacker, Leroy Hill had been suspended for some off field activities, meaning we had to rely on unproven linebackers in 2010.
The season for the group was not what we had hoped for when it was all said and done. Lofa had a few minor injuries that kept him out of games, especially toward the end of the season. Curry really did not shine like we needed him to. And the absence of Hill all year left a gap that was not permantely filled with outstanding performances by either Will Herring or Matt McCoy. 2011 needed to be a year were we fixed a few problems in these positions.
Defensive Backs: During 2009 we had an horrific year when it came to our pass defense. Our secondary was a huge benefactor to this. So with Pete Carroll coming to town and having been a defensive backs coach immediately addressed some of these issues. In the draft he drafted two safeties and a defensive back. All three of these guys had great potential, especially Earl Thomas who many people had been comparing him to Troy Polamalu of the Pittsburg Steelers. Now this was a huge tale to live up to but sure enough he started living up to it. He had a great 2010 season where he flew around the field. We also signed Jordan Babineaux who had been on championship caliber teams and been a large contributor to those teams successes.
2010 turned out to be an improvement, though it was not difficult, on the 2009 season. We still were not were we needed to be. Babineaux helped fill the hole to allow Kam Chancellor, one of the 2010 draft picks, to really ease into the position. With the glimpses of Kam throughout the year, the hard hitting kid out of Virginia Tech showed a lot of potential. With Earl Thomas back there as well, our deep field coverage and run stop were terrific. The corners on the other hand were not as terrific. Marcus Trufant had a few injuries in 2009 but set out to have an outstanding 2010. He did look more like his youthful self where he went to Pro Bowls, but not completely there. And on the other side, Kelly Jennings was down right bad. 2011 really needed to be a year where we made some acquisitions and changes on that corner.
These actions taken by the Seahawks in 2010 started laying the foundation for what Pete Carroll really wanted to see out of a defense under his rein.
Next time I will look into the 2011 season and how the offense panned out to be.
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