Former Seattle Seahawks safety Earl Thomas, now with the Baltimore Ravens, told members of the Baltimore media the defensive schemes the Ravens run are very complex compared to what he was used to in Seattle, “where we just ran Cover-3 all the time.”
It’s no secret that Seahawks coach Pete Carroll has always run a simple, yet effective, defensive scheme. And it’s no secret that running a Cover-3 defense almost exclusively is a lot — I mean a lot — easier when you have a future Hall of Fame free safety like Thomas roaming center field to cover the deep ball.
Add in a strong safety like Kam Chancellor and a corner like Richard Sherman, and one would think Carroll could have run nearly any defensive scheme with success.
However, the debate will forever rage on, similar to the “chicken or the egg” question. Were Sherman, Chancellor and Thomas great because Carroll ran a system that maximized their talents, or were they always destined for greatness and Carroll’s simple defensive scheme looked better because of their greatness?
It’s a question that is hard to answer, although Carroll and his defense will be under heavy scrutiny in 2019 now that no members of the famous Legion of Boom remain on the roster.
If the defense is able to succeed with lesser players, then perhaps Carroll and his simple defense are what make this team great after all.
