The Seahawks started their offseason on Monday and coach Pete Carroll didn’t waste much time identifying an area where he wants to see the team improve next season.
Carroll wants to juice up the pass rush before the start of the 2013 season. The Seahawks didn’t sack Matt Ryan at all in their 30-28 loss. Young players like Bruce Irvin and Greg Scruggs are expected to develop into bigger contributors, but Carroll said that it won’t be enough to just count on players already on hand.
“We need another pass rusher,” Carroll said, via the Tacoma News-Tribune. “We really do. That’s why we went out and got Jason (Jones) last year. And we’re going to have to double it up. We need a couple of guys.”
The Seahawks defense allowed the fewest points per game in the league even with a pass rush that ranked in the middle of the pack in terms of sacks. That’s not the only way to measure the impact of a pass rush, of course, but it’s easy to see why the team would be excited about upgrading that area to go along with their excellent secondary and run defense.
Jones is a free agent again this offseason and Carroll was noncommittal about the team’s plans to bring him back to the team for another year. He also said defensive end Chris Clemons, who led the team in sacks this year and who they clearly missed on Sunday, is expected to have surgery on his torn ACL “relatively soon.”
