{"id":3119,"date":"2017-01-13T09:01:52","date_gmt":"2017-01-13T17:01:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/understanding-the-pass-game-was-big-in-wagners-evolution\/"},"modified":"2017-01-13T09:01:52","modified_gmt":"2017-01-13T17:01:52","slug":"understanding-the-pass-game-was-big-in-wagners-evolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/sports\/understanding-the-pass-game-was-big-in-wagners-evolution\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding the pass game was big in Wagner’s evolution"},"content":{"rendered":"

RENTON, Wash. \u2014<\/strong> Listing all the ways Seattle linebacker Bobby Wagner believes he\u2019s a better player than four years ago when the Seahawks last came across the Atlanta Falcons in the postseason would be lengthy.<\/p>\n

At the top of the list would be his improvement as a pass defender.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of routes that I probably did not see when I was a rookie,\u201d Wagner said this week. \u201cI have more knowledge of the game than I did back then.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ask around and you\u2019ll get raves from teammates, opponents and observers about the linebacker Wagner has become heading into Saturday\u2019s NFC playoff game at Atlanta. He led the NFL in tackles during the regular season, was voted to the All-Pro team for the second time in his career, and in the playoff opener against Detroit last week had another 10 tackles to lead Seattle.<\/p>\n

Wagner\u2019s always been a stout run defender and an excellent tackler. He\u2019s been steady playing behind a Seattle line that does its job keeping offensive linemen from getting to the second level. But Wagner agrees that his understanding of the passing game is the big reason he\u2019s making enough tackles to lead the NFL. And why he\u2019s grown from being a question mark when he was drafted in the second round in 2012 to one of the premier linebackers in the NFL, a Defensive Player of the Year contender.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like my route recognition is a lot better; it\u2019s not where I want it to be, but it\u2019s a lot better,\u201d Wagner said. \u201cIt has allowed me to get more tackles because my breaks are cleaner because I know where the routes are coming or I know where to expect the ball to be thrown. It\u2019s something I really worked on.\u201d<\/p>\n

A lot the knowledge of the air game has come through experience. Not surprisingly, Wagner also turned to a pair of teammates in particular to help improve in those specific areas of understanding pass coverage and recognizing tendencies: cornerback Richard Sherman and fellow linebacker K.J. Wright.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Sherman) I feel is the best corner in the league, so if you have the best corner in the league why wouldn\u2019t you ask him for what he sees? And I feel K.J. recognizes routes better than anyone I\u2019ve seen before,\u201d Wagner said.<\/p>\n

Sherman\u2019s resume doesn\u2019t need explanation. He\u2019s been one of the top cornerbacks in the NFL for the past five seasons. Wright, while often overlooked because of the rest of the stars on Seattle\u2019s defense, has been a critical part of the Seahawks\u2019 pass coverage since he became a starter as a rookie in 2011.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talked a lot on the field about adjustments about splits, about formations,\u201d Sherman said. \u201cHe started to see the things that I saw. We would watch film and I would show him the things that I saw and the indicators that I had.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s learning those pre-snap reads that have allowed Wagner to never sub out. Both Wagner and Wright have become every-down linebackers who remain on the field even in obvious passing downs. Seattle\u2019s base defense has sometimes morphed from using three linebackers to going with five defensive backs. But even in those circumstances Wagner \u2014 and Wright, usually \u2014 stay on the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe big thing is the pre-snap clues as far as anticipation in what is coming and just studying quarterbacks. A lot of quarterbacks are the same and a lot of combinations are the same, so whenever you see someone going out, you know something is coming in,\u201d Wright said. \u201cSo just little small stuff that I believe that we both have improved on and has shown up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Notes: <\/strong>Seattle coach Pete Carroll said DT Tony McDaniel (concussion) and FB Marcel Reese (foot) will both play against the Falcons. McDaniel missed last week\u2019s game against Detroit. … Carroll was coy about the status of RB C.J. Prosise, who returned to practice this week after he suffered a broken shoulder blade in mid-November. Carroll said they would make a determination Friday as to Prosise\u2019s status. \u201cWe\u2019re not sure how we\u2019re going to do that but we\u2019ll check him after the whole week\u2019s work,\u201d Carroll said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RENTON, Wash. \u2014 Listing all the ways Seattle linebacker Bobby Wagner believes he\u2019s a better player than four years ago when the Seahawks last came across the Atlanta Falcons in the postseason would be lengthy. At the top of the list would be his improvement as a pass defender. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of routes that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-3119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3119\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3119"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=3119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}