Seahawks DL Michael Bennett is even more devastating than you realize

I refuse to narrow down a man who lines up in as many places as Michael Bennett does to just one position on the defensive line. As usual, he was all over the place against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. He made plays from damn near everywhere, too. I had Bennett with seven total tackles, including two tackles for a loss, two pressures and three hits on the quarterback, as well as two other plays where he didn’t make the tackle but he totally blew everything up so his teammates could.

One of those plays was a third-and-1 with 8:46 left in the first quarter. Bennett was lined up as the left defensive end in a five-technique between Vikings rookie right tackle T.J. Clemmings and tight end Kyle Rudolph. He not only beat both of their blocks, but also managed to blow up backup tight end MyCole Pruitt, who was pulling from the backside, before taking on Adrian Peterson in the backfield and forcing him to go laterally while losing ground. Eventually, Seattle Seahawks safety Earl Thomas and a host of others took AD down for a loss of 2 yards which forced Minnesota to punt. But it all started with Bennett’s penetration.

That was just one of the big plays Bennett made that won’t show up on anybody’s stat sheet, and it helped the get the ball back for his offense.

He made another, likely more impactful play that might also escape notice if you didn’t watch the game. After making it all the way down to the Seahawks’ 23-yard line, the Vikings were facing a third-and-6 with less than a minute to go in the third quarter. Vikings backup running back, the one they like to throw to, Jerick McKinnon ran a quick slant after releasing outside the left tackle and was able to get inside of Seahawks linebacker K.J. Wright.

McKinnon looked to be in good position to pick up the first down with a nice throw and that catch may have given the Vikings some momentum as they were heading toward the red zone. Hell, maybe they could’ve punched it in for once and scored a touchdown instead of all those field goals. Imagine if the Vikings went into the fourth quarter leading the defending NFC Champion Seahawks 13-0 instead of 9-0.

How much did they lose by again?

But alas, none of that shit happened either.

What happened was that the Seahawks used their other starting defensive end, Cliff Avril, as a spy of sorts on that play. Avril was lined up at his normal left defensive end spot before the snap with Bennett at left defensive tackle right beside him in a super wide three technique.

On the snap of the football, however, Avril dropped a couple of steps back and started mirroring Teddy Bridgewater just in case he wanted to take off running. Wright was lined up as the edge rusher to the right, so when he dropped with McKinnon, the Seahawks technically didn’t have an edge rusher on either side.

To make up for this, the Seahawks lined up outside linebacker Bruce Irvin and inside linebacker Bobby Wagner in both A gaps and sent them on a blitz, which gave ultimately gave them four rushers on the play. At the same time, that also left the Vikings with five linemen to block four rushers. Somebody was going to have to beat two people.

That somebody was Michael Bennett.

First, Bennett beat Vikings guard Michael Harris with a jab step inside to get him to move inside and shorten the corner, swiping Harris’ hands off when he tried to punch. Clemmings seemed surprised that Bennett beat Harris so quickly, because even though he appeared to be sitting on Bennett’s rush while eyeing Avril, Bennett was able to ping pong off of Clemmings and right at Bridgewater’s legs.

Bennett didn’t get Bridgewater on the ground for a sack, but he did keep him from being able to set his feet and throw to McKinnon on the crossing route. Bennett’s hit also knocked Teddy off balance and forced him to stumble right into the path of a charging Avril, who blasted him in the chest and knocked him down for an 8-yard loss.

The Vikings kicked the field goal and life goes on, but they didn’t score another point all game because of the missed field goal at the end. You will see Avril’s name on the stat sheet for the sack there, but not Bennett, who was the bringer of devastation on that play.

Had they scored a touchdown there ... I mean, 10 points ended up winning the game ... I’m just saying!

Gotta say, it was really, really hard watching Bennett on film this week after reading recent comments by former Tampa Bay Buccaneers GM Mark Dominik as to why the team let him walk instead of re-signing him in 2013. Rarely is someone willing to share an assessment so wrong this many years later that defies parody, but here we are.

I do like the comment about it being an “organizational decision,” because I’ve always maintained them letting Bennett walk was more of a reflection on ex-Bucs head coach Greg Schiano not understanding how to deal with grown men who have opinions, even his most talented players.

I think Bennett was out of there after he stated, correctly, to the media that the staff had called a stupid blitz at the end of the Washington game at home that season, which pretty much cost the Bucs the game. Even considering how we could’ve locked that kid down for super cheap long before he even reached free agency still gives me the vapors.

Dah well.