Throughout most of the year, it always felt that most of the pressure without blitzing was because of great coverage and/or defensive "games" like twists/stunts/etc.

Those can happen in the playoffs, but against better coached teams, good QB's (Big Ben and TB12), and good offensive lines, that will never work for an entire game. You need guys winning one-on-one more often. Yannick was not a huge a factor today either.

Also, on the backend, Gipson is very good. But teams have had a few years to adapt to Seattle's coverage scheme. And the guys that really make that system work are Earl Thomas and Bobby Wagner. The other guys are really good, but those two have otherworldly great speed, field coverage, and anticipation. Telvin is not at Wagner's level. Jack has the raw skills but he not quick enough at diagnosing plays (he made some mistakes on "receiver hand offs" throughout the game). And Gipson is no where near Thomas.

Because of that, you cannot just play base. You have to mix in more man, more press, and more blitzing as the game progresses.

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