Quandre Diggs Spectacular Seahawks Interception
The Seahawks quotes, scheme, and technique behind Quandre Diggs' spectacular overtime interception in week 18 versus the Los Angeles Rams:
The panic of seeing a wide open Van Jefferson deep in Seattle territory. The rising “Oh he’s got him!” excitement of Mark Sanchez in the booth. And then a streak of Seahawks blue entering the frame to undercut Baker Mayfield’s intended target for the interception. The noise from Lumen Field, and lounges across America, was a beautiful mix of relief, astonishment and jubilation. Quandre Diggs’ overtime INT versus the Los Angeles Rams was spectacular.
“I mean if I use language, I would probably use some bad language because dude was wide open,” Diggs reflected post game. “In my mind I’m just thinking the worst, you know what I mean?”
“Yeah, I said one too,” defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt agreed on the bad language, speaking Tuesday. “As I saw the play develop, I was sitting there looking and was like, ‘Oh God. There are eight people in protection and it’s a two-man route. He’s going to be back there cooking steaks.’ My eyes transitioned back there, and I saw 12. I was like, ‘Oh no,’ but then I saw Diggs.”
This was Sean McVay’s best play for the biggest moment.
“It was a situation, if you look at that. That guy broke his corner route off about 25 yards deep, you know?” Pete Carroll explained to Seattle Sports on Monday. “And so that play becomes the middle safety’s play. And it’s unusual when it happens like that, but it happened a couple of times in the game. And he [Diggs] saw both of them.”
The Seahawks were in a cover 3 defense, McVay schemed up a concept that stressed the coverage to the point of breaking. “They drew it up perfect,” praised Diggs afterwards. “You know they got us in the coverage that they wanted us.”
We broke the play down in detail—scheme, technique, and all—in the latest Seattle Overload:
As a mystery Seahawk congratulated to Diggs afterwards: “cover 3 beater, you went and still took that bitch.”
Diggs’ catch was so special. “Oh man I felt like I was 25 again, running and jumping in the air,” Diggs shared post-game. “So for me it was just one of those plays.”
“The guy gave him a shot, you know?” Carroll described to Seattle Sports. “That’s a ball hawk, that’s a guy that can manage all of that space. Think about all of that space and the angles, you know, he has to figure out. And just did it perfectly and timed it up exactly right. And caught the ball over his back shoulder, you know? Extended, the ball kinda got through his hands a little bit, you know? Just a fantastic play. But that’s just knowing the game.”
Hurtt also talked about the geometry involved in Diggs’ path to the snag.
“Ball skills is a unique trait that I think doesn’t get talked about enough on the backend and Quandre’s ball skills are through the roof,” Hurtt said on Tuesday. “He’s unbelievable with that. That’s a lot of space. It’s like playing center field in baseball. The ball is up in the air and everybody in the world is looking at you to see if you are going to catch the gosh darn thing and that was a heck of a grab. It’s impressive.”
As for the magnitude of Diggs’ pick? Well, the Seahawks surely wouldn’t have made the 2022 playoffs without their free safety’s moment. But the play also carried personal significance for the man who turns 30 later this month.
“That’s probably my favorite interception ever, because just the atmosphere, you know everything that went along with this game and this interception, you know what I mean? It was dope,” Diggs shared post-game.
Having reflected on the pick, Diggs went further. “It's definitely special,” he said on Wednesday. “I mean, you grow up, and you always see Michael Jordan and Kobe and you've got guys like Kyrie now, and I know LeBron gets a lot of—I don't want to hate, but he's one of the most clutch players of all time, too. To come through in that moment for my team, being a captain, I think that's what made it so much more sweet.”
However, beyond the comparisons to basketball greats, Diggs was keen to outline the importance of the football team. “I just think the honor, that's extra,” the veteran safety continued. “I don't really care about that. It's cool. But for me just to be and do that for my teammates, I think that's what's more important for me because the individual stuff, I honestly don't care about the individual stuff. I care about us winning games and being able to get into the playoffs. That's always been what's the most important thing to me.”
Diggs on Wednesday, then, was thinking about the Seahawks’ exciting future rather than the past. “I think it's special,” he finished on the pick. “You still think about it, but you move on. You just go, I hope I can make one of those plays this weekend and propel us to win the game. Maybe this time I'll pick six it.”