This Seattle Seahawks defense will face a stiff test versus a Sean Payton-coached offense in Week 6. The Denver Broncosare the opponent on Thursday Night Football. Mike Macdonald's unit must attempt to make the Broncos offense one dimensional.
The Seahawks currently have the 11th-ranked rushing defense in the NFL. They are allowing opponents to rush for 100.4 ground-yards per game. The San Francisco 49ers rushed for just 94 total yards against the Seahawks in Week 5, with Christian McCaffrey limited to 68 yards (albeit with a touchdown, and an average of 6.8 YPC).
The Broncos are not running the football effectively. They currently own the 25th-ranked rushing attack. Payton's ground-and-pound unit is averaging just 86.2 rushing yards per game. Their collective 3.6 yards per attempt is tied for fifth-worst in the NFL, and they've rushed for just three touchdowns in five contests.
Rookie running back Jonah Coleman remains on IR for the Broncos. Starter J.K. Dobbins is averaging just 3.6 yards per carry. No. 2 choice RJ Harvey isn't finding more running room, averaging just 3.7 YPC. ESPN Analytics has the Broncos' run-block-win-rate (RBWR) as 19th best in the NFL.
If the Seahawks defense shuts down the Broncos' rushing attack, that makes their offense overly reliant on quarterback Bo Nix. Nix is not playing particularly well right now. Macdonald's game-plan should center around stopping the run.
This article originally appeared on Seahawks Wire: Seahawks can make Broncos offense one dimensional on TNF