Between the Lines Notes: Seneca Wallace Needs to Throw It Away

Every week we're taking a look at sacks around the league. We looked at Aaron Rodgers and the Packers' sack problem in our main Between the Lines feature this week, but here are some other notes from Week Four.

• If a Dan Marino-style quick release is an offensive lineman's best friend, Seneca Wallace is becoming a lineman's worst nightmare. Wallace stepped out of bounds for a sack on a play where he could have easily thrown the ball away for an incompletion for the second time in two games. In this case, Wallace rolled out of the pocket and had plenty of time to throw. Eventually linebacker Freddy Keiaho, who wasn't a rusher on the play, came up to force Wallace to make up his mind. Instead of simply tossing the ball out of bounds (he was out of the pocket so any pass beyond the line of scrimmage would have not drawn an intentional grounding penalty), Wallace stepped out of bounds five yards behind the line of scrimmage. It goes into the books as the easiest sack of Keiaho's career, and clearly angered the Seahawks' offensive line--center Chris Spencer is seen throwing up his arms in disbelief at the end of the play.
There are only two logical explanations I can think of for Wallace's ill-advised stepouts. There's the possibility that he has not been properly coached to throw the ball away, or there's the option that he's avoiding adding an incomplete pass to his stat line, even if it costs the Seahawks some yardage. Neither one is good for the Seahawks.

• Joey Porter is 32 years old and Jason Taylor is 35 so the Dolphins need to start planning for their replacements. If Cameron Wake's first start is any indication, Miami should have one of those outside linebacker spots filled.

The former CFL star picked up three sacks in his first-ever start last Sunday. He had a favorable matchup, as he abused Bills fill-in tackle Kirk Chambers. Wake showed the speed to beat Chambers to the corner, but he also showed the power to drive Chambers back into quarterback Trent Edwards on one of his three sacks. It didn't hurt that Wake got to face Chambers in his first start of the season, but his speed and power gives Miami a third edge rusher to worry about.

• Patrick Willis' 2 1/2 sack day was one of the more impressive pass-rushing performances of the season. On two of Willis' sacks, he timed the snap count perfectly to give Kyle Boller no chance to flee. On his first sack tailback Steven Jackson (who was supposed to pick up the blitz) had barely gotten out of his stance before Willis had wrapped up Boller only 1.4 seconds after the snap (that's the fourth quickest sack of the season).

The Broncos' improved defense is one of the stories of the first month of the season, and Elvis Dumervill's eight sacks are a big part of that newfound success. But the way Dumervill has gotten those sacks also explains why the Broncos' defense has improved.

In the past, the Broncos have shifted philosophies and schemes as frequently as Brett Favre changes his mind. But this year, new defensive coordinator Mike Nolan has installed the 3-4 and has worked to get Denver's best players into favorable matchups.

Dumervill is clearly one of the Broncos best players, and Nolan has done a very good job of scheming to get him shots at the quarterback. Dumervill has two sacks when lined up against left tackles (Pro Bowler Joe Thomas and Flozell Adams), four against right tackles (three against John St. Clair and one against Cornell Green) and two against running backs (Deon Anderson and Michael Bush). By moving him around, Nolan has found tackles who can't handle Dumervill's speed (like St. Clair) and he's also managed to get him matched up against running backs.