In two years at Seattle, Durde and head coach Mike Macdonald have transformed the Seahawks’ defence.
It is the first time Durde has worked with Macdonald – also a defensive coach – so his first season was “a year of real growth, understanding and adapting” in which the new coaching regime “built a foundation, we got on the right path”.
Seattle finished the 2024 season with a 10-7 record and missed out on the play-offs on a tie-breaker. In hindsight, it may have been a blessing in disguise, giving them an extra year to build.
“I’m not going to lie, we wanted to get in,” said Durde. “But once the season’s over, you self-scout, work out how you improve, and we went through that process.”
In 2023, Seattle’s defence was ranked second-worst against the run game and third-worst overall. In Macdonald and Durde’s first season they climbed to mid-table in both.
This season the Seahawks’ defence is ranked third-best against the run and has conceded the fewest points (17.2 per game).
“There’s a lot of defences that are middle of the table in the run game and still play excellent defence, they still stop points,” said Durde.
“But if you’re really trying to create an identity, a style of play, and you want to make it hard for everything [your opponents] do, it all starts with stopping the run.
“That’s been a focus point since we got here, and it’s been a stacking process as we go through.”