SEATTLE — For someone who makes a living stuffing the run, Jordan Hill sure knows how to run with an opportunity.
When the Seattle Seahawks lost nose tackle Brandon Mebane to a torn hamstring on Nov. 9, it opened more opportunities for Hill.
The second-year player has three sacks and seven tackles in the past two games. As the nose tackle in Seattle’s nickel package, which mostly plays on passing downs, Hill is expected to stuff the run and pressure the quarterback. He’s also seeing more action in regular packages.
Veteran defensive end Michael Bennett can be credited with taking Hill under his wing.
“We’ve been working with him every day to help him develop,” defensive end Michael Bennett said. “I feel like a proud father right now.”
Hill said he takes after the veterans.
“I know I have to step my game up to be consistent like them,” he said.
Historically good?
The Seattle Seahawks defense has been dominant over the past month.
Over the past four games, Seattle is allowing an average of 6.5 points per game. The 245 yards allowed Sunday was downright generous considering Seattle had given up 139, 164 and 204 yards in the previous three games.
Seattle’s defense is catching up to the league-best 2013 unit that allowed a franchise-low 14.4 points per game.
After a slow start this season, the Seahawks now rank best in the league in yards allowed (272.4) and No. 2 in points allowed (17.6).
Bennett is willing to compare Seattle defense to the 1985 Chicago Bears and Pittsburgh’s Steel Curtain of the 1970s.
“It’s about the legacy right now,” Bennett said. “Everyone has their Super Bowl rings, their Pro Bowls, their big contracts. We’re playing for each other.”
Cornerback Richard Sherman won’t go that far.
“I wish we could end that conversation,” Sherman said. “It’s always great to be mentioned in the same conversation as those guys. But they played by a different set of rules. They didn’t have the holding calls, the illegal touching. You could hit the quarterback has hard as you want.”
Meanwhile, Earl Thomas is simply jazzed as usual.
“I’m just riding this energy,” he said. “You’ve got to have a purpose in life. And I feel so alive right now.”
Okung shoves trainer
Sunday was not a good day for Russell Okung.
The Seahawks left tackle suffered a chest injury on the final play of the first half. He shoved a Seattle trainer as he walked off the field.
“He has a chest-wall bruise, and I’m not sure what that all means,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said.
Carroll said Okung was taken to the hospital, checked upon and released. Alvin Bailey replaced Okung and played well. The Seahawks had 105 of their 142 rushing yards in the second half.
Quick kicks
Russell Wilson’s interception at the end of the first half ended a string of 137 throws without a pick. … Marshawn Lynch became the seventh player in NFL history with at least four consecutive seasons of 10 rushing touchdowns and 1,000 rushing yards. … Sunday’s crowd of 68,526 was a CenturyLink Field record. The previous high was 68,454 during the NFC Championship last season. … Wilson is now (10-2) in December.
