Seattle Seahawks defensive tackle Brandon Pili is expected to be fined by the NFL for a play in the teamâs game against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 13, and veteran lineman Leonard Williams says he might even help cover the cost. Speaking after practice, Williams acknowledged the hit may not have been âclean,â but framed it as a teammate sticking up for another, and a snapshot of the connection he believes defines this Seahawks defense.
Seahawks Defender Expected to Be Fined After Vikings Game
Late in his media session, Williams was asked about a specific play from the Vikings game involving Pili. The reporter noted that Pili is âprobably going to get finedâ for what happened on that snap, and Williams didnât disagree.
âI think Brandon Pili is probably going to get fined for that play in the Vikings game,â Williams said. He added that while the action wasnât perfectly within the lines, it came in response to contact on another Seahawk that he did not view as clean, either.
âI know itâs not a clean play per se,â Williams said, before pointing to what happened to his teammate on the same sequence. He stopped short of criticizing the officials or the league, but made it clear he understood why the NFL would take a look at it, and why the locker room saw it differently.
The fine has not yet been formally announced, but the expectation inside the building is that Pili will be hearing from the league office for his role in the exchange.
Leonard Williams: âHonestly, I Might Help Him Pay Itâ
If Pili does get a letter from the NFL, he will not be facing it alone. Williams smiled as he delivered the line that instantly summed up the mood on Seattleâs defensive front.
âHonestly, I might help him pay it,â Williams said.
To Williams, the play â and the likely fine â are less about the box score and more about the bond that has formed along the Seahawks defensive front.
âTo have your teammates back like that is⦠thatâs just what I just talked about with connection,â he explained. âThatâs the beauty of this team is weâre going to have each otherâs back in a lot of situations. Weâre going to fight for each other if we have to.â
Williams also made it clear he is not advocating for dirty football. He acknowledged again that it was ânot a clean play per se,â but noted that what happened to his teammate âwasnât very clean either,â signaling that players sometimes react in real time when they feel someone in their locker room has been put in a vulnerable spot.
For a younger player like Pili, having a high-profile veteran publicly offer to help shoulder the financial hit underlines how this group wants to operate â and why Williams believes this defense is different from ones he has been on before.
Williams Says This Is âThe Best Defense Iâve Played Onâ
Asked where this Seahawks unit ranks among the defenses he has played on in his career, Williams did not hesitate.
âItâs the best defense I played on,â he said.
Williams has lined up alongside plenty of talented linemen in other stops, but he keeps coming back to one word to explain what sets this group apart: connection.
He talked about âbuilding that trust, building that camaraderieâ with fellow interior linemen and highlighted how much communication and buy-in it takes for the front to function at a high level. Young players like Pili and others, he said, have impressed him by soaking up information, finding their voice and matching the effort standard veterans are setting.
He pointed to hustle plays â big men chasing down screens and running sideline to sideline â as the real markers of where this defense is right now. When older players in Year 10 and beyond are sprinting after the ball, Williams said, there is âno excuseâ for younger teammates not to do the same.
How the Seahawks Want to Make Offenses One-Dimensional
The physical edge that led to Piliâs likely fine also shows up in how Williams describes the Seahawksâ defensive identity.
Seattle currently ranks near the top of the league against the run, and Williams said that is by design. Shutting down rushing attacks, he believes, opens up everything else.
âI think that means a lot,â Williams said of their run defense. âIf you can just get ran through your defense, the offense can pretty much do whatever they want. [We] try to, you know, set teams to be one-dimensional as much as possible, make them throw the ball, and then that allows us to rush the quarterback, which [is] what weâre doing well at right now.â
As the Seahawks prepare for more matchups against top backs, Williams mentioned facing Bijan Robinson and the Atlanta offense, stressing that Seattle will not overlook a team with âa lot of weapons.â The fine that may be coming for Pili is, in his view, just one byproduct of a defense that plays on the edge, rallies to the ball and refuses to back down when it comes to protecting teammates.
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