Why the Seahawks are the hottest team entering the playoffs

[kearly]

Hawkblogger is hardly the next Nate Silver, but every now and then he does some rudimentary stat posts and unearths a nugget or two.

One of the stats he posted today blew me away.

Seattle did not start well in games 1-4, but in games 5-8 they had 7.7 YPA (yards per attempt) and a 4.1 YPC (yards per carry). Those are both solidly good numbers. Consider that Tom Brady finished this season with 7.6 YPA.

Then in games 9-12 those numbers jumped to 8.1 YPA and 4.4 YPC. 8.1 YPA is MVP caliber. Peyton Manning had a YPA of 8.0 this season. Among QBs who started most of the season, RG3 is #1 at 8.1 YPA.

Now get this, in the final four games Seattle posted an unbelievable 9.1 YPA and a 6.2 YPC. 9.1 YPA is unreal. Only once in NFL history (that I'm aware of) has a QB posted that kind of rate over a full season, and that was Peyton Manning in 2004 (9.2 YPA). One of his four MVP awards came that season. And 6.2 YPC is similarly ridiculous, that is Jamaal Charles territory.

I thought before the season that our offense with Wilson would be very good, but I never expected this. This is something else.

 

[kearly]

And before anyone says "but what about the Rams game", I would argue that the Rams game did not disrupt the trend. Seattle had 13.2 YPA and 5.1 YPC in that game, but scored "only" 20 points in large part to two penalties that wiped out huge plays and two punts that were snapped inside the Ram's 40 yard line.

If Seattle isn't penalized on the TD throw to Miller, that's 7 more points. If they get the 49 yarder to Baldwin, that's at least 3 more points. They very nearly kicked a FG instead of punting twice. If they make both that's 6 more. What if Chancellor doesn't botch that onside kick recovery at the Rams 40 yard line? Sure, kickers miss FGs, and maybe they have a turnover or something goes wrong, and you of course can't talk about woulda-shoulda's in a fluid game like football without acknowledging the asterisk that is the butterfly effect- but still, Seattle left a lot of points (and yards) on the field against the Rams. They could have easily had 36 instead of 20. The Rams game was very deceptive- Seattle's offense was punting more than usual, but they were still bringing it.

Oh and by the way, Seattle's red zone numbers the last several weeks have been nothing short of incredible. This team isn't just getting yards by the bushel, they aren't getting turned away at the end of drives almost at all.

If the Redskins beat us, seriously, hats off to them. They may not face a tougher test in the entire playoffs than what Seattle will bring next weekend.

 

[JSeahawks]

Dang Kearly, I thought for sure this thread was gonig to about Russ in his furs.

 

[kearly]

I have only highlighted the results. I think you might have just explained the process.