Even if the offense didn’t get the memo, the defensive turnaround continues
Good morning and Happy New Year, unless you’re associated with the Los Angeles Rams or a Pro Bowl voter. In which case — may your fingers be ever beset with hangnails, may a small dog surreptitiously urinate on your favorite shoes, may a lanky booger dangle from your nostril all day without anyone telling you, and may every coffee you drink in Seattle be decaffeinated, regardless of how you ordered it.
That’s like therapy! Strong recommend.
Seattle Seahawks. Defense. Back on topic, John.
Yes. So, unlike that construction project near your house, the 2024 defensive tracker is actually almost finished. And it’s full of good news! Not as good as we’d maybe hoped after the lava-hot 3-0 start, nor as good as we’d again hoped during the promising four-game win streak later. But good news nonetheless. The ‘23 team was so inept in so many ways; the new-look Seahawks have settled into solidly “ept.”
In traditional stats, they’re:
- 20 percent better at preventing third down conversions
- 13 percent better at red zone defense
- 12 percent better at yards allowed
- 14 percent better at limiting first downs
(Note: percent and percentage points are not the same. For a more pedantic explanation, please consult the comments section, or your local pedant.)
Tracker 1
Seattle is also allowing 2.2 fewer points per game. Yes. That’s a logical outcome when teams make fewer first downs and settle for FGs more often.
In the final season recap I want to fold in more stats, which will — spoiler — generally confirm that the defense is not only improved, but better than league average all around.
In acronym town, the improvement is even more noticeable. In defensive EPA and DVOA, the Seahawks ascended from 30th and 28th respectively to 11th and 13th.
Those are two of the most respected and widely cited analytical metrics out there. Success rate too, which is why it’s in the tracker.
Things are getting better fast. Any additional step forward and the 2025 defense is top 10 at worst. Top 5 is within striking range. That would cover for a whole slew of offensive missteps. Not that there will be any stumbles left to make behind a revamped, resurgent, respected offensive line, the likes of which John Schneider is guaranteed to assemble.
Tracker 2
You can even see it in missed tackles. While a drop from 9.5 to 8.1 might seem negligible, that’s one less missed tackle per game, which might easily mean one less score here and there.
With the way the Seahawks play, one less score here or there is the difference between one extra win at some point. One extra win anywhere this season would’ve mattered a great deal, no?
So many sacks against Chicago. Rookie quarterback caveat applies here of course, but if there were two areas the 2024 team had been underperforming by a wide margin, sacks per game was a main glaring one. Coming in, they trailed their 2023 counter parts 2.9 to 2.3; post-Bears, the gap is considerably narrowed. Just like Caleb Williams was considerably harrowed. (Can’t believe they let me write this every week, what kind of blog is this?)
Tracker 3
Leonard Williams, he of the nine sacks, 15 tackles for loss, and 26 QB hits, from the interior of the defensive line, a Pro Bowl alternate?
Make it up to him in the All-Pro voting, people.
One more game left. A winning season, sure, but colored with a dash of what could’ve been. It’s not a storybook start to the Mike Macdonald era, but it answers more questions than it poses, which I can’t wait to get to after the Seahawks demolish the Rams on Sunday.