I like watching the Seattle Seahawks. In what is becoming increasingly rare in both the college and pro ranks, Seattle actually plays good and aggressive defense quite consistently. This is especially true of their secondary. When's the last time you heard football commentators agree that a team's secondary is tough? Anymore, the words tough secondary play like the ultimate of oxymorons in football. However, in saying all this, I think Seattle's 14-9 Monday night win against St. Louis may have redefined how to win ugly. I'm not sure I've seen an uglier win than the one displayed on Monday night.
Not only was Seattle penalized 10 times for 83 yards, but quarterback Russell Wilson got sacked a career high 7 times for a loss of 48 yards. Those aren't even the really crazy numbers I'm about to present. For the game, Seattle managed to convert only 7 first downs - 2 of those via penalty. They were just 2 for 11 on 3rd down (18.2%). They ran a mere 40 plays for the game, 31 fewer than St. Louis. On 18 pass attempts, the Seahawks gained 91 yards (5.1 per), and on 15 rushes, the team gained 44 yards (2.9 per). Yes, for the game, Seattle gained only 135 yards from scrimmage (3.4 per play). Those numbers look bleak enough as it is, but I'm about to make them look a whole lot worse. You see, one of Seattle's two touchdowns came courtesy of an 80-yard pass from Russell Wilson to Golden Tate. Yes, a single play comprised 59.3% of the team's offense for the game. Without that one play, Seattle would have finished with just 55 yards of offense on 39 plays (1.4 per), and 11 yards passing on 17 attempts (0.6 per).
For the game, Seattle was: -16 in first downs, -31 in plays, -204 in yards, -48 in passing yards, -156 in rushing yards, -30 in penalty yards, -16:18 in time of possession, but +2 in turnovers. Yeah, as cliche as it may be, if a team wins the turnover battle, they have a chance at a victory, no matter how ugly it may be. The exception to this is the Dallas Cowboys, who seem to find ways to lose even when finishing a game +4 in turnover margin.
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