The Anatomy of a Blow Out
Dec 2, 2013; Seattle, WA, USA; Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman (25) celebrates following a 34-7 Seattle victory against the New Orleans Saints at CenturyLink Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports
If you were watching the Saints-Seahawks game last night, and you probably were, then you saw the Seahawks absolutely dismantle a Saints team that was supposed to be their equal. The Seahawks have now clinched a playoff berth and are firmly in the driver’s seat when it comes to home field advantage in the playoffs. That isn’t technically clinched yet, but they are effectively three games up on the Saints and Panthers with four games remaining due to the fact they have beaten both teams.
Mitch did a fine job of recapping the game earlier and to do another recap would be boring for you and would test the limit of my vocabulary when it comes to synonyms for “domination”. Instead I thought I would throw some numbers at you to give you a sense of how good the Seahawks were and how bad they made the Saints look because last night was a pretty astounding beat down that way. What follows is the statistical anatomy of a blow out:
The Passing Game:
23 and 22: The number of completions by Drew Brees and Russell Wilson respectively last night
147 and 310- The number of passing yards by Drew Brees and Russell Wilson last night.
3.87- The yards per attempt by Drew Brees
10.33- The yards per attempt by Russell Wilson
80.1- The number of attempts Russell Wilson would have needed to reach 310 yards passing at the rate of Drew Brees.
30- The number of attempts it actually took him.
14.3- The number of attempts Drew Brees would have needed to reach 147 yards passing at the rate of Russell Wilson.
38- The number of attempts it actually took him.
4- The number of completions Drew Brees had for 10+ yards. Coincidently also the number of completions Russell Wilson had for 20+ yards.
18.4%- The percentage of attempts by Drew Brees that went for a first down.
46.7%- The percentage of attempts by Russell Wilson that went for a first down.
The Rushing Game
44- The number of total yards rushing by the Saints
47- The number of total yards rushing by Russell Wilson
127- The number of total rushing yards by the Seahawks
48.8- The number of rushes the Saints would have needed at their pace to reach that total.
Disclaimer: The Seahawks actually weren’t that dominant on the ground in this one, it was more impressive how they stopped the run so if I went much further it would be a manipulating the stats on purpose. The Seahawks did only get 3.3 yards per rush in this game after all.
Totals
3.4- The number of yards per play by the Saints
6.0- The Saints average yards per play this season
188- The total number of offensive yards for the Saints
347- The second lowest total they’ve put up this season
625- The highest total they’ve put up this season
415- The number of yards the Saints averaged per game coming into last night
122- The number of plays it would have taken the Saints to reach that total at last night’s pace.
Ultimately if you were watching last night’s game you don’t need to know this information to appreciate how much the Seahawks owned their competition in this game. However, it’s always fun to add insult to injury. If you know any Saints fans there are probably a few insults to be found in the numbers above. At least that’s my hope.