Seahawks 2016 offense was better than you think
By Keith Myers
The offense for the Seattle Seahawks may have been frustrating to watch, but the results suggest it was better than most fans want to admit.
The offense for the Seattle Seahawks was absolutely terrible throughout the 2016 season. Right? Isn’t that what everyone keep saying? Seattle’s offense was complete incompetence and the only thing stopping the Seahawks from winning a Super Bowl. Right? Right?
Well, not exactly. The offensive line was terrible, but the offense as a whole wasn’t bad. It wasn’t good either. In the end, Seattle’s offense was average. The statistics back it up across the board.
Seattle was 15th overall in yards per drive. They were also 15th in points per drive and 18th in TDs per drive. Throw in the Seahawks being 16th on 3rd downs, and you can see why calling Seattle’s offense “average” is appropriate.
The advanced metrics agree as well. Seattle finished 17th in offensive DVOA according to Football Outsiders. Again average.
In some ways Seattle’s offense was better than average. They finished 10th in passing yards despite a low volume passing attack. They were 6th in yards per pass attempt as well. Just imagine how good they’d have been if Wilson hadn’t been playing hurt all season or had even the slightest amount of pass protection.
In other ways the offense was below average. The Seahawks 24th in yards per rushing attempt, which is part of why they ranked 22nd in plays per drive and 22nd time of possession per drive.
Overall, Seattle offense doesn’t get the credit it deserves. It was actually 5th in the NFL at avoiding 3 and outs. I found it to be rather surprising that only 18.4% percent of Seattle’s drives ended in a three and out.
Perhaps the reason that the Seahawks’ offense is looked at as being among the worst in the league is simply because too many of their drives ended in field goals. A pathetic 46.6 percent of Seattle’s red zone possessions resulted in touchdowns.
Next: Injury regression suggests that Seattle will be better next year
If it wasn’t for those red zone difficulties, it wouldn’t be so difficult to convince people that the Seahawks’ offense was terrible. The truth is that it was better than you thought it was.