The Seattle Seahawks pass rush absolutely annihilated the Giants in Week 4. Their 11 sacks tied a team record, and pushed them into the league lead after four games. Can we expect them to continue at this high level all season? Or was this a huge outlier for the Hawks?
Hi there, 12s. It's pretty nice to have an extra week to bask in the glow of a solid derriere-kicking like the Seahawks handed to the Giants, isn't it? You don't have to answer that; we all know the correct response. But I do have another question. Is the Hawks pass rush really this good? Can we expect them to keep the pressure on the opposition like this all year?
I won't keep you in suspense, as the short answer is no. Okay, that's it, thanks for reading! I mean I don't think our beloved Seahawks will sack the QB 11 times in each of the remaining 13 games. So no, they won't keep up the pace of 11 sacks per game. But can the defensive front keep up their torrid pace of 16 sacks over four games? Oh, heck yeah.
Why the Seattle Seahawks pass rush will keep the pressure dialed up
Before I dive into mathy stuff, allow me to reiterate that, yes, before the season began, I did say the Hawks would have a great pass rush this season. Actually, I don't have to get too mathy here, as I did all the heavy lifting in that article. Suffice it to say that some of my predictions aren't quite ringing true in the particulars. Derick Hall has yet to make a big impact. I still think he'll have his day, just like the great K.J. Wright said. Boye Mafe only has two sacks so far, but he ranks second in the league in ESPN's Pass Rush Win Rate, at 34.8 percent. Basically, he's beating his blocker and helping create havoc in the backfield. He already has five pressures in three games this year, after recording eight in the entire 2022 season.
Overall, though, I'm pretty comfortable with my projection of 62 sacks. With 16 sacks now, the Seahawks need 46 sacks over the remaining 13 games to hit that target. That's just 3.5 sacks per game. After they came up empty in the season-opening debacle versus the Rams, the pass rush has improved every week. They put Jared Goff on the turf twice in Week 2, then in Week 3 sacked Andy Dalton three times. Following that rate of progression, Seattle should register 60 sacks against the Bengals in Week 6. Hah, Joe Burrow thinks he has a sore calf now, just wait!