Seahawks, Week 3 — What Repeats: Picks Came Against Four Rushers

Washington sent five or more pass rushers at Seattle on 24 of 47 dropbacks on Sunday. That is 51 percent, the third-highest share any offense faced this week, and it is far above the 32 percent this offense saw across all of last season. Sam Darnold handled it. On those 24 dropbacks he completed 17 of 24 throws for 238 yards and two touchdowns, with no interceptions. The damage came on the other side of the ledger. On the 23 dropbacks where Washington rushed four or fewer, Darnold went 14 of 21 for a hundred 41 yards, two touchdowns, and both interceptions. The extra rushers never got him to the ground either — no sacks on the day. So the passing yards the Recap quoted came mostly against the extra rushers. The ball was lost against the base rush.

The two interceptions are not the same ball, and the charting says so. Sonny Styles's interception in the third quarter was charted contested but not interception-worthy — a defender arriving with the receiver, not a throw a defender should have caught. Kain Medrano's pick-six with four oh nine left was the one charted interception-worthy, and it was also a contested ball. It came off a play fake, against a four-man rush. So across Seattle's 46 charted throws, one was interception-worthy. That is about two percent, 20-third of the 32 offenses this week, nowhere near the reckless end. Two of them still ended up in Washington's hands.

Play-action is where the notebook meets a new quarterback. Seattle faked the handoff on 16 of 47 dropbacks, 34 percent, fifth of the 32 teams this week and well above the 25 percent this offense ran all last season. The rate held for a third week. The perfection did not. Drew Lock had thrown all but two of Seattle's passes over the first two weeks and had completed all 16 of his play-action throws. Darnold threw every Seattle pass but one on Sunday, and off the fake he went 11 of 15 for a hundred 54 yards, with the Medrano interception among the misses. On everything else he went 20 of 30 for 225. Both halves of the day produced, and neither was clean.

The ball itself was accurate and crowded. 39 of Seattle's 46 throws were charted catchable. That is 85 percent, fifth-highest in the league this week, and this offense was at 72 percent across last season. But 12 of the 46 were contested, 26 percent, fifth-highest this week. Last season this offense threw a contested ball on nine percent of its throws, so Darnold threw into traffic at about three times the usual rate. Jaxon Smith-Njigba drew 14 targets and 12 of them were catchable; he caught 10. Two of the 39 catchable balls were dropped, one by Smith-Njigba and one by Jadarian Price, five percent and a shade above the league median.

The run game gets a short paragraph because the yards were short. Seattle ran 17 designed plays for 39 yards, 2.3 a carry, second-worst of the 32 teams this week. The box explains some of it. Washington showed six or fewer defenders on five of the 17, 29 percent, when this offense saw a light box on 54 percent of its designed runs last season. Those five light-box runs gained seven yards. The 10 runs into a seven-man box gained 34, and the two into eight or more lost two. Three weeks, three different boxes — 95 percent light in Week 1, three of 40 in Week 2, 29 on Sunday — and this was the first week the yardage collapsed.

On defense, one line has now repeated three times. Seattle showed Washington a light box on 11 of 28 designed runs, 39 percent, eighteenth of the 32 defenses this week. It was 40 percent in Week 1 and 44 in Week 2. Across all of last season this defense showed a light box on 74 percent of opponents' designed runs. Three games at roughly four in 10, against three in four a year ago. Washington gained 2.9 yards per designed run, the sixth-fewest any defense allowed this week.

The pass rush kept going the other way. Seattle sent five or more rushers on five of 35 Washington dropbacks, 14 percent, 30-first of 32 this week; only Miami sent five or more less often. That number has fallen every week — 26 percent, then 19, then 14 — from 22 percent across last season. What the coverage got instead was a defender at the catch point. 11 of Marcus Mariota's 31 throws were contested, 36 percent, third-highest share any defense produced this week, after four percent a week ago in Arizona. Mariota's play-action was contained too: four completions on eight throws off the fake for 26 yards, and the longest of the four gained nine.

The stat lines have settled, so here they are, scored half-PPR. Smith-Njigba, 30.4: 10 catches on 14 targets for a hundred 28 two touchdowns, plus a 14-yard completion of his own. Darnold, 27.7, 31 of 45 for 379, four touchdowns, two interceptions. Cooper Kupp, 12.6, four catches for 46 and a score. AJ Barner, five catches on nine targets for 69, 9.4. George Holani caught all five of his targets for 48. Emanuel Wilson, nine carries for 14. For Washington, Terry McLaurin caught six of nine for 77 and a touchdown, 16.7; Mariota 19 of 31 for a hundred 83 three touchdowns, 20.4; Rachaad White eight carries for 35 and a receiving score, 10.6.

One more time on the yardstick, because this is the last week for it. Every comparison above is to last season, a different roster. From next week the show measures Seattle against Seattle's own games this year.

The thread, for anyone joining now. Seattle went 14 three last season. This year it beat New England 13 to 10, won 31 to seven at Arizona, and lost 33 to 31 at Washington, so it is two and one. Last week's notebook held three things. 16 for 16 off play-action would not last, and the question was whether the rate would — the rate held at fifth in the league, the perfection ended, and the man throwing changed. The run game had gained about the same per carry into loaded boxes as light ones — that broke, at 2.3 a carry into a mostly loaded box. And the defense had stopped showing the light box that defined it last season — a third week says so. What is new is the pass rush getting smaller every week and the ball still coming out contested. Seattle hosts the Chargers next. Watch the four-man rush snaps, because that is where the ball got lost.

That's your Seahawks — every game, by the numbers. This is Muffed: we do the same deep dive for all 32 teams. Follow the Seahawks show wherever you're listening, so next week's recap lands the moment it's out. No theater. Just the football.

And if you play fantasy, there's a Muffed show built around your exact roster — free at muffed.ai.

_Data via nflverse. Charting: FTN Data via nflverse._