The Seattle Seahawks obliterated the Arizona Cardinals in Week 10, improving to a 7-2 record and first place in the NFC West.
Speaking of records, it’s shaping up to be a historic year for the Seahawks
on a number of fronts. How many records could Seattle set in one season?
Receiving yards, individual
Let’s start with the one you all know already. Jaxon Smith-Njigba, after another 93, now has 1,041 yards and continues to lead the NFL. Unless his season is over tomorrow, he will set the franchise record for receiving yards. That mark is 1,303 receiving yards by DK Metcalf in 2020.
That thing’s gonna get shattered. After that, though, two more records are up for grabs.
Receiving yards, NFL single season
JSN is chasing down three more league-leading marks. No Seahawks receiver has led the NFL in receiving yards this century, and the only one to ever do it was…Hall of Famer Steve Largent. If he maintains pace, he’d tie the best receiver in franchise history as the WR yards leader.
Which may be an NFL record. 1.964 yards by Calvin Johnson is very much still in the mix. He did it in 16 games, so we’d have an argument on our hands depending on the math, but it could also be the first 2,000 receiving-yard season in NFL history.
Again, much of this has been public knowledge since Week 5, but we’re past halfway and still full steam ahead JSN!
Fewest sacks allowed, Seahawks all-time
Sam Darnold and the offense have only been sacked ten times through nine games. That’s unbelievable. So unbelievable, that they are well ahead of pace to set the record for fewest sacks allowed in franchise history, currently at 21 in 1977.
Are they chasing the NFL team record for fewest sacks allowed? I mean not really. The game has changed so much, the record is technically four by the 1956 New York Giants, followed by seven by the 1988 Miami Dolphins.
The last 30 years? That mark is 11 by the 2003 Detroit Lions.
Most sacks, Regime?
Interestingly, on the other side, the defense is doing alright. With 32 sacks now, the team is still a bit behind the franchise record of 61 in a season, but ahead of the 47 put up by the 2013 Super Bowl defense. This one probably won’t end up as an all-time record, but “more sacks than Michael Bennett and company” is certainly something to celebrate.
Yards per attempt, NFL quarterbacks
Nonstandard statistical leaders? Yes! Go ahead and drop this one in the group chat. Darnold got a big boost here by going for 178 yards on a ridiculous 12 professional attempts against Arizona. Through the halfway point, Darnold has 9.92 YPA. That’s tied for first in the modern NFL era with the 2000 season from Kurt Warner. YPA doesn’t win any prizes, but it is a good indicator of the fun balance between explosive and reliable. 50-yard bombs are no good if you go 2-6 in between. Darnold-to-everyone – albeit mostly to JSN – is the most consistently explosive offensive force in 25 NFL seasons.
The best seasons from Tom Brady and Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers included.
For context, Russell Wilson’s best YPA season was 8.3.
Consecutive road wins, team and coach
The toughest challenge of the entire season is up next, in Los Angeles against the Rams. Should they win, it would be 11 road victories in a row. Not only would that tie the Kansas City Chiefs from the narrow-scoped tweet above, it would tie a couple other teams at 11 for fourth in NFL history. Only two New England Patriots runs would be above them, and the 1988-90 San Francisco 49ers. Nobody else active is remotely close.
Rush Yards, worst
I am kidding. Though the way the fans and about a third of the media still talk about it, one might expect this to have been true!
Seattle now has 1,029 rushing yards this season. While not great, they’re not on pace for one of their own 5-10 worst rush seasons, let alone NFL history. The weakest modern Seahawks season was 1,408 yards put forth by the 1999 team. If they stay on target, these guys will finish more like the 16-1700 range, which is good for only 15th worst in franchise history.
Not anything to celebrate, but they’re surprisingly bolstered by a very high ceiling. The defense holds almost every team to a bad game, about 55 rush yards. Seattle’s bad game is about 80. Their good game is like 84. Apparently their stupid weird division rivalry game is 198.
Bonus: Point differential
One last record this team is chasing. The best point differential in team history is 186, set by the 2013 Super Bowl Winners. Seattle currently sits at 103 with 8 games remaining. an average win of 10 apiece would do it.
