Seahawks dig the long drive
Klint Kubiak, Sam Darnold have fixed Seattle's "disaster drives" problem and that's what makes the Seahawks so dangerous now
If you’ve ever watched Sex and the City right before you watched Mad Men* then you probably know what it must feel like to be Jaxon Smith-Njigba and to go from Shane Waldron to Ryan Grubb to Klint Kubiak.
The numbers you’re about to see will prove beyond any doubt that the Seahawks are more than just an offense with sexy numbers. Kubiak’s offense is one that fans can actually watch drive-to-drive without going mad, man.
*I don’t know what shows you like but since I referenced SATC last week and Seaside Jay and I are currently watching MM, it seemed like the appropriate entertainment reference for us
My greatest complaint about the Seahawks offense in the past four years, even more than the turnovers (did you know that Seattle went 7-1 last year when they turned it over 0 or 1 times and the only loss was from the blocked kick against the Giants?), has been their inability to avoid disastrous drives.
Three-and-outs.
Negative yards.
Zero yards.
Less than 10 yards.
Turnovers.
The Seahawks didn’t just have par-for-the-course bad drives. They had 5 or 6 per game. It’s been an epidemic and that was true for both Waldron and Grubb. I was never as quick as others to blame either coordinator, but I think I was wrong. As poorly as Waldron’s career has gone since leaving the Seahawks, combined with how much better the results have been since Kubiak replaced Grubb, it’s hard to buy that Sam Darnold is the only explanation for improvement.
It was difficult to stomach these drive outcomes from 2024:
But through 5 games, the drive averages have improved dramatically:
Drives ending in a punt are down 11%, while drives ending in a score are up 11% and drives ending in a touchdown are up 7.2%! There are areas for improvement, namely missed field goals and turnovers, but it doesn’t end there. The Seahawks have just gotten better since last year, they’ve also gotten better since Week 1:
Michael Dickson punted 5 times in Week 1 and 4 times in Week 2, but only 6 times in the last three games combined.
It’s not just that they punt fewer times. Seattle’s opening game against the 49ers looked a lot like the last few years, as they had 3 negative drives and two more fairly worthless attempts. Results got a little better against the Steelers, but then something clicked and the Seahawks have been near-perfect in the last three games. The research below will prove that to be true, I’m not just blowing smoke.
Kubiak is getting the job consistently done drive-to-drive and also week-to-week. This isn’t the same 3-2 Seahawks team that was also 3-2 last season. That Seahawks team won their first three games while struggling to consistently move the ball on offense. This offense can’t seem to get off the field unless they score a touchdown, kick a field goal, or give it to Jalen Milroe.
That’s why I want to compare the first 5 games of 2024 with the first 5 games of 2025. Comparisons are never going to be “fair” because of all the variables that change game-to-game and season-to-season, but this is the best I can do to highlight why this offense is so much better (and better to watch) than the past few at the same time of year.
We know the totals and the averages and they’re almost all improved across the board, but totals and averages fail to completely capture the feeling of why Seattle’s offense is better TV than it’s been in a long time. Are we entering another “Golden Age”?
-We’ll start with the Seahawks first 5 games of 2024 and the drives
-We’ll then compare that to 2025
-Finally, we’ll total all the “disaster” drives and prove an almost complete eradication of bad football by Kubiak since Week 1
Get your drinks ready, it’ll be 10 AM before you know it.