The biggest debate in Seattle this fall hasn’t been Obama or Romney, or even Inslee or McKenna. Instead, partisan camps have formed behind Seahawks quarterbacks Matt Flynn and Russell Wilson. After his starring role in leading the Seahawks past New England, Wilson seems to have won over most skeptics, but another performance like Thursday’s second half at San Francisco, when Wilson completed just three passes, could reignite the discussion about the rookie and his more expensive backup.
In defending Wilson’s starting role after a loss at St. Louis last month, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll put the blame for Wilson’s poor numbers on his own conservative handling of the offense.
“I really think this is me holding the lid on it right now,” Carroll told reporters. “And I’m overseeing all of that, and making sure that what’s more important to us is that we take care of the football – more than anything. I don’t care about the yards.”
Given the team’s strong defense and special teams, Carroll’s approach makes sense from the Seahawks. Surely, Carroll also feels like he’s protecting Wilson by relying on powerful running back Marshawn Lynch to carry the load offensively. I don’t think a detailed analysis of the team’s play calling bears that out.
To better understand the Seahawks offense, I downloaded play-by-play from each of the team’s seven games and coded it by down and distance, run or pass (counting scrambles as passes), result in terms of yards (including penalties, and penalizing turnovers as -56 yards +/- the change in yardage per this old Football Outsiders analysis), location on the field, situation (run, pass or neutral) and success (based on Football Outsiders’ baselines, which originally come from The Hidden Game of Football).
Overall, the Seahawks have been about equally effective passing and running the ball:
Play # YPA SD Suc ------------------------------ Rush 203 3.8 5.0 .41 Pass 199 4.1 16.5 .47
These numbers are very different than the official team totals, since they include turnovers, sacks and penalties. When you factor all that in, pass plays have averaged slightly more yards per attempt than run plays. They’re somewhat more likely to be successful (picking up enough yardage to make a conversion likely), but far more volatile because of big plays both positive and negative. That last factor is part of why most teams, who are more effective passing than running, tend not to just pass all the time. That the Seahawks are about equal in both areas means they are a good running team and a terrible passing one.
Overall, the Seahawks run and pass almost identical amounts, but that changes substantially depending on the situation. I called run situations first down and 10 (or fewer) or plays with one yard to go on any down, called pass situations third (or fourth down) with at least 4 to go and everything else neutral. Here’s how the Seahawks stack up by situation:
Situation Rush Pass Rush% ------------------------------- Neutral 70 82 .461 Pass 11 60 .155 Rush 122 77 .613
The percentages there make sense, especially since my definition of rushing situations is a tad more liberal than passing situations. The more important thing to note is how the Seahawks’ success in running and passing varies by situation.
NEUTRAL SITUATIONS Play YPA Suc ------------------- Rush 3.7 .41 Pass 2.2 .41
In neutral situations, the Seahawks are about equally successful. The reason for that low yards per attempt for passing plays is that four of Wilson’s seven interceptions have come on such plays, which is likely a coincidence.
PASS SITUATIONS Play YPA Suc ------------------- Rush 5.6 .18 Pass 3.5 .28
As you might expect of a team that struggles to pass, the Seahawks have had a rough time converting in passing situations. Note that the high yards per carry is a product of draws on third and long, which explains the discrepancy with the success rate.
RUSH SITUATIONS Play YPA Suc ------------------- Rush 3.6 .43 Pass 6.7 .57
Here is the most interesting layer of analysis. The Seahawks are decent when they run the ball in rushing situations, but tremendous when they play against type and pass the ball. Both yards per attempt and success rate show how effective these plays have been. Narrowing to first and 10 plays only strengthens this conclusion:
FIRST & 10 Play YPA Suc ------------------- Rush 3.9 .36 Pass 7.2 .58
While yards per carry go up, the success rate of runs–which need five yards on first and 10 to be considered successful–goes down because we’re no longer factoring in picking up short-yardage situations. Meanwhile, passing plays become even more effective, netting better than seven yards per attempt. Of the Seahawks’ five best plays this season, four–including the game-winning touchdown to Sidney Rice against New England–have been passes on first and 10. Wilson excels at selling the play action, giving receivers an opportunity to get open deep downfield.
By running on first down, Carroll and offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell believe they are protecting Wilson by trying to avoid third and long situations where opposing defenses can bring pressure against an offensive line that struggles to block edge rushers. However, by reducing the likelihood of picking up early first downs, they’re also making third down plays more likely. One other thing the numbers show is that the Seahawks have been ineffective when it comes to converting third and short or medium–aside from third and one, a likely running down.
Dist # Suc --------------- 1 12 .667 2 5 .200 3 8 .375 4 13 .462 5 12 .333 6 7 .286 7 5 .400 8 2 .500 9 5 .200 10 9 .000 10+ 13 .077
Now, the obvious counterpoint to arguing the Seahawks should pass more on first and 10 relates to game theory. Part of the reason these pass plays are so successful is because opposing defenses expect to run. The more the Seahawks pass, the less successful each pass will be. Here’s where I think the research Aaron Schatz published on FO based on a conversation with me comes in. Going into the San Francisco game, the Seahawks offense had been at its best by far during the first quarter, ranking eighth in the NFL in DVOA. The Seahawks were also 17th in the fourth quarter, but near the bottom of the league (27th and 26th) during the middle two quarters.
The difference between the way the Seahawks play in the first quarter, when their plays are scripted, and the second and third periods can be traced in part to their run/pass balance. Here’s how that looks by quarter in run situations:
Qtr Run Pass Run% --------------------- 1 26 20 .565 2 28 17 .622 3 33 16 .673 4 35 24 .593
The Seahawks come out aggressively, attacking down the field with play action, then settle into a more conservative style of calling plays, especially after halftime. During the fourth quarter, they’ve frequently had no choice but to pass when trailing, with generally positive results.
It makes no sense for the Seahawks to morph into the Saints and start winging the ball around the field 50 times a game. That would be a waste of Lynch’s talent, and too much to put on Wilson, the line and a group of receivers that have been plagued at times by dropped passes. By maintaining their more balanced play calling from the first quarter deeper into games, however, I think they can avoid some of the three and outs that have been all too common during the middle quarters. Letting Wilson pass may ironically be the best way to take the pressure off of him.