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Much has been made of the combined record of the Seahawks' remaining opponents.
It's a daunting 35-20. Over the next four weeks, it's an even dauntinger 31-13. With three of those games on the road. Against tough-to-brutal defenses.
But they're going to catch a break or two when it comes to the quarterbacking opposition.
The Data
QB's left on the docket: Kaepernick twice, Sanchez, Stanton, Hill
| QB | Career QB rating, TD-INT, Y/A, ANY/A, rush yds/g | 2014 QB rating, TD-INT, Y/A, ANY/A, rush yds/g | vs. Sea QB rating, TD-INT, Y/A, ANY/A, rush yds/g |
| Colin Kaepernick | 93.2, 46-17, 7.8, 6.74, 29.6 | 92.1, 15-6, 7.5, 6.35, 30.5 | 53.4, 2-5, 5.87, 2.99, 37.0 |
| Mark Sanchez | 72.8, 75-75, 6.6, 4.91, 5.3 | 86.8, 7-6, 8.1, 6.53, 2.0 | 40.7, 0-1, 5.64, 1.92, 0.0 |
| Drew Stanton | 70.2, 10-12, 6.6, 4.79, 10.6 | 79.0, 5-3, 7.1, 6.45, 6.0 | 54.8, 0-1, 5.74, 3.28, 5.75 |
| Shaun Hill | 84.8, 43-26, 6.7, 5.59, 8.3 | 71.3, 2-3, 6.5, 4.60, -0.3 | 93.7, 1-0, 6.47, 5.55, 18.5 |
Yes fine I'll average all those out, counting Kaepernick twice. It's not very statistically rigorous, but it might tell us something about what's on tap.
| QB | Career selected numbers | 2014 selected numbers | vs. Sea selected numbers |
| All 4 dudes | 82.8, 174-147, 7.1, 5.75, 16.7 | 84.3, 44-24, 7.4, 6.19, 14.6 | 59.2, 5-12, 5.92, 3.35, 19.5 |
The Observations
Kaepernick's 2014 numbers aren't that far off his career line. Then again, he hasn't seen Seattle yet. Look at his ball security versus the league -- exemplary. Look at it versus Seattle -- excretory.
Sanchez hasn't put up world-beating numbers to begin with. Hard to believe he "led" the Jets to consecutive AFCCG appearances. But then that 1.92 ANY/A in his only Seattle game.
One of these things is not like the other: Shaun Hill, of all people, is wrecking the curve with his 93.7 rating versus Seattle, and his perfectly not-terrible 5.55 ANY/A, which is what happens when you forget to throw an interception in two meetings. He's also faced the Hawks twice as a Niner; against the Holmgren and Mora teams. And Week 17 is not in Candlestick, it's in the CLink.
And Hill has never faced the LOB before.
The Seattle data isn't skewed by the historically kick-ass 2013 defense. Only three of the total starts, all by Kaep, came against that juggernaut -- the other guys have faced the 2008 and 2009 or 2012 or 2014 Hawks instead, who were/are not necessarily great at pass defense.
Stanton's history against Seattle is obviously short. He's also the worst guy, statistically, on a list that contains Sanchez and a journeyman who embodies the idea of average. So there's that.
Holy crap Stanton and Sanchez are very nearly career twins though.
Speaking Of Twins
The remaining opposition can be summed up like this:
- Their collective career line matches the career of, drum roll please, Matthew Hasselbeck (82.1 passer rating, 6.9 Y/A, 5.56 ANY/A).
- Their 2014 numbers match those of 2014 Ryan Fitzpatrick (87.1 passer rating, 7.7 Y/A, 6.34 ANY/A).
- Finally, their collective performance against the Seahawks match the illustrious career numbers of Jimmy Clausen (58.1 rating, 3-9 TD-INT, 2.99 ANY/A). Jimmy Clausen!
Conclusion
If Colin, Marky Mark, Drew and Shaun just repeat their past performances and greatest hits against Seattle (you're damn right that's a boy band joke), then the Hawks will have a decent chance to win every game. They'd even have a better than decent chance to go 4-1 to reach 11 wins. Look at it this way: If Jimmy Clausen was the opposing QB for all five games, flanked by a pretty good defense each time, would you be truly satisfied with 3-2? Didn't think so.
Maybe it's not so bad from here on out, if the toughest quarterbacking opponents are CK in SF and Shaun Hill at the CLink. With the LOB at last healthy and the Hawks' rushing attack displaying its usual potency.
Pete built his team from scratch for exactly this kind of stretch. His re-awakened forbidding pass defense and the ball-control big-play offense await the challenge.