Seahawks beat Vikings: Pro Football Focus Signature Stats

As we do every week, here are a few notes and tidbits on the Seahawks' win over the Vikings from Pro Football Focus' Jim Seki. His notes in italics, and my comments follow.

Offense

-- Thomas Rawls averaged 2.89 yards after contact, just below his season average of 3.16. Ten of his 19 rush attempts were between the guards.

Rawls continues to prove that he's the real deal. If he can stay healthy the rest of the year, Seattle's run game should be in really good shape. Minnesota's run defense didn't come into this game as a particularly stout group (25th in rush defense DVOA) and it helped when they lost Lindval Joseph, Anthony Barr, and Harrison Smith, but Rawls' track record speaks for itself. He just continues to get yards after contact.

-- Between the two of them, Doug Baldwin and Tyler Lockett caught all 12 of their targets, combining for 184 yards and 2 TDs. Since the bye week, Baldwin has graded as the best receiver in the league while ranks Lockett 11th, catching 39 of their 45 targets (86.67%)

Seattle's passing game is really clicking right now and a big reason is that both Lockett and Baldwin can get open against pretty much anyone. Both run crisp routes and are on the same page with Wilson right now, and it obviously shows up in the box score. It's funny that for all these years people have wanted a big target for Russell Wilson and the most consistently productive receivers in the Wilson era have been short fast guys. Seattle's roster kind of reflects that these days.

Defense

-- After a couple quiet weeks, Michael Bennett posted his highest grade this year at +7.8.

Yeah, Bennett had himself a game, with a sack, three tackles for a loss, and two quarterback hits. This video by Brandon Thorne really illustrates how much of a nightmare Bennett is to gameplan against.

4 incredible plays from #Seahawks @mosesbread72 Bennett is an elite DL in this league. pic.twitter.com/Z3ueMmfVYy

— Brandon Thorn (@VeteranScout) December 8, 2015

With the emergence of Frank Clark and the continued solid play by Bruce Irvin, Seattle's nickel NASCAR package is pretty damn fearsome.

-- Frank Clark got more run on Sunday with no Jordan Hill and made the most of it. He tied a career-high 27 snaps played, played 51.9% of defensive snaps (highest usage in career), and finished with a +5.0 overall grade. He had two QB hurries, two QB hits, two sacks, and two  batted passes.

Crazy production from just 27 snaps. This is the Frank Clark we saw in the preseason.

-- Defensive stops: Wright 6, Bennett/Irvin/Wagner 3, Marsh 2

-- QB hurries: Bennett 4, Mebane/Clark 2

-- Coverage targets: Wright 8, Shead 5, Chancellor 4, Sherman/Wagner 3

Signature Stats

-- Russell Wilson is second this week with an NFL QB rating of 146.0. Adjusting for drops, spikes, etc, his PFF QB rating was 130.67, the best among QBs in Week 13.

Obviously.

-- Wilson was only under pressure on 30.3% of his dropbacks against the Vikings, and had an accuracy rate of 100%.

The offensive line is playing.... well? It's weird to say.

-- Seahawks O-line with their best performance this year, allowing only nine pressures (tied 9^th). Their 78.6 PBE this week ranks 12th, the highest it's been all year.

Whoaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

-- Baldwin vaults to the lead in WR rating at 141.3 with his Sunday performance. Lockett dropped to third at 132.2.

Again, both guys are balling out. It's really a bummer about Paul Richardson going to the IR because it would've been fun if he could've had a bigger role going forward. Next year, I guess.

-- Clark leads all 4-3 DEs in pass rush productivity at 20.2. He lined up on the right side of the defense 76.2% of the time. Of the five times he lined up on the left, he earned two pressures.

Clark breaking out in Week 13 is like finding a $100 dollar bill in your couch cushions. Or something good and surprising that you weren't expecting to find.