Seahawks vs. Vikings: Pro Football Focus Signature Stats notes

To preview the Seahawks' matchup with Minnesota on Sunday, our friend from Pro Football Focus, Jim Seki, sent over some notes on a few signature stats. Here's what Jim had to say (and follow him on twitter).

Signature Stats:

-- Adrian Peterson may have won the rushing title but he also finished the regular season averaging only 2.35 yards after contact per attempt. That ranks 25th of 52 running backs who played at least 25-percent of their team's offensive snaps. The real kicker is that in the PFF era (since '07), that's his lowest yards after contact per attempt output.

-- In the Week 13 game between the Seahawks and Vikings, Teddy Bridgewater attempted four passes over 20 yards, and all were for Stefon Diggs. Three were incomplete with the other being an interception. Minnesota also took the "Green Bay" approach and avoided Sherman's side of the field.

-- Four of five Vikings losses came when their opponent rushed for more than 100 yards (and that's not including a game that went to OT). Marshawn Lynch is back, but there will be rust after an eight-week layoff. Christine Michael will need to keep up his solid play to establish the ground game.

-- Vikings TE Kyle Rudolph only has one TD when lined up as an in-line TE, something that's plagued Seattle all year. His go-to routes are quick outs (14 targets), hitches (14), and crossing routes (12).

-- Neither Linval Joseph (out) nor Harrison Smith (left in the first quarter) featured in the first go-around, so the Vikings defense will be drastically improved this time. Joseph is the third-best interior defender while Smith is the top safety. The Seahawks' kryptonite is the interior defender that wreaks havoc, and Joseph has 25 QB pressures and 24 run stops on the year.

-- The Seahawks only blitzed 10.8% of pass snaps in Week 13, their third-lowest blitz rate of the season. On the year they have a 21.8% blitz rate but last week, Kris Richard called far more zone blitzes than previous weeks.

-- A lot has already been made of the game-time temperature, and Blair Walsh & the kick coverage unit allows the opponent to start at the 22.6 yard line (league average is about 21.5). This is even stranger since he has the fifth-best kickoff average distance at 70.7 yards. It's as if he outkicks his coverage on kickoffs so it is possible that the cold will be beneficial for the Vikings when corralling Tyler Lockett.

Content:

-- PFF All-Pro Team with Richard Sherman making the first team, Doug Baldwin, K.J. Wright, Earl Thomas, and Tyler Lockett on the second team, and Michael Bennett as an honorable mention.

-- Grade recaps from the Week 17 Seahawks and Vikings games.

-- Handicap of the Wild Card game referencing some key PFF stats.