Pete Carroll’s Seahawks are the best in the NFL at “winning ugly”

The Seattle Seahawks’ 16-10 win over the Los Angeles Rams marked the second time this season that the Hawks prevailed despite scoring just one touchdown. However difficult the game may have been to watch, it puts Seattle above Los Angeles on the head-to-head tiebreaker for first in the NFC West, and that’s exactly the outcome we were hoping for two weeks ago, even as the Seahawks were sitting at 1-2.

Statistically, teams that go an entire game with a maximum of one touchdown have a very low win percentage. In today’s NFL, scoring is at an all-time high and the rules are geared towards benefiting the offense. I suppose it’s only fitting that in typical Pete Carroll fashion, the Seahawks have defied statistical trends and are the only team since 2012 to have a winning record when getting into the end zone just once (or none at all).

(Note: Playoffs are included)

If you want to take a peek at the games in question, click here.

Not only are the Seahawks over .500 in games in which they don’t score multiple touchdowns, it’s not even close for 2nd place. As if that wasn’t enough, yesterday was the 26th time that Seattle has scored less than 20 points. Their record when they score less than 20 is a full 20% better than the next best team, the mighty New England Patriots.

If you’ve followed this team throughout the Russell Wilson era, which is coincidentally the entirety of this franchise’s existence, you should be accustomed to seeing Seattle in a handful of close, low-scoring affairs on an annual basis. The 2013 side began its run to the Super Bowl with a 12-7 win at Carolina and then had a real-life 5-0 halftime score against the 49ers the very next week.

As much as you may bemoan 16-10 and 12-9 scorelines given the talent on the offensive side of the ball, you can’t deny how successful the Seahawks are at “winning ugly,” and that’s a big reason why they’ve won at least 10 games for five (and hopefully six) straight seasons.