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The Seahawks' continued commitment to the run game

By Davis Hsu
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
A few tidbits on the Seahawks running game....

Seattle ranks tops in the NFL in both their commitment and success in the run game. The Seahawks stay committed to running the ball in a league dominated by passing. The Seahawks run the ball 34 times per game, while the NFL league median is about 27 running attempts per game.

The Seahawks are 2nd in the NFL in rushing yardage per game at 154.4, they trail only the Eagles at 165.0 yards per game.

They are trailed by the 49ers at 143.3 YPG, Redskins at 141.5 YPG, Bills at 140.4 YPG, Packers at 134.7 YPG, Panthers at 130.2 YPG, and Colts at 129.3 YPG. The NFL league median yards per game is about 108 YPG.

Out of the Seahawks' 433 offensive plays through seven games (average of 62 per game), the Seahawks have attempted 238 runs and 195 passes; in other words, the the Seahawks run the ball 55% of the time. The league median after seven games for the NFL is about a 41% run percentage.

There is one team that runs more than Seattle as a percentage of total plays: the 49ers. San Francisco runs 56% of the time, but have attempted only 414 plays total (232 runs and 182 passes).

Only four teams run more than 50% of the time: the 49ers (56.0%), the Seahawks (55.0%), the Panthers (54.2%) and the Bills (50.6%).

Only four other teams run between 46%- 50% of the time: the Colts (46.7%), Eagles (48.0%), Raiders (49.0%), and the Jets (49.4%).

Only six teams attempt more than 30 rushes per game: the Bills (34.3), Seahawks (34.0), Panthers (33.5), 49ers (33.1), Eagles (31.9), and the Jets (31.3).

The Falcons and the Giants are the only teams that run the ball less than 20 attempts per game and/or 33% of the time (Falcons at 19.2 attempts and 31.9% of the time, Giants at 18.8 attempts and 32.7% of the time).

Explosive plays

The most explosive running team is the Eagles. They average 165 yards per game rushing on only 31.9 attempts, for a sparkling 5.2 YPC average. Chip Kelly may be losing in the NFL, but he has found a way to bring his explosive running game from Oregon to the big show.

The Redskins are still explosive at 5.1 YPC, good for 2nd in the NFL. The Seahawks rank 7th in YPC at 4.5. The league median is 3.9 YPC through seven games.

The Packers run game is way better than I had realized - 134.7 yards per game (6th best), and 4.9 yards per carry (3rd best). The Colts have the 8th best run game in terms of yards per game at 129.3 and 8th best in YPC at 4.5.

The 49ers have a league best 12 runs of over 20 yards. The Raiders are second at 10 runs of over 20 yards. The Seahawks are tied for 3rd place in this category with the Eagles and Redskins with 8 runs of over 20 yards.

I will pass on some passing stats and defensive stats soon.

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