Bumpus: The most concerning numbers for Seahawks this season
Sep 19, 2022, 2:30 PM
Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith passes against the San Francisco 49ers on Sept. 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)
(AP Photo/Tony Avelar)
The Seahawks are 1-1 to start the 2022 regular season after a close and emotional win over the Denver Broncos and a 27-7 blowout loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
Even with Seattle coming out of the first two games with one win, the team’s issues on offense have been similar in both games this year. Plus, the offense has not scored since the second quarter of Week 1 and has combined for just 469 yards between the first two games of 2022.
So what numbers are standing out to former NFL receiver Michael Bumpus? He explained during Monday’s Bump and Stacy on Seattle Sports 710 AM.
“Time of possession. The Hawks had the ball 21 minutes, the 49ers has had the ball 38 minutes,” Bumpus said. “That means they are just controlling the game. They control the pace. They’re setting the tone.”
That came a week after the Broncos had a 7-minute advantage in time of possession in Week 1. The Seahawks notably finished last in the NFL in time of possession in 2021.
“Second one, number of plays ran by the offense. Two weeks in a row they ran under 50,” Bumpus said.
Against the Broncos, the Seahawks ran 49 plays on offense. This week in San Francisco? That would be 47.
“So not only are you not possessing the ball, for two weeks in a row, the other team has pretty much ran that,” Bumpus said. “You’re not getting your plays off.”
A big reason for that is lack of execution on third down. Seattle converted just two tries on third down out of seven on Sunday. Against the Broncos, the Seahawks converted seven of their first nine third downs, including penalties keeping drives alive. Overall they finished 7 for 12, though one of those failures was a kneel down.
“It’s all connected. You need to be around 60 plays on offense to really be moving. You need to be around 50% conversions on third down,” Bumpus said. “We just haven’t seen that the first two weeks. We’ve seen moments where things look good and they put some plays together, but that needs to happen throughout the game … If you want to win the ballgame, you must possess the football and be good on third downs. They have struggled in that department so far.”
Listen to the second hour of Monday’s Bump and Stacy at this link or in the player below.
