Unpredictable? Actually, Seahawks are right on track for stretch run
Dec 8, 2016, 11:18 AM
In the final four games of their last four seasons combined, the Seahawks have a 13-3 record. (AP)
(AP)
This has been the most unpredictable Seahawks season since Russell Wilson arrived.
That has been an assessment offered up to explain a team that has failed to score a touchdown in three separate road games this season yet has also defeated the Patriots (10-2) in New England.
Just one problem with deeming these Seahawks to be more inconsistent than ever: It’s not exactly true. Not when you look at Seattle’s performance over the first 12 games and compare to the team’s totals in Games 1 through 12 in the previous four seasons when Seattle went a combined 33-15. That’s a winning percentage of .688. At 8-3-1, Seattle’s current winning percentage is .708.
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From 2012 through 2015, Seattle scored an average of 24.5 points in Games 1-12. They currently average 22.
The Seahawks gave up an average of 17.5 points in Games 1-12 the previous four seasons. They’re currently allowing 16.2.
All of that is a long way of saying that Seattle is pretty close to being on track to what it has done the previous four seasons.
But what has distinguished Seattle in that time is the closing kick, because no one has finished like the Seahawks. At least not over the past four seasons when Seattle has gone 13-3 over the final four games of its regular-season schedule, the Seahawks scoring an average of 18.9 points more than they allow in that time.
It’s finishing mode. That’s the term that coach Pete Carroll applies to the way that his team charges through the end of the regular season – and for the last four seasons anyway – into the playoffs.
“It’s a mentality that our guys try and acquire,” he said, “and hold onto about focusing what’s right here in front of you right now and you try to do the most you can with that moment. So as you come down to finish time, we’re trying to do that longer than the other guys and just stay at it and just keep executing and doing the right things. It has been kind of the battle cry.”
Which means that Seattle is in a familiar position heading into the final quarter of its schedule. Now it’s up to these Seahawks to find that closing kick that has become this team’s signature.
