24 numbers that sum up the Seahawks’ 2024 season
Jan 26, 2025, 2:15 PM | Updated: 2:18 pm
The Seattle Seahawks’ 2024 season has the potential to be a launching point for the franchise.
Seahawks Final Grades: Evaluating the 2024 season
The Seahawks went 10-7 in new head coach Mike Macdonald’s first season at the helm, giving the franchise its first 10-win campaign since 2020. And after some initial struggles, the team closed on an upswing by winning six of its final eight games. The strong finish stemmed from a dramatic turnaround on defense, with Macdonald’s unit evolving into one of the league’s best over the second half of the season.
But there were still plenty of opportunities the Seahawks left on the table. They fell just short of the playoffs, with the Rams claiming the NFC West crown over Seattle by virtue of the strength-of-victory tiebreaker. And the offense sputtered through a disappointing season, which ultimately led to offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb being let go.
With Year 1 of the Macdonald era in the books, let’s take a look back at 24 stats that sum up the 2024 Seahawks.
THE BIG PICTURE
• 10 – The Seahawks won 10 games under rookie head coach Mike Macdonald, which made him the first head coach in franchise history to reach the 10-win mark in his first season at the helm. It was also Seattle’s first season with 10-plus wins since 2020. The Seahawks became the first 10-win team to miss the playoffs since the NFL went to a 17-game regular season in 2021. Over that span, all 14 other teams that finished with 10 wins made the playoffs – nine as wild cards and five as division winners.
• 2-5 – The Seahawks went just 2-5 against playoff teams, illustrating that there’s still a gap between them and the league’s upper tier. And those two victories over playoff teams each carried an asterisk. The Seahawks’ Week 1 win over Denver came in rookie quarterback Bo Nix’s first career start, and their Week 18 win over the Rams came with Los Angeles resting many of its top players.
THE DEFENSIVE TURNAROUND
• 17.5 – The Seahawks’ defense allowed just 17.5 points per game over the second half of the season, which was tied for the third-fewest in the league over that span. It was a stark contrast from the first half of the season, when Seattle’s defense ranked 21st with 22.7 points allowed per game.
• 304.8 – The Seahawks’ defense surrendered just 304.8 total yards per game over the second half of the season, which was the fourth-fewest in the league over that span. Seattle ranked 23rd with 357.6 total yards allowed per game over the first half of the season.
• 96.2 – Seattle’s defensive turnaround stemmed in large part from its massive improvement in run defense. The Seahawks allowed just 96.2 rushing yards per game over the final 10 weeks of the season, which was the seventh-fewest in the league over that span. That came after they gave up 148.4 rushing yards per game over the first eight weeks, which ranked 29th.
THE OFFENSIVE STRUGGLES
• 7.9 – The Seahawks faced an average distance to gain of 7.9 yards on third downs, which was tied with the Browns for such the longest such distance in the league this season. It also was tied for the fourth-longest distance in the NFL over the past five seasons and the second-longest distance by a Seahawks team over the past 30 seasons, according to Stathead.
• 53 – The Seahawks combined for a league-high 53 false start and offensive holding penalties, according to The Football Database. They committed 28 false starts, tied for third-most in the league. And the committed 25 offensive holding penalties, which also was third-most in the league.
GENO’s UP-AND-DOWN YEAR
• 9 – Geno Smith became the ninth different quarterback in NFL history to throw for at least 4,000 yards and post at least a 70% completion rate in the same season, according to Stathead. He was one of four QBs to accomplish the feat this year, along with Joe Burrow, Jared Goff and Baker Mayfield. Smith’s franchise-record 4,320 passing yards and a franchise-record 70.4% completion rate both ranked top-five in the league.
• 4 – Geno Smith once again showed a knack for coming through in the clutch, delivering four fourth-quarter comebacks. That was tied with Jared Goff and Jayden Daniels for second-most in the league, trailing only Patrick Mahomes. Smith has a league-best eight fourth-quarter comebacks over the past two seasons.
• 15 – Geno Smith threw 15 interceptions, which were the third-most in the league. That included a league-high four red-zone picks – two of which occurred inside the 10-yard line of Seattle’s Week 9 overtime loss to the Rams.
THE PASS PROTECTION WOES
• 38.5% – Geno Smith was pressured on 38.5% of his dropbacks, which was the second-highest pressure rate in the league among quarterbacks who made at least 12 starts, according to Pro Football Focus. Smith faced an average time to pressure of just 2.23 seconds, which was the fourth-fastest average in the league, per FTN Fantasy.
• 22 – The Seahawks surrendered 22 first-down sacks, which was tied with the Bears for the most in the league. The next-closest team was the Browns at 18. Seattle lost a league-high 141 yards on those 22 first-down sacks.
• 26 – The Seahawks ranked 26th in Pro Football Focus’ pass block grading. It marked the ninth time in the past 12 seasons that Seattle has graded 26th or worse in the metric.
THE SPUTTERING RUSHING ATTACK
• 23.5% – The Seahawks were stopped at or behind the line of scrimmage on 23.5% of their rushing attempts, which was the fourth-highest rate in the league, according to FTN Fantasy. Seattle ranked 26th with just 1.7 rushing yards before contact per carry, which illustrated a general lack of space for the running backs to get untracked.
• 37.2% – The Seahawks ran the ball on just 37.2% of their offensive plays, which was the fifth-lowest rate in the league. Seattle ranked just 28th with 95.7 rushing yards per game.
JSN’s BREAKOUT
• 1,130 – Jaxon Smith-Njigba finished 12th in the league with 1,130 receiving yards during a breakout second season. The 2023 first-round pick hit his stride midway through the year and went on a second-half tear, totaling 811 receiving yards over the final 10 games. He is one of 73 players since the 1970 NFL merger to reach the 1,100-yard receiving mark in either his first or second season, according to Stathead.
• 7 – Smith-Njigba’s breakout campaign was highlighted by a franchise-record seven straight games with at least 70-plus receiving yards between Weeks 8-15. He is the 50th player to accomplish that feat since the 1970 NFL merger, including the fourth this season. The others to do so this year were Cincinnati’s Ja’Marr Chase, Minnesota’s Justin Jefferson and Jacksonville’s Brian Thomas.
BIG CAT’s BIG SEASON
• 11 – Leonard Williams finished his monster season with 11 sacks, which made him the first Seahawks player to reach double-digit sacks since Frank Clark and Jarran Reed both achieved the feat in 2018. Williams also had 16 tackles for loss, which tied for the second-most in franchise history. He led all NFL interior linemen in both sacks and tackles for loss, while finishing in the top 10 of both categories overall.
• 8.5 – Leonard Williams did most of his damage over the second half of the season, totaling 8.5 sacks and 12 tackles for loss over the final seven weeks. During that span, he ranked second in the league in sacks and was tied for first in tackles for loss. Williams also a 92-yard pick-six and three pass deflections over that span. That made him just the second NFL player since 1999 – when tackles for loss became an official stat – to record at least eight sacks, 12 tackles for loss, three pass breakups and an interception over a seven-game span, according to Stathead.
THE PASS RUSH
• 24 – The Seahawks totaled 24 sacks over the final eight weeks of the season, which were the third-most in the league over that span. Seattle finished the year tied for eighth in the league with 45 sacks. And the Seahawks were able to do so despite sitting 17th in blitz rate at 23.6%, according to Pro Football Reference.
LOVE EXCELS
• 3 – Julian Love excelled in his first full season as a starter for the Seahawks, totaling three interceptions, 12 pass breakups, three tackles for loss and two forced fumbles. That made him one of three players in the league this season to record at least three picks, 10 pass breakups, multiple tackles for loss and multiple forced fumbles.
TURNOVER MARGIN
• -6 – The Seahawks ranked 23rd in the league with a minus-6 turnover margin. They committed 24 turnovers, which was tied for 24th. And they forced 18 takeaways, which was tied for 16th. Seattle went 9-1 when it won or split the turnover battle and 1-6 when it lost the turnover battle.
HOME BLUES
• 3-6 – The Seahawks went just 3-6 at Lumen Field, which was their worst home record since 2008. To put that in perspective, Seattle had just six home losses combined over a five-year span from 2012 to 2016. On the flip side, the Seahawks went 7-1 on the road, which matched a franchise record. It was the second-best road mark in the league this season.
TALENT TO MOLD
• 12 – The Seahawks had 12 players who finished among the top 30% of their respective positions in Pro Football Focus grading: Leonard Williams (fourth out of 126 interior defensive linemen), Julian Love (seventh out of 98 safeties), Devon Witherspoon (11th out of 118 cornerbacks), Charles Cross (tied for ninth out of 81 tackles), Kenneth Walker III (seventh out of 58 running backs), Jaxon Smith-Njigba (19th out of 133 wide receivers), Jarran Reed (19th out of 126 interior defensive linemen), Geno Smith (ninth out of 44 quarterbacks), Boye Mafe (25th out of 119 edge defenders), Coby Bryant (22nd out of 98 safeties), Zach Charbonnet (15th out of 58 running backs) and DK Metcalf (35th out of 133 wide receivers).
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