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How much you want to blame run-run-pass for the Seattle Seahawks’ stalled drives in the regular season and playoffs is up to you. They were guilty of overusing the sequence.But I’m here to offer another culprit. Using data.We know the Seahawks had good and bad games on offense; games where they looked unstoppable and games where they stopped themselves just fine Authentic Shaquem Griffin Jersey , thank you. So I compiled drive details for the whole season (and the wild-card game, too), to isolate precisely what got most in the way of scoring.This project will take weeks, plural, so look for follow-ups as the offseason zombies its way to the draft and beyond. But I’ve decided to focus on offense because it feels inevitable that Pete Carroll will bring the 2019 defense to a higher plane of performance than we saw in 2018. It’ll be on the offense to keep up; any step forward would possibly allow the Seahawks to win a couple more games while the Rams stew over their karmic last-second Super Bowl loss and figure out how to extricate themselves from the Todd Gurley contract.Anyway, drives and scoring. There were 180 last year; I charted 161 of them, removing kneel-downs, end-of half surrender drives, and any drive ending in a turnover, as those interrupted a possession before its “natural” outcome could be discovered. No sense in trying to guess whether a drive would have resulted in a score, if only the defensive back had dropped the ball or the Seahawk had recovered his own fumble. (Fortunately, the Seahawks hate turnovers like your five-year-old self hated mushrooms, so that wasn’t a lot of lost drives.)I tracked what happened to a drive when a 10- or 15-yard penalty went against Seattle, when Russell Wilson got sacked, and when neither of those unfortunate events unfolded. In certain drives, a sack and a major penalty may have both occurred.There’s two ways I want to break up the data, and two major conclusions I want to share. As always, numbers can elicit more than one valid interpretation. Hey. This isn’t social media. There are multiple right answers and nobody’s an idiot for suggesting the opposite of what you or I conclude.First four games (2-2 record)Overall points per drive: 1.9 PPD with penalty: 0.6PPD with sack: 0.3PPD without either one (no flag, no sack): 2.8Remarks: The Seahawks averaged 2.6 points per drive on the season according to my methodology. You can see, rather evidently, that they did not start the year well in any category. In September, a holding penalty or a sack meant basically zero points were gonna come on that possession. There were a total of two (2) scoring drives that overcame a flag or sack. Both resulted in field goals. As the Seahawks were figuring out how to run their new offense, on the road three times, they made it even harder on themselves more often than was advisable.The offense was hard to watch in Weeks 1-4. They weren’t even that great when they managed to avoid big negative plays. Fortunately Authentic Duane Brown Jersey , it gets better. Way better.Next four games (2-2 record)Overall points per drive: 2.9PPD with penalty: 1.9PPD with sack: 1.1PPD without either one: 3.8Remarks: Now we’re clicking a little. It helps to play the Rams, Lions, Raiders and Chargers. It helps to be at home twice.That 3.8 number is enormous. Ten TD drives in 21 tries. The Seahawks scored touchdowns on 29 percent of drives overall last year, but about half the time in this midseason stretch. Even counting the Nick Vannett non-touchdown in Detroit Week 8, when he caught an apparent scoring pass on fourth down, but had stepped out of the end zone. Third part of the season (3-1 record)Overall points per drive: 3.4PPD with penalty: 5.2PPD with sack: 1.0PPD without either one: 3.8Remarks: The Kansas City Chiefs, whose offense led the NFL in points, yards and coolness, scored 3.1 points per drive on the season. They were nothing compared to the Weeks 9-13 Seattle Seahawks. Nothing. Too bad those teams never met in 2018 — wait.More on that later. Look at that 5.2, though. To collect holding penalties is not a sound scoring strategy. Still, they led to Seattle touchdowns in the third quarter of the season. Everything led to touchdowns. Obviously the 5.2 ppd is not repeatable. Obviously it’s noise. However, it is a testament to how the Seahawks offense had several moments in the season when they overcame a ton of adversity; even thrived on it.One bad Seattle number stands out, among all the offensive wizardry led by Wilson, the running backs, Tyler Lockett and Brian Schottenheimer. One hideous number. We’re going to get to that number later, when it shows its ugly face again in the final tally.Fourth quarter of the season (3-1 record)Overall points per drive: 2.4PPD with penalty: 2.3PPD with sack: 1.6PPD without either one: 3.2Remarks: This series of games includes the MNF defense-fest in Week 14, the Ethan Pocic holding debacle of Week 15, the glorious triumph over the Chiefs in Week 16, and the Sackapalooza of Week 17. It’s a mess for the offense, statistically, on a game-by-game basis, but as a composite quarter of the season, it doesn’t stand out so much. Everything is pretty much more or less in line.A lot of month-to-month numbers just threw themselves at you. Add it all up, why don’t we.Entire regular season (10-6 record)Overall points per drive: 2.6PPD with penalty: 2.3PPD with sack: 1.0PPD without either one: 3.3Rapid remarks: The hierarchy hinted at earlier manifests itself. The Seahawks offense is going to do better than a field goal when it avoids negative plays. A penalty doesn’t mean the drive is over. But a sack...Conclusion 1: Sacks were the worstSeahawks went from 0.3 to 1.1 to 1.0 to 1.6 en route to an overall 1.0 points per drive when a sack occurred. Short of a turnover Authentic Chris Carson Jersey , it was the worst thing that could happen to a Seattle possession. Gving up 51 of them, the eighth-most in the NFL, is a crucial part of understanding the offense’s failures. More plays that get the ball out quickly, more (gasp) running plays when the defense expects pass, and more decisiveness from RW would cut down on the drive-killers. And raise points scored, dramatically, more than maybe any other tweak.Easier said than done, though. Pete Carroll enjoys explosives, which demand time in the pocket. You can’t really run that often on 3rd and long, or even 3rd and medium. Wilson magic is going to come attached with costly sacks. They’re inseparable.But ten fewer sacks would mean more 3.3 points per drive... drives, and fewer 1.0-point drives. 41 sacks instead of 51 might mean another win or two, or possibly three, in a season where the Seahawks lost six times by a single possession. Conclusion 2: The poor bookends to the season obscure a larger reality.Which is, the offense was good overall, and great for long stretches. Elite. Comparable to the very best offenses in the league. Reread the remarks about the third part of the season. But when the offense was bad, it was bad and visible.Games 1-2-17-WC would be probably the offense’s worst four-game stretch.Overall points per drive: 1.9PPD with penalty: 2.0PPD with sack: 0.4PPD without either one: 2.8Each of those numbers is worse than the overall annual figures. Seven-tenths of a point off the average overall, and even the clean drives lost half a point. It doesn’t help impressions that in the wild-card game, two crucial drives were ruined, one by a sack and the other by a penalty. The sack came on third down and forced a punt; the penalty halted a drive in the fourth quarter. Those events tend to stick out in a first, and last, impression of a football team.It’s also important to remember that the Seahawks finished sixth in scoring for a reason, and tenth in scoring percentage (41.4) for probably the same reason: they can move the ball, they have the quarterback and the playmakers, they have coaches who’ve been there http://www.seattleseahawksteamonline.com/shaquill-griffin-jersey , they have the ability.Just not always at the right time.Recovering from sack-related setbacks is going to be one way the 2019 Seahawks can improve upon 2018. But with a quarterback who likes to push the envelope with his scrambles, and doesn’t always get the ball out quickly, taking more sacks than average is going to be a part of the Seahawks offense. That’s not changing. Like it or not. With Wilson, you take the drawbacks with the You take the “Nonononononono ahhh you needed to throw that, Russ” with the “NononononononoYESYESOHMYGODYES.” But maybe you try and take the under on 51 sacks again.This isn’t the end of my drive analysis — there is so much more to consider. Namely, did sacks affect the Seahawks more than the average NFL team, and how much did the decrease in penalties called on Seattle this season impact scoring in a positive way? I’d also like to dive a little deeper into some of the season’s most infamous drives, and the effect of run-run-pass sequences on scoring. (Who knows! It might even be positive. You don’t know until you look.)We’ll get to most of those questions, if not all. Week 1 isn’t exactly going to sneak up on us. Thanks to Adam Thielen, Minnesota's record book has already needed several revisions this year.Just past the midpoint of the schedule for the Vikings, Thielen leads the NFL in receptions (78) at a pace that would fall four short of the all-time single-season mark (143). He leads the league with 947 yards. Kirk Cousins, the new prize quarterback with the annual $28 million salary cap hit, without prompting recently called Thielen the best player on this standout-laden team.The accolades of this magnitude might not exist for Thielen, though, without Stefon Diggs.Thielen and Diggs are the only teammates currently in the top 10 in the league in catches, on pace for a combined 242. That would break the record for receptions by a pair of teammates, set in 1995 by Herman Moore and Brett Perriman for Detroit with 231.Opposing defenses are naturally less likely to apply double coverage on Thielen when Diggs is in a pattern at the same time, as evidenced by contrast in a victory over the Lions last week . With Diggs sidelined by a rib injury, Thielen didn't have much space. He used one of his textbook double moves to beat cornerback Nevin Lawson for a short touchdown , his seventh of the year, but he finished with only 22 yards for his lowest total since the 2016 season.The mutual benefit of this dominant wide receiver duo, though, began on the practice field years ago."We're always competing, we're always having fun Womens Jarran Reed Jersey , and we're always giving each a hard time if we're not performing at the level we know we can," Thielen said.If Thielen makes a catch in practice, Diggs will often make it a point to create even more separation from the defender the next time he's assigned to run the same route. That, in turn, frequently triggers playful yet spirited banter between the two."He's my brother. He's a guy I love messing with, love having fun with," Thielen said. "He's even one of my best friends."At a position that has long produced some of the NFL's biggest personalities, in some cases breeding a disruptive brand of selfish and boorish behavior, Thielen and Diggs are the anti-divas. Part of that is a product of their route, no pun intended, to the league.Thielen was the NCAA Division II player who went undrafted and needed a rookie tryout camp to make the team five years ago. He didn't become a full-time starter until 2016. Diggs was the fifth-round draft pick who was a healthy scratch for his first three NFL games in 2015."All the cute stuff, like records being broken and stuff like that, you like it and it's good to hear, but we always want to win," Diggs said. "We worry about the win column more than anything. So to see good things happen? Yes, it's exciting. Yes, you congratulate your guys, because guys work extremely hard, you know? So it's always good stuff, and it's good stuff moving in the right direction, but we want to win."The Vikings (5-3-1) have been doing that more lately after a rough first quarter of the season, entering their bye week a step behind Chicago (5-3) in the NFC North, with a prime-time matchup with the Bears up next on Nov. 18.Cousins has been as advertised, ranking in the top 10 in the league in most of the passing categories http://www.seattleseahawksteamonline.com/quinton-jefferson-jersey , including third in completion percentage despite being prone to a costly turnover here and there. The offensive line has again shown vulnerabilities, though, and the Vikings have averaged the fourth-fewest rushing yards in the league.Thielen and Diggs have been all the more valuable to the Vikings this fall, with an assist by new offensive coordinator John DeFilippo for aggressive and creative play calling that has helped spring them open so much."He uses his playmakers, and he just lets them play. So I admire that, and I appreciate that," Diggs said. "As a player you just want to do the best that you can, and it's good that he plays to your strengths."The defense, which led the NFL in fewest yards and points allowed last year, was surprisingly one of the biggest problems in September. After that humbling loss in Los Angeles to the Rams dropped the Vikings to 1-2-1, though, coach Mike Zimmer has helped steer the group back into dominant form.With daunting road trips to Chicago, New England and Seattle looming over three of the next four games, the pressure will be on the offense to do its part."When you look at it glass half-full, I'm thrilled about our locker room, the chemistry we have on this team, the quality of teammates, the quality of leadership we have in this organization. I think all that has probably even exceeded expectations from me," Cousins said. "Certainly would have loved to be better than 5-3-1, but I'm grateful we're not 3-5-1. You can look at it both ways. The point is, we keep saying, everything is in front of us."