Despite winning the Big East NFC West with their win over the Rams on Sunday, the Seattle Seahawks still can’t get any respect from the rest of the league. Well, except from Drew Brees, who’s a very respectful fellow anyway. But new research has come to light suggesting that the Seahawks might be the worst playoff team ever, and we have statistical wunderkind Nate Silver of fivethirtyeight fame to thank for that:
According to the ratings compiled by Jeff Sagarin of USA Today, the Seahawks’ schedule was the fifth easiest in the league…They went 2-5 over their last seven games, defeating only the Rams and the Carolina Panthers, who finished their year at 2-14.
The more deeply one looks at the Seahawks, indeed, the worse they tend to appear: according to an advanced statistic known as Defense-adjusted Value Over Average, or D.V.O.A. — compiled by the geniuses at Football Outsiders — the Seahawks were actually the very worst team in the N.F.L. over the course of the regular season.
Seattle currently sit as 10.5-point ‘dogs for Saturday’s wild card tilt with Brees’s New Orleans Saints, and the Seahawks’ “success” at home might be enough for some folks to take those points. My unsolicited advice: resist. This is going to be a bloodbath, even if Matt Hasselbeck does play. But hey, enjoy that NFC West title and that extra home game, Seahawks fans. Because Roger Goodell will ban your entire division from the playoffs as soon as they get this CBA figured out.
