The Seattle Seahawks sure picked a tough year to get an AFC South slate.
The normally struggling division has the third-best record in football right now thanks to strong starts from the Colts and Jaguars. And the Texans, who the Seahawks host at 7 p.m. on Monday Night Football, are coming off back-to-back wins and are looking to improve to .500 in Seattle.
By one measure, Seattle Seahawks among best 4-2 teams ever
Here are the two numbers that matter for the Seahawks to keep that from happening.
3 passing TDs
The Buccaneers are a great team this year. And you’re going to find out why that is relevant for the Seahawks in a minute.
First, both the Seattle and Houston defenses have been exceptional, in slightly different ways, and that’s important for Monday night.
The Texans are the best scoring defense in the league, allowing just 12 points per game, a number that jumps to 13.7 on the road (“jumps” is used with heavy sarcasm here because 13.7 would still rank first in the league in points).
Seattle’s defense is sharp here, too. It’s allowing 19.5 points per game (22.5 at home) and the Seahawks been staunch run defenders, allowing just two rushing touchdowns all year and 79 rushing yards per game.
Which brings us to the number 3, useful for understanding what the Texans do well and how both defenses have excelled. The Texans’ defense is solid against the run but has excelled against opposing passers, allowing a league-low three passing touchdowns. A Seattle team that’s excelled in explosive pass plays is facing, by far, its biggest test of the season. Houston is allowing the third-fewest pass completions per game and fifth-fewest passing yards.
The Seahawks’ defensive line has been their strength this season, which is part of what’s kept them stellar against the run and has led to them being third league-wide in pressures. The Texans’ defense is comparatively lower there (12 sacks and an 18% pressure rate) but don’t overlook how suffocating they can be for a pass game. Having more interceptions (5) than passing touchdowns allowed is a wildly impressive stat through just five games.
An interesting link connecting Houston’s great pass defense with Seattle’s great run defense: two of the passing touchdowns allowed by the Texans this year, and both of the Seahawks’ rushing touchdowns allowed, all came from… the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ offense.
Speaking of passing defense, though, while Seattle’s been solid overall, it does need to see some improvement here. The number 3 is relevant to the Seahawks in this way: they’ve allowed the third-most yards after catch. The solution? It starts with getting a few starters back to that secondary.
16 points per game (before last week)
While Seattle’s defense has allowed some leaky explosive pass plays and a few too many completions, Houston’s offense isn’t coming in as the threat that Tampa Bay’s was to the Seahawks last Sunday.
The Texans dropped 44 points on the Ravens in their last game, which is by far their best offensive performance of the season. It feels wildly unfair to take that away from them, but to add a bit of context to their three-game start to the season: they averaged just 16 points per game leading into that matchup against Baltimore, who (surprisingly) has one of the league’s worst defenses right now.
Scoring won’t come easy to Seattle against Houston, but it certainly hasn’t come easy for the Texans’ offense this year. They’ve gained 991 yards this year through the air — compare that to Seattle’s 1,500.
The Seahawks’ offense will have a hard time dropping 30 on Houston, even at Lumen Field. But can they drop 20? That might get it done.
