Seahawks already showing major improvement in one key category

Pete Carroll will love this statistic.

One of the statistics I harped on coming into this season was the Seattle Seahawks’ very frustrating outcomes in the turnover department. Seattle finished +2 in turnover differential, but -25 in points off turnovers. The offense wasn’t doing a good job of capitalizing off takeaways, and the defense was pretty much bleeding touchdowns without much resistance whenever the offense or special teams coughed it up.

This year it’s been a different story, albeit one that can flip at any given 2-3 week stretch. The Seahawks have committed just one turnover and taken it away six times. Geno Smith’s interception against the Carolina Panthers only led to a field goal, whereas the Seahawks have put up 34 points off of turnovers.

The only takeaway not to result in Seahawks points was Tre Brown’s forced fumble on Amon-Ra St. Brown to end the 1st half against the Detroit Lions.

Seattle has a pair of pick-6 touchdowns by Tre Brown and Devon Witherspoon, a pair of Jason Myers field goals, a Kenneth Walker rushing TD, and a Geno Smith touchdown pass to DK Metcalf. The last five Seahawks takeaways have either resulted in a defensive score or the offense getting the ball in opposition territory.

This is how good (if not great) teams get that crucial edge to win football games. Seattle was pretty wasteful last season and frequently sloppy with the ball, turning it over at least once in 17 of 18 games played. They’ve already had three turnover-free games in 2023, and Geno’s “turnover-worthy plays” rate is down from last year. Seattle also has yet to fumble, let alone lose a fumble.

Before you say, “Ahh man, you’ve jinxed us!”, let me be clear that the Seahawks will inevitably turn the ball over as the season progresses. Geno Smith is going to throw interceptions and he may even lose fumbles, because literally every quarterback no matter how elite or bad experiences this. We’ll likely see other players lose fumbles whether on offense of special teams. But the Seahawks are off to a great start in an area that arguably cost them wins last year, and has already helped them get to this 3-1 record.