I saw a blurb in The Seattle Times yesterday where they were mentioning that in the Russell Wilson era, the Seahawks have tended to be a lot better in the second half of the season. In the 2012-2016 seasons, Seattle was 25-14-1 in the first eight games (of those five years) and 31-9 in the second halves.
Fine-tuning that thinking, maybe we should all be zeroing in on Wilson as perhaps the best fantasy quarterback during the final two months. He’s been playing really well recently, passing for about 300 yards in most games, while also putting the ball in the end zone and actively running.
He’s also tended to be a lot better in the second halves of seasons – not just in wins, but in his individual numbers. They tend to let him do more, and he tends to be more effective.
Check out the numbers from the last five years. On this one, the setup is a little complicated, so I will walk you through it. There have been 160 teams in the last five years. For each of them, I’m listing their passing yards (per game) and touchdown passes in the first eight games (they’ve got “G 1-8” above them). And then I’m showing the same stats for the final eight games – yards per game and TD passes (and for those ones, “G 9-16” appears above them).
To avoid making the thing hopelessly complicated, I’m not listing the fantasy points, but I’m using standard scoring – 6 for TDs and 1 for every 10 yards. But you can use whatever scoring system you want, the results will be similar.
For the last five years, there have been 160 teams, and the 40 more improved teams appear below. You would expect every team would be on here about once, with about eight teams showing up twice.
But the Seahawks show up in the top 40 four times, including twice in the top 10. So either their slow starters, or their making adjustments and getting their guys coached up.
Two other teams appear on this top 40 more than twice. The Vikings (also four times) but with them playing four of their next five on the road, I have them flagged as a team more likely to head in the opposite direction. And the Jaguars are on here three times, but those were different teams running completely different offenses.
| MOST IMPROVED PASSING TEAMS | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| . | . | G 1-8 | G 1-8 | G 9-16 | G 9-16 |
| Year | Team | Yds | TD | Yds | TD |
| 2015 | Pittsburgh | 223 | 10 | 379 | 16 |
| 2015 | Seattle | 214 | 9 | 294 | 25 |
| 2013 | New England | 209 | 9 | 334 | 16 |
| 2015 | Washington | 238 | 10 | 299 | 20 |
| 2013 | Philadelphia | 247 | 11 | 304 | 21 |
| 2013 | Arizona | 221 | 10 | 315 | 14 |
| 2015 | San Francisco | 181 | 6 | 275 | 10 |
| 2015 | Carolina | 217 | 14 | 268 | 21 |
| 2012 | Jacksonville | 190 | 9 | 278 | 11 |
| 2012 | Seattle | 183 | 10 | 221 | 17 |
| 2013 | Minnesota | 205 | 6 | 250 | 12 |
| 2013 | Jacksonville | 220 | 4 | 249 | 12 |
| 2016 | Baltimore | 261 | 6 | 282 | 14 |
| 2013 | Oakland | 198 | 7 | 256 | 10 |
| 2013 | Cleveland | 234 | 13 | 312 | 13 |
| 2016 | Miami | 235 | 8 | 230 | 19 |
| 2015 | Philadelphia | 245 | 10 | 298 | 13 |
| 2013 | Miami | 218 | 11 | 278 | 13 |
| 2014 | Minnesota | 213 | 5 | 233 | 12 |
| 2013 | Kansas City | 209 | 9 | 236 | 15 |
| 2013 | Tennessee | 203 | 10 | 261 | 12 |
| 2015 | Tampa Bay | 225 | 10 | 280 | 12 |
| 2015 | NY Giants | 258 | 17 | 305 | 19 |
| 2015 | Detroit | 268 | 14 | 290 | 19 |
| 2013 | Chicago | 257 | 15 | 299 | 17 |
| 2012 | Carolina | 244 | 6 | 247 | 13 |
| 2012 | Dallas | 310 | 11 | 314 | 18 |
| 2016 | Seattle | 275 | 8 | 278 | 15 |
| 2015 | Baltimore | 258 | 10 | 298 | 11 |
| 2016 | Green Bay | 255 | 20 | 301 | 20 |
| 2014 | NY Giants | 249 | 16 | 310 | 14 |
| 2015 | Jacksonville | 258 | 17 | 296 | 18 |
| 2013 | San Francisco | 190 | 9 | 211 | 12 |
| 2012 | St. Louis | 230 | 9 | 243 | 13 |
| 2015 | Minnesota | 189 | 6 | 217 | 8 |
| 2015 | NY Jets | 251 | 15 | 271 | 18 |
| 2016 | Minnesota | 244 | 9 | 271 | 11 |
| 2013 | Seattle | 199 | 14 | 240 | 13 |
| 2013 | Indianapolis | 219 | 13 | 275 | 10 |
—Ian Allan