64 Games In a Row
the Seahawks' 2014 season in toons

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Kenneth Arthur has a brilliant article up, pointing out that the Seahawks have now gone 64 games in a row -- and counting -- without losing by double digits.  The second-longest streak he knows of, in NFL history, is 45 games.  Done by contending Patriots and Packers teams.

You go back and ask what kind of teams had streaks like this ... the Csonka Dolphins had a 29-game streak and went 28-1 during it.  The Mean Joe Greene Steelers had a 34-game streak and won two Super Bowls during their streak.  The Walsh 49'ers had two 30-game streaks.  etc.

Russell Wilson is perfect for his career, 56-0.  This is one of those stats that makes no sense, a stat that is appreciated as "outstanding" but is actually something quite a bit more than that.  It's like saying Carl Hubbell holds the MLB record, with 24 straight wins, but Taijuan Walker started his career 33-0 and counting.  It's just not going to be done, now is it?

Last night, on TV, they were debating whether Colin Kaepernick can (in year 5) get his game together.  Wilson's 56-0 is, to me, far more impressive than the Seahawk team record itself.  Let's see, when a player has only ever played college ball, isn't that what the coaches call a "rookie"?

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Bill James used to have a formula for measuring how unapproachable an MLB career record was for individuals:  the gray area occurs if the record sits at 18-21 seasons' worth of league-leading performance.

For example, the home run record is what, 755?  And you lead the league with how many homers, 40?  The career HR record is therefore 19 seasons' worth of great performance, and not especially safe ...

... unless a change occurs in eras.  Most such records are broken because the game changes.  Saves become much more common or much less; stolen bases become a craze or disappear completely.

Did any of this help the Seahawks' streak of 64 straight games in which they, collectively, played well?  Well, the two streaks of 45 games were both extremely recent.  In general terms, we might speculate that as pro sports advance, it becomes harder to hit .424 and it becomes harder to win a football game 73-0 ... shhhh.  Don't tell Peyton Manning.

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Cherrypicking a couple of Arthur's hard-earned numbers:

  • Jacksonville has lost 29 games by double digits in the same span
  • The Packers, Broncos, and Colts were all blown out 3-4 times last year
  • Only 10 teams have an active streak of more than 3 such games
  • The second-longest active streak, NE's 15, would have ended if they'd remained down 10 to us in the 4th quarter...

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Russell Wilson and Pete Carroll have a style that reminds me quite a bit of Euro soccer.  Manchester United don't get blown out a lot, either.  Their attitude is, keep things under control, probe for weaknesses once they start to emerge, when you don't know what to do wait for your opponent to get an idea - it's sure to be bad.

You wouldn't have thought this would work well in today's NFL, which is all the more glory unto Carroll.

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