Last year, the Seattle Seahawks went the entire season without scoring a touchdown on their first possession of the game.
It’s been a much different story this fall.
The Seahawks have made a habit of starting fast, reaching the end zone on their opening possession in four of their nine games this season. It’s a big reason why Seattle is averaging a league-high 8.6 points in the first quarter.
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What’s been the key to the Seahawks’ opening-drive success? The numbers paint a pretty clear picture: An ultra-efficient passing attack.
On Seattle’s opening possessions, Sam Darnold has completed 24 of 27 passes for 319 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. That equates to a whopping 11.8 yards per pass attempt and a near-perfect 155.5 passer rating.
But digging deeper, how exactly have Darnold & Co. been able to do that?
While delving into that topic on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk, former NFL quarterback Brock Huard recounted a conversation he once had with Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay, who is widely regarded as one of the NFL’s premier offensive play-callers.
As Huard explained, McVay believes one of his most important play-calling responsibilities is to scheme up easy completions for his quarterback on the opening drive, when all the plays are scripted in advance. That means drawing up plays where his quarterback can get the ball out to an open receiver on his first read, rather than having to scan through all his progressions.
“He really felt it was his responsibility on that opening drive to give his quarterback gimme after gimme after gimme,” Huard said.
And that’s precisely what Huard has seen from first-year Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak this fall.
“Think of those opening touchdown drives (for the Seahawks) and how many times Sam is able to go to his first option,” Huard said. “… Like, there’s (Jaxon Smith-Njigba). Boom. There’s Cooper (Kupp). Boom. There’s the deep ball, one-on-one. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom.
“That kind of efficiency is why you’ve had so much success, in my opinion, on these first-possession drives.”
Listen to the full Brock and Salk conversation at this link or in the audio player at the bottom of this story. Tune in to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.
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