Seahawks by the numbers: A weekly numerical look at the Hawks

It just keeps getting worse for the Seattle Seahawks.

Playing again without injured star quarterback Russell Wilson, Seattle suffered its third consecutive loss with an ugly 13-10 defeat to the New Orleans Saints on Monday night.

The Seahawks are now 2-5 for the first time since 2011. They’re stuck in their first three-game losing streak since that same year. Wilson is still out for at least one more game.

And as the losses keep piling up, questions are swirling about the direction of the franchise.

Here’s a rather grim post-Week 7 edition of ‘Hawks by the numbers’ — a weekly numerical look at notable trends and storylines surrounding the Seahawks:

219 — Total yards by Seattle’s offense: The Seahawks mustered just 219 total yards against the Saints, which is their sixth-fewest in a game since the start of the 2012 season. And keep in mind, 84 of those yards came on DK Metcalf’s long touchdown reception in the first quarter. Seattle slogged to just 185 yards on its other 54 snaps, which equates to a mere 2.5 yards per play. Yes, the Seahawks were playing with backup quarterback Geno Smith. And yes, the Saints are statistically one of the best defenses in the league. But no matter what the context, those are some pretty putrid numbers. Seattle’s running backs rushed for just 58 yards and 2.5 yards per attempt. Aside from the TD pass to Metcalf, Smith threw for just 83 yards on his other 21 passes. And Smith was sacked five times, including several sacks that might have cost the Seahawks points. Back-to-back sacks in the third quarter took Seattle out of field-goal range. And a third-down sack in the fourth quarter resulted in a longer field-goal attempt for Jason Myers, who missed the ensuing kick. All around, it was a horrific night for Seattle’s offense.

8 — Combined targets for DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett: Perhaps the most perplexing part of Monday night’s game was the lack of targets for Seattle’s two star receivers. Metcalf showcased his otherworldly athleticism with an 84-yard catch-and-run TD on the Seahawks’ second possession, but wasn’t targeted again until the fourth quarter. Metcalf finished with just five targets, and Lockett with just three. Part of that was a product of Seattle’s conservative play-calling. Through the first three quarters, Smith dropped back to pass on just 18 of the Seahawks’ 41 offensive plays. On one hand, it’s understandable that Seattle would want to run the ball more with a backup quarterback. However, the Saints’ defense entered the night allowing a league-low 3.3 yards per carry. And predictably, the Seahawks struggled on the ground all game long. With the run game completely ineffective, it certainly was a head-scratcher that Seattle didn’t get its two best playmakers more involved.

1.5 — Points per possession allowed by Seattle’s defense over the past two games: One area that’s been overshadowed the past two weeks is the Seahawks’ defense, which has actually played fairly well recently after an abysmal start to the season. Just two weeks ago, Seattle was allowing 450.8 yards per game, which was on pace to break the NFL single-season record. But over the past two weeks, the Seahawks have allowed just 324.5 yards per contest. And after surrendering 25.2 points per game and 2.25 points per possession over the first five weeks, they’ve allowed just 18.0 points per game and 1.5 points per possession over the past two weeks. The caveat, of course, is their past two opponents were the Steelers and Saints. Both have below-average offenses. But even when accounting for the opponent, Seattle’s defense still seems to have made some strides — considering just how poorly it was playing earlier in the year. Of course, back-to-back games against the high-flying Packers and Cardinals next month should provide a much clearer picture of where this defense is at.

3 — First downs the Saints gained via third-down or fourth-down penalties: Ill-timed penalties were a major factor in the outcome of Monday night’s game. The Seahawks gave the Saints three first downs via third-down or fourth-down penalties — all three of which came on New Orleans scoring drives. The first instance occurred early in the second quarter, when D.J. Reed committed a pass-interference penalty on third-and-7 that extended a New Orleans field-goal drive. And with the score tied in the fourth quarter, Seattle committed two more costly penalties that extended the Saints’ game-deciding field-goal drive. The Seahawks appeared to have forced a three-and-out early in that possession when Bobby Wagner came up with a third-down sack. But the sack was negated by a roughing-the-passer penalty on Marquise Blair, which gave New Orleans a fresh set of downs. Later in the drive, with the Saints lining up to attempt a 42-yard field goal, Al Woods jumped offside to give New Orleans another drive-extending first down. That allowed the Saints to move the ball 9 yards closer for a shorter field goal, and it also left Seattle with less time on its final possession. In years past, the Seahawks often had the talent advantage to withstand these types of mistakes. But that’s certainly not the case anymore, especially with Wilson sidelined.

17% — Seattle’s playoff odds, per FiveThirtyEight: The Seahawks’ playoff chances haven’t been completely extinguished. But at this point, it’d take a massive second-half turnaround for Seattle to avoid missing the postseason for just the second time in the past decade. The Seahawks are already 4.5 games behind first-place Arizona in the NFC West, so their chances of winning the division are essentially zilch. And at 2-5, they currently have a better record than only one team in the entire NFC. Furthermore, five NFC teams are 5-1 or better, which means Seattle’s only realistic path to the playoffs is to beat out a slew of other teams for one of last two wild-card spots. And complicating matters is the fact the Seahawks have already lost the head-to-head tiebreaker to both the Vikings and Saints, who both figure to be part of that logjam of wild-card contenders. The one sliver of optimism for Seattle is that its schedule softens up a bit. The Seahawks’ remaining opponents have a combined .507 win percentage, which is less than the combined .578 win percentage of teams they’ve already played. However, they still have two games remaining against the 7-1 Cardinals and one apiece against the 7-1 Packers and 6-1 Rams. To reach the playoffs, Seattle likely would have to win at least one or two of those games, as well as each of its other six remaining games. And though it was reported that Wilson is targeting a return following next week’s bye, it’s still unclear when he’ll be back. So while the Seahawks aren’t officially out of playoff contention just yet, they face an awfully steep climb.