Chunk Plays: Seahawks Passing Game Improves

Pete Carroll will reveal an area of emphasis from time-to-time in his interviews. In between the platitudes, he will mention something worth paying attention to. Chunk plays, or explosive plays, are defined by most as passes over 20 yards and runs over 10 yards. Getting those plays on offense and limiting them on defense is a key focus point for the Seahawks coaching staff. This is the second in a series of short articles exploring where the team is their pursuit of being explosive on offense and defusing on defense.

I. Stopping Chunk Passes
II. Getting Chunk Passes
III. Stopping Chunk Runs
IV. Getting Chunk Runs

Matt Hasselbeck’s last Pro Bowl year came in 2007. That was the last time the Seahawks were Top 10 in the NFL in chunk plays through the air. They had 51 such plays that year. Interestingly, that’s the same number of big pass plays the Seahawks had last year with Tarvaris Jackson at the helm. The league is seeing more and more of these big plays through the air, so it takes more to crack higher in the rankings.

The addition of players like Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow Jr., the improvement of players like Doug Baldwin and Golden Tate, and the hopeful health of Sidney Rice are likely to help this production increase. Most important will be improvement of quarterback play.