Seattle Seahawks EPA numbers since bye week should terrify the rest of the NFL

Going into last year's NFL trade deadline, the Seattle Seahawks defense was good but not great. The trade to bring in middle linebacker Ernest Jones IV changed all that, and after they returned from their bye week Seattle's defense was top-five in EPA for the rest of the season.

This year all the pieces were in place defensively, yet they have still managed to take their game to another level after the bye.

According to Tom Pelissero at NFL.com, the Seahawks lead the league in EPA/play defensively since the Week 8 bye, and they rank eighth offensively.

"Mike Macdonald has built the better version of what Indianapolis looked like it was possibly shaping into earlier this season: a rugged outfit capable of competing at a high level with just the right amount of competence under center. The Seahawks have ranked eighth in the NFL in EPA per play on offense and first in EPA per play on defense since their Week 8 bye."

Defensively, the Seahawks lead the league in pressures, they're top-five against the run and they've smoothed out their coverage issues late in games.

Offensively, Seattle has improved its rushing attack significantly over this stretch, going from one of the league's least-efficient run games to an average one. That they rank eighth in EPA despite Sam Darnold's recent stretch of turnover-happy play shows how insanely high their ceiling is.

The Seahawks were already strong on special teams before they traded for Rashid Shaheed - now this is unquestionably the best return game in football. There's still a lot of football left to play, but that move is beginning to feel like their Percy Harvin moment.

Looking around the rest of the league, the Los Angeles Rams are the only obvious peer that's good enough and balanced enough to compete with this team. That said, the real answer is that the only thing that can stop this Seahawks team from going all the way is themselves.

More Seahawks on SI stories