Three numbers to know for Broncos-Seahawks

SEATTLE — The Space Needle is 605 feet tall.

The loudest crowd roar ever recorded at Lumen Field is 137.6 decibels. That’s 17.6 decibels above the threshold of possible hearing damage.

The air-quality index in Seattle on Saturday at 4 p.m., according to IQAir, was 161, which is considered “unhealthy.” Because of the poor air quality caused by wildfires in the region, the National Weather Service issued an alert that included the words, “Everyone should stay indoors.”

Now, by Monday afternoon, the air should clear. The Space Needle is all the way on the other end of downtown Seattle from Lumen Field. Those numbers won’t matter.

But the decibel level will.

And on the field, here are three numbers that will likely matter:

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1. Don’t let Geno Smith keep it 💯 …

… which shouldn’t be hard to do, but it’s notable because teams that start Smith are 4-0 when he hits 100.0 in passer rating. The Seahawks’ lone win with Smith starting last season came when he logged a 128.3 rating against Jacksonville.

Avoiding interceptions has plenty to do with it.

Smith had plenty of reasons to try to reinvent himself as a low-risk quarterback. For one thing, it’s what Carroll and the Seahawks wanted. For another, it’s the dramatic correlation between throwing an interception and team success — or the lack thereof.

Teams that start Smith are 5-17 when he throws at least one interception. But they’re 8-4 when he can keep his ledger clean — although that includes the Seahawks being 1-2 last year in Smith’s three starts.

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2. 70 … as in Wilson’s completion percentage

Last year was unusual for Wilson in many ways. He had a finger injury that cost him three games. His team finished with a losing record — the only time a Wilson-led club ended the season below .500. And a completion percentage that has usually been a magic number was not.

The Seahawks went 2-2 when Wilson hit the 70-percent threshold. But in his career, 70 has usually meant scoreboard success; the Seahawks went 47-6 when Wilson got to that milestone. And since from October 2015 through Week 1 of last year, Seattle was 32-1 when he got to 70 percent.

Hitting that mark in Nathaniel Hackett’s offense also means that Wilson is doing his job keeping things on schedule.

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3. Plus-1 probably gets it done

Befitting a team that wants to win on defense, Carroll’s Seahawks have usually capitalized off of takeaways. Thus, it’s no surprise that Since Carroll became the Seahawks’ coach in 2010, opponents are 6-45 against the Seahawks when they have a turnover margin of minus-2 or worse.

But when a foe is at least plus-1 in turnover margin, Seattle crumbles — to a mark of 17-37 under Carroll, including 4-16 since the start of the 2017 season.

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AND A NUMBER THAT USED TO MATTER …

10 … as in a 10-point halftime lead for the Seahawks. Heading into the 2021 season, Seattle was 22-0 at home under Carroll when carrying a double-digit out of the first half. Then came the 2021 campaign, when the Seahawks barfed back two such leads, against Tennessee and Chicago.

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