Seahawks regain bruising offensive identity in wild-card win over Lions
SEATTLE — The Seattle Seahawks spent so much of the regular season trying to find an offensive identity, and it was a struggle at times, with injury after injury to quarterback Russell Wilson, a green offensive line and inconsistent running game.
But just in time for the playoffs, the Seahawks seem to have finally found that identity, and it turns out, it’s almost exactly the same as the old one.
The Seahawks team that beat the Detroit Lions 26-6 in the wild-card round of the NFC playoffs had a vintage Seahawks feel. If they’re going to make another deep playoff run, they’ll need to do it with a run-first offense, just like they were for all those years with Marshawn Lynch, and let all those rushing attempts set up big passing plays.
Seattle rushed for 177 yards Saturday night against Detroit, including 161 and a touchdown from second-year tailback Thomas Rawls, who is finally looking like the true successor to Lynch, who retired after last season.
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Lynch has made sporadic appearances in Seattle this season, showing up at CenturyLink Stadium for an occasional game, or dropping in on his former teammates at their training facility in Renton. He stopped by to talk to Rawls late last month. Rawls said Lynch just wanted to make sure Rawls’ "mind was right" as he headed into his first playoff game. Rawls suffered a broken ankle late last season and missed Seattle’s two postseason games.
His 161 yards was a season high, and a vast improvement over the past three games, when he had just 56 total yards on 37 attempts.
"We wanted to run the ball. We wanted to do it on the ground," Rawls said. "We wanted to stay true, and that’s exactly what we did and showed."
The Seahawks have had big offensive games before this season, but rarely has Seattle had the balance or consistency it found against the Lions.
"I’m telling you, that’s the game we’ve been looking for," head coach Pete Carroll said.
Having the constant threat of a running game will only aid Wilson, who threw for 224 yards and two touchdowns against the Lions. His first touchdown came on a 2-yard fade route to receiver Paul Richardson, who made one of the most spectacular one-handed catches of the season. Wilson’s second touchdown, caught by Doug Baldwin, was actually a mistake. Baldwin ran the wrong route and stole a touchdown that should have gone to teammate Jermaine Kearse.
"I feel terrible about it," Baldwin said.
But none of the chunk passing plays would have been possible without Rawls’ running. On the second-quarter drive that ended with Richardson’s touchdown, the Seahawks rushed the ball on eight consecutive snaps, including a fourth-and-one conversion by Rawls. The decision to run, and run and run again was made by offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell — and supported enthusiastically by the rest of the team.
"Everything runs through our run game," Baldwin said. "When Thomas Rawls is doing that, they can’t help but put another safety in the box and then that gives us one-on-one matchups on the outside. You saw Paul Richardson take advantage of it. Jermaine, myself. We had a lot of opportunities in the passing game because of what Thomas was doing on the ground."
Follow Lindsay H. Jones on @bylindsayhjones.
