The Seattle Seahawks have won four games in a row, with Russell Wilson putting on some efficiency and touchdown numbers no one has pulled off in a very long time, while Marshawn Lynch keeps missing games and Thomas Rawls is now out for the season.
Wilson threw five touchdowns with no interceptions, making it 16 (out of 26 this season) without getting intercepted once during the four-game win streak, in the 35-6 win over the now officially out of the playoffs Baltimore Ravens. He posted a 139.6 passer rating, making it four games in a row above 138. To put together the numbers from this four game run, Wilson has completed 75.4% of his passes, thrown for 1171 yards, 16 touchdowns and posted a 145.9 passer rating while also rushing for 101 yards and a touchdown.
While the Ravens might not be the best indicator of a competent offense considering all their injuries, it seems the Seattle defense is getting stops again, holding the Ravens and Vikings to a combined 13 points in the last two games. They did give up 30 two weeks ago vs the Steelers, but held the 49ers to 13 points in the week before that. So is the defense back to being scary? Probably not, and it has more to do with their rivals, but still, in the NFL, making teams look this bad on a consistent basis is impressive.
And even without Rawls getting his 100 yards, the Seahawks had enough on the ground. Not efficient (only 3.4 yards per carry), but they still rushed for 123 yards, and it’ll be interesting to see whether Lynch suddenly comes back from his abdomen injury now that Rawls isn’t going to play anymore this season. While Wilson hasn’t really needed big numbers from the running game as he tosses touchdown after touchdown due to suddenly being almost untouchable and perfect when throwing from the pocket (15 of the 16 touchdowns; Wilson’s yards-per-attempt average on passes from within the pocket has increased from 7.8 in his first nine games to 11.1 in his last four games), teams not respecting the running game whatsoever isn’t a good way to get ready for the playoffs.
But Wilson and the revitalized offensive line and defense are making the Seahawks a contender again. Not the scariest team in the NFC, not with the Cardinals and Panthers around, but at 8-5, it’s hard seeing them lose their Wild Card spot to anyone, and certainly not looking like they have a disadvantage against anyone. Losing Jimmy Graham seems to have only made them stronger, falling back to the familiar and successful. Who knows, maybe his injury will be the catalyst to turn this season into a success.
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