Seattle’s Doug Baldwin showed the rest of the NFL what they passed up in April’s draft, playing a key role in the Seahawks’ 30-13 win over the staggering St Louis Rams in the NFL on Monday.
Baldwin, an undrafted rookie, blocked a first-quarter punt that was returned by Michael Robinson 17 yards for a touchdown, then caught a 29-yard touchdown pass from Tarvaris Jackson in the third quarter as Seattle pulled away.
Seattle (6-7) won for the fourth time in five games and kept alive their slim hope for reaching the playoffs — a good recovery after a 2-6 start to the season.
Photo: AFP
“As far as my expectations go, I expected to be successful. I didn’t know how successful, but I expected to be able to come in here and win a job in some capacity, because if you don’t have that confidence in yourself you’re not going to win a job,” Baldwin said.
“To be where I am now, no I didn’t expect this. But at the same time I’m not satisfied,” he said.
Marshawn Lynch topped 100 yards rushing for the fifth time in six games, finishing with 115 on 23 carries. He scored a touchdown in his ninth straight game on a 16-yard run with 2:57 left to put away Seattle’s 13th win in their past 14 games against the Rams.
Photo: AFP
Lynch celebrated his ninth rushing touchdown this season and he tied a franchise record with nine consecutive games with a TD.
Baldwin finished with seven catches for 93 yards and Steven Hauschka was 3 of 4 on field goal attempts for the Seahawks.
Sam Bradford started at quarterback for St Louis (2-11) despite a nagging ankle sprain. He barely practiced this week and it showed as he was rusty and made poor decisions. Bradford was 12 of 29 for 193 yards, was intercepted on the first play of the second half and nearly picked off on a handful of other throws.
Rams tailback Steven Jackson had 50 yards rushing on 11 carries by halftime, including dashes of 11 yards twice and 10 yards once, but disappeared in the second half — aside from a 50-yard catch-and-run on a screen pass — and finished with 63 yards rushing on 20 carries.
Seattle quarterback Tarvaris Jackson wasn’t at his best, but didn’t need to be. He went 21 of 32 for 224 yards and connected with nine receivers.
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