Marshawn Lynch Ties Shaun Alexander's Record In 30-13 Win

By Lars Hanson

SEATTLE (WA)– When John Schneider traded a fourth round pick to Buffalo in exchange for Marshawn Lynch back in October 2010 he made a worthwhile investment. Granted the last 17 games Lynch played (13 games in 2009 and 4 in 2010) in Buffalo were less than impressive Schneider took the low risk move.

Now in 2011 Lynch is 146 yards away from his first 1,000 yard season in Seattle with Lynch now starting to tap into Seattle’s record books. With his 16-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter it marked his ninth consecutive game with at least one rushing touchdown tying Shaun Alexander’s record back in 2005.

While Lynch’s success hasn’t translated to the same success the Seahawks had in 2005 going 13-3 and losing 21-10 to the Steelers in Super Bowl 40 it has put the Seahawks back on the map.

With the 30-13 win over St. Louis it pushes the Seahawks to 6-7 with three games remaining. Technically the Seahawks are still in playoff contention but their on the outside looking in. Pete Carroll said this week that the team isn’t thinking about “what if” scenarios.

“We’re not thinking about things we can’t control,” Carroll said “we can only focus on what we can control, and that’s beat whoever we’re playing.”

Coming into their second consecutive prime time game the Seahawks held the best record on Monday Night Football at 16-8. Led by a shutdown defense and a balanced offense the Seattle Seahawks kept their prime time success going with a 30-13 win over St. Louis.

With the temperature below freezing the Seahawks decided to open up the playbook, starting on the opening kickoff. Fielded at the Seattle three yard line Leon Washington handed the ball off to Doug Baldwin who returned it 37 yards to the Seattle 43.

With an already electric 12th man the Seahawks never relinquished control of the game. After going three and out on their first drive Pete Carroll decided to go on an all-out blitz and it paid off. Doug Baldwin blocked Donnie Jones’ punt and Michael Robinson returning it 17 yards for the touchdown.

That would be one of the many highlights Baldwin would have on the night.

Baldwin finished the night with with a game high seven receptions for 93 yards and one touchdown to go along with his blocked punt and kick return. His night wasn’t over yet, Baldwin was trending world wide on Twitter for over 30 minutes after the game.

Tarvaris Jackson showed the extended time off between games helped him heal his partially torn pectoral muscle. Jackson finished the game 21 of 32 for 224 yards and one touchdown without throwing an interception.

Seattle never trailed in the game due in large part to Seattle’s elite young defense. Yes, the Seattle Seahawks have an elite defense. While it’s not a finished product Pete Carroll and Gus Bradley have created a sound defense that has allowed 20.5 points/per game ranking 10th best in the league.

The majority of the Seahawks young defense has come from mid-to-late round draft picks since Schneider and Co. have taken over. Richard Scherman (5th round), Kam Chancellor (5th round), K.J Wright (4th round) and Earl Thomas (1st round) are just some of the young stars on a still improving defense.

With a slim chance at a playoff berth this season the Seattle Seahawks will continue to build to make a run in 2012. Along the way games like tonight will set the tone for whats to come, especially with young emerging stars like Doug Baldwin, Richard Sherman and others.

You can follow Lars on Twitter:  http://twitter.com/larshanson 

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