Thomas Rawls performance against the Lions a fluke?

That is what a lot of people would love for you to believe, and I hope they keep doing exactly that. Thomas Rawls ran for 161 yards on Saturday night against a defense that has allowed an average of 109 against teams all season. With every thing being on the line for them as well, I hardly think they all just laid down and let Rawls run all over them.

The Lions defense did everything that they could to shut him down and couldn't. Was it all Rawls doing? Not at all, our low budget offensive line have finally blossomed in the past couple of games and are finally able to chew bubblegum and tie their shoelaces at the same time.

Our offensive line investment in time and effort is finally paying off. By helping to open up the running game and provide Russell with the much needed few seconds to get his passes off, the Seattle Seahawks have finally come full circle and are going to pay big dividend from here on out.

What we witnessed was no fluke, getting our running game going, and make no mistake about it, it is going, it opens up our passing game, because at long last the defense has to contend with a viable running game from Seattle. I give all kinds of credit to Russell, Rawls, and all the other RBs and receivers, but I give much more credit to our offensive line who are finally in sync and playing like a complete unit.

I really hope the Falcons believe their own BS and practice to try and contain Russell in the pocket, and try to insure Julio is free to run the field without coverage, because they are going to find themselves disappointed all the way around this next week, with our defense also having gotten itself back in sync and looking a whole lot more like the legion of boom than we have seen this season. A lot of young ones on the defense, but they are super smart, learn fast, and don't make the same mistakes twice. Our opponents better look to try lots of new stuff, because the old stuff won't fly against this crew any more and there is only so many tricks in the bag and they know most all of them now.

The Seattle Seahawks are no fluke, what you saw this past Saturday night was the real Seahawks playing the way we know they can play. There isn't a team out there that they can't give a serious challenge to at this moment in history, and certainly isn't a team out there that they can't beat if the winds are at their back. There is that element of pure dumb luck that will always be a part of football. With a healthy 12th man it seems that dumb luck always has a way of finding itself into Seahawks games when they have needed it the most.

Keep the faith folks, the fat lady hasn't sung yet, and isn't scheduled to anytime soon, Lady Gaga is singing in the Super Bowl and she isn't fat, lmao.

Go Seahawks !!

The short of it is that Rawls has a large sample size of running like this when he gets holes. Look at the last half of last year.

When the OL doesn't produce, it goes really badly. He's not a physical as Lynch and can't create positive yards out of nothing. None of our backs really can.

But if the OL creates any room at all (and I mean ANY...he ran through some small creases last game), Rawls consistently sees it, breaks the initial tackle, and makes the other team pay.

The even better news is that the Falcon's run D is worse than the Lions was. Even playing at home, it won't make them better vs. the run...especially if we go to a more power/iso scheme and just blow out their mediocre DL. They have no athletes or game changers on that DL that are scary, and Beasley is strictly an edge rusher. He's terrible against the run.

IF they line up Beasley on Fant, I'm audible-ling to a run right at him. Fant actually run blocks pretty well and Beasley neither sets an edge or holds up at the point of attack. Fant is a guy that put Chandler Jones on skates many times.

Great post. I appreciate the enthusiasm and optimistic attitude, and I hope to hell you are right on the money!

Go Hawks!!!

I worry that the real fluke was him not getting injured.

Rawls has done it before, so of course it's not a fluke.

He always runs hard, so Rawls is not the issue here, it's th O-line. That's what your thread title should have said "Was the O-line's performance against the Lions a fluke."

Are they going to repeat that blocking performance? Or revert back to their usual terrible selves.

What a refreshing read. Thanks OP. You are on to somthing and so is our team!!!

We saw him run well fairly consistently last season before his injury so I would say not a fluke. However, like others have said, his durability over the course of a season is a legitimate concern.

Fortune favors us. I'm not sure there is a team with a great DL that would give our OL fits in this playoff.
Should be good sailing for Rawls and WIlson.

It's was mainly game planning and element of surprise, especially the first half. Our coaching staffs and Wilson announced the removing of his braces, so the Lions game planning focused on stopping wilson from rolling out and stopping our pass game. You know what? We changed our blocking scheme just to confuse and surprised them. Lions' defense was surprised and confusing during the first half.

It was no fluke. It was a shift in mindset, we are going to run the ball, period.

Kicking it up a notch, because it's playoff time, and the offensive line was motivated by it.


Rawls excelled in it, I was really impressed he was able to continue doing it in the 2nd half without tiring or getting hurt.

It might be a fluke if he can hold up for 12 more quarters of it, that could be a key part of a successful SB run.

I only hope if Collins gets plugged into his place at some point, he can produce nearly as well.

Reece is a big part of it.

I think he is just getting healthy and back in game shape. This should carry over. And now that bevell knows the run game works, he has to call running plays. Prosise hopefully will be back as well. He's practicing. We need to cross our fingers that Reece gets back too. Dude is legit.

We'll get a chance to prove it.

Atlanta is downright bad at defending the run. Michael had a very strong day going in the matchup here.

It certainly feels like the run game is poised to pull off a sustained run. What'll make the true difference is if we have the will to stick with it should Atlanta rip off a 10 point lead early.

It has felt like Seattle has stopped their own running games just by way of calling 15 pass plays to just a couple of runs (and only on 1st and 10). Seattle has shown the ability to torpedo their own running game by way of playsheet.

It is reasonable to expect that this young OL is going to be playing it's best ball of the year right now. And Rawls should be as healthy as he's been all year long. So it's reasonable to expect that our running game should be at it's strongest point now. I just hope we don't get into trying to feature Wilson to legitimize his being the leader of the team. That's where we've gotten into real trouble. Especially early in games.

Jimjones0384":aamf0fzs said:

We need to cross our fingers that Reece gets back too. Dude is legit.

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forgot that he hurt his foot, we need that guy.

I wonder if we'd run the same power plays with Rawls and Collins in Reece's place?

I think it was the result of the Seahawks challenging both the offensive line and Thomas Rawls to step up.

Rawls in particular if you listened to his post game interview... you can tell hes an All In type runner. He plays a style where is success is putting his body on the line and being physical.

I think with his injuries he couldn't play that style and was also held back by the coaches and training staff in order to insure his health.

But with play-offs being a different mentality where you either win or go home, Rawls could go 100% without thinking about protecting himself.

So I thought what we saw is real, Rawls plays with the passion to be ultra physical and he was allowed to be himself throughout entirety of a game. That paired with challenging the Oline to the same physicality and mentality was a recipe for success. And both performances fueled each other to its success.

No.

We all saw the potential he had earlier in the season.

Maybe he hasn't lived up to it yet but we all saw it, and we've been patiently waiting for him to get/ stay healthy.

In my mind that game was no fluke for Rawls.

The O line coming up with some effective run blocking, there is a possibility that was the "fluke" you are looking for.

:{)

Pandion Haliaetus":1s2yu9c9 said:

I think it was the result of the Seahawks challenging both the offensive line and Thomas Rawls to step up.

Rawls in particular if you listened to his post game interview... you can tell hes an All In type runner. He plays a style where is success is putting his body on the line and being physical.

I think with his injuries he couldn't play that style and was also held back by the coaches and training staff in order to insure his health.

But with play-offs being a different mentality where you either win or go home, Rawls could go 100% without thinking about protecting himself.

So I thought what we saw is real, Rawls plays with the passion to be ultra physical and he was allowed to be himself throughout entirety of a game. That paired with challenging the Oline to the same physicality and mentality was a recipe for success. And both performances fueled each other to its success.

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very well said, that's how I saw it.

Rawls was back to running with absolute reckless abandon, and it's a very effective style when you get enough push.

If he can do it for 3 more games without injury we'll probably win the Super Bowl or get darn close.

If he only gets us part of the way there, AC will have to step up and do what he can.

A lot of backs could have been successful in that scheme against the Lions, but Rawls exploded as I think few could have. I think AC could have had 120+ though, and maybe a bit more in the passing game.

The prospects for a solid run game, that's both powerful and explosive, seem better now than at any point in the season, just when we need it.

ACFan":2v9xvd90 said:

Pandion Haliaetus":2v9xvd90 said:

I think it was the result of the Seahawks challenging both the offensive line and Thomas Rawls to step up.

Rawls in particular if you listened to his post game interview... you can tell hes an All In type runner. He plays a style where is success is putting his body on the line and being physical.

I think with his injuries he couldn't play that style and was also held back by the coaches and training staff in order to insure his health.

But with play-offs being a different mentality where you either win or go home, Rawls could go 100% without thinking about protecting himself.

So I thought what we saw is real, Rawls plays with the passion to be ultra physical and he was allowed to be himself throughout entirety of a game. That paired with challenging the Oline to the same physicality and mentality was a recipe for success. And both performances fueled each other to its success.

Click to expand...

very well said, that's how I saw it.

Rawls was back to running with absolute reckless abandon, and it's a very effective style when you get enough push.

If he can do it for 3 more games without injury we'll probably win the Super Bowl or get darn close.

If he only gets us part of the way there, AC will have to step up and do what he can.

A lot of backs could have been successful in that scheme against the Lions, but Rawls exploded as I think few could have. I think AC could have had 120+ though, and maybe a bit more in the passing game.

The prospects for a solid run game, that's both powerful and explosive, seem better now than at any point in the season, just when we need it.

Click to expand...

Do you really have to bring Alex Collins into every discussion?

Seanhawk":2z2pw733 said:

ACFan":2z2pw733 said:

Pandion Haliaetus":2z2pw733 said:

I think it was the result of the Seahawks challenging both the offensive line and Thomas Rawls to step up.

Rawls in particular if you listened to his post game interview... you can tell hes an All In type runner. He plays a style where is success is putting his body on the line and being physical.

I think with his injuries he couldn't play that style and was also held back by the coaches and training staff in order to insure his health.

But with play-offs being a different mentality where you either win or go home, Rawls could go 100% without thinking about protecting himself.

So I thought what we saw is real, Rawls plays with the passion to be ultra physical and he was allowed to be himself throughout entirety of a game. That paired with challenging the Oline to the same physicality and mentality was a recipe for success. And both performances fueled each other to its success.

Click to expand...

very well said, that's how I saw it.

Rawls was back to running with absolute reckless abandon, and it's a very effective style when you get enough push.

If he can do it for 3 more games without injury we'll probably win the Super Bowl or get darn close.

If he only gets us part of the way there, AC will have to step up and do what he can.

A lot of backs could have been successful in that scheme against the Lions, but Rawls exploded as I think few could have. I think AC could have had 120+ though, and maybe a bit more in the passing game.

The prospects for a solid run game, that's both powerful and explosive, seem better now than at any point in the season, just when we need it.

Click to expand...

Do you really have to bring Alex Collins into every discussion?

Click to expand...

Only when I can't find a good reason not to, it's happened a few times before...... I think.

Prosise is relevant to bring up too, but I don't see him being game ready until (hopefully) the NFCCG at earliest.

I just don't understand the conversations on this board and on local sports radio about Rawls. What's wrong with Rawls? I will tell you what's wrong with Rawls. When Rawls is hit 3 yards deep in our backfield, he doesn't get a whole lot of yards. You know who else didn't get a lot of yards when this happened to him? Marshawn Lynch. It's not that complicated. When the O-line allows Rawls to at least make it to the line of scrimmage before getting hit, he does a great job.

Our whole offense is predicated on those guys in the trenches doing at least enough to get our RB's to the line of scrimmage and our QB a couple of seconds to throw the ball. If they can do that, we have a chance. We still need to roll the dice with Bevell's playcalling, but sometimes the guy is magic. Starts with the guys up front though.


Edited by STAFF.

NO F-bombs (even masked) on the main page.

Not to hijack the thread but I hope Procise is ready to go so he can spell Rawls when he gets tired. It'll be nice to have a third running back and hopefully Reece can be ready too. The lack of depth in the backfield has been unnerving.