| GONE BOWLING |
| The Seahawks’ five-player contingent for Sunday’s Pro Bowl game ties for the third highest in franchise history: 1984: 7 players 2005: 7 players 2007: 6 players 1986: 5 players 1987: 5 players 2003: 5 players 2011: 5 players |
That’s because Marshawn Lynch was added to the NFC Pro Bowl squad on Tuesday after the San Francisco 49ers’ Frank Gore pulled out because of an illness. The Seahawks’ Beast Mode running back emerged from voting by players, coaches and fans as the second alternate at his position, but an injury also will prevent the Minnesota Vikings’ Adrian Peterson, the first alternate, from playing in Sunday’s game at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu.
It was after Lynch became the first player in the league this season to score a rushing touchdown against the 49ers – not to mention the first back since November 2006 (a streak of 36 games) to run for 100-plus yards against San Francisco’s defense – that Baldwin went public with his support for what he thought was the obvious.
“If Marshawn Lynch isn’t in the Pro Bowl, there’s something wrong with the voting system,” the rookie free agent, and team’s leading receiver, said after a two-point loss to the NFC West champion 49ers at CenturyLink Field on Christmas Eve.
“Plain and simple. I mean, he’s proved it week in and week out.”
What Lynch proved down the stretch is that the Seahawks would go as far as his strong legs could carry them. After a 2-6 start, they won five of their next six by following Lynch’s lead. While pounding away at opposing defenses on the field, and pounding Skittles on the sideline, Lynch ran for at least 100 yards in four of those games and scored in each.
Before he was done, Lynch had put up career bests in rushing yards (1,204), rushing touchdowns (12) and total TDs (13) in his first full season with the Seahawks. He also scored in 11 consecutive games, a franchise record.
Only the Falcons’ Michael Turner (1,340), the Eagles’ LeSean McCoy (1,309) and Gore (1,211) ran for more yards in the NFC than Lynch. Among the backs in the conference, only McCoy scored more touchdowns (20) and produced more first downs (102) than Lynch (71).
All of that made Lynch the Seahawks’ first 1,000-yard rusher since Shaun Alexander in 2005, and his scoring streak broke Alexander’s record of nine in a row set during his league MVP season.
Lynch’s inclusion on Tuesday made him the fifth Seahawk on the NFC Pro Bowl roster. He joins free safety Earl Thomas, who was voted the starter; and fullback Michael Robinson, cornerback Brandon Browner and strong safety Kam Chancellor, all first alternates who also have been named as injury replacements.
Back to Gore, he and Lynch were heading in opposite directions as the season progressed. While Gore had five consecutive 100-yard rushing efforts at midseason, he failed to crack triple digits in the final eight regular season games and each of the 49ers’ playoff games. Lynch, meanwhile, did not have a 100-yard effort in the first seven games, when he sat out one due to back spasms. But in the final nine games, Lynch went for 135, 109, 111, 148, 115 and 107.
Part of that was the coaching staff deciding that running the ball with Lynch gave the offense its best chance to sustain drives, and the team its best opportunity to win. In the games where Lynch had at least 20 carries, the Seahawks were 5-3. In the games were he didn’t get 20 carries, they were 2-6.
Lynch’s impact on the game wasn’t lost on 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh.
“That’s the way Marshawn Lynch plays all the time,” Harbaugh said after Lynch had snapped two of the 49ers’ streaks in the Week 16 game. “I couldn’t say if there’s a difference from Game One to this game, or throughout his whole career.
“He’s just a great back.”
And now, Lynch is a Pro Bowl back for the second time in his career. He also went to the NFL’s all-star game after the 2008 season, when he rushed for 1,036 yards and eight TDs while playing for the Buffalo Bills.
Now, as then, some of Lynch’s most impressive runs came when he gained a yard or two on plays where he should have lost two or three. Give him enough blocking to get three or four yards and he’ll go for six or seven.
“That’s the way he is. That’s the type of guy he is,” Robinson, Lynch’s lead blocker, said at one point during the season. “He walks aggressively. Marshawn does everything he does aggressively.
“That’s what you like about him.”
What Baldwin likes, however, is that Lynch finally got the Pro Bowl berth to match his Pro Bowl-worthy season.
