Rarely do I disagree with PFT Planet’s assessment of the PFT Live question of the day. Today, I couldn’t disagree more.
The question was this: What’s the biggest surprise of wild-card weekend? Coming in fifth out of the five choices was the performance of Seahawks running back Thomas Rawls.
His impersonation of Beast Mode should have been much higher, if not No. 1. Yes, when the Seahawks pounced quickly on Marshawn Lynch’s mid-Super Bowl retirement tweet, they did so under the impression that Rawls, who broke an ankle in December of his rookie season after rushing for 830 yards, would become Lynch’s replacement. But with Rawls returning slowly from the injury and former second-rounder Christine Michael performing well late last season and into training camp and the preseason, Rawls didn’t do much the first two weeks of 2016, rushing for 32 yards on 12 carries in Week One and minus-7 on seven carries in Week Two.
Week Two also brought about Rawls’ second serious injury, a cracked leg bone that caused him to miss seven games.
In the first four games after Rawls returned, he was very good but not great, with one 100-yard performance, 268 total yards, and an average of 5.0 per carry. The final three weeks of the season were neither very good nor great; Rawls had 58 total rushing yards on 37 carries -- an average of 1.56 yards per carry.
It made what he did on Saturday night even more amazing, averaging six yards per carry and setting a franchise postseason record with 161 yards with numerous bruising, pounding runs that conjured memories of Marshawn.
The question now becomes whether Rawls can follow Saturday’s performance with a similar output in Atlanta, where controlling the ball and keeping the offense on the sideline will become even more critical than it was against the Lions. Having C.J. Prosise back could chew into Rawls’ touches, but it also could diversify the offense and allow Rawls to remain fresh and potent.
Either way, if Rawls keeps running like he did on Saturday night, maybe Ed Werder will be right. And maybe Seattle will get back to a spot where an opportunity to run the ball from the one against the Patriots will be the difference between a Super Bowl ring and an offseason of regret.
