Jimmy Graham out for the season with right knee injury in Seattle

Defending the division title is all but a lost cause by trailing the Bengals by a full three games after the loss in Seattle and Cincinnati’s victory at home against the Rams. He’s a low-end flex at this point, and may not even be fully healthy. He was in charge of containing Ben Roethlisberger.

I would tell you that in spite of the Seahawks putting themselves in a good position to make the playoffs, they’re more apt to be one and done with their defense. The Steelers had controlled the game up to this point and offense was actually hard to come by in the beginning.

“To get those yards, they had to put it up and take some chances and our guys came through with the big plays that (have) just been missing in our game”, he said. We play to win games. Instead, the chronically inconsistent Seahawks offense rallied to spare the defense.

And so ended a game in which Seattle’s defense made plenty of mistakes but ultimately enough plays to come out on top. The concentration to keep the ball in his vision was fantastic, but the most impressive part of the whole sequence might be how firmly he keeps his hand underneath the ball as he goes to the ground. Not a bad way to end a game.

And get this: Baldwin didn’t see Wilson’s early throw as he crossed the middle behind a sea of bodies and arms until, as he put it, “as late as you can possibly imagine”.

“Being above. 500 for once”, said Baldwin, “is a relief”. Wilson certainly shined very bright when the Seahawks needed it most against Pittsburgh, even while being sick.

While Wilson had a more efficient day, Roethlisberger was fantastic in his own right on Sunday. Nick Foles returned as the Rams’ starting quarterback and threw three interceptions, including one that Leon Hall returned 19 yards for a touchdown.

The other five in that group are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Barry Sanders, Jim Brown, Walter Payton, Eric Dickerson and Emmitt Smith. He was overshadowed greatly by Markus Wheaton, who had nine receptions for 201 yards and a score. On one of those picks, unfortunately, Antonio Brown who was the target, fell down, making for an easy interception for that same Richard Sherman, his first pick in the last 12 games. Wilson to Jimmy Graham for 18 yards. Those are the type of numbers that make the Legion of Boom go bust. Happy birthday Russ, may we both be one year wiser. So many challenges back and forth for both teams.

“I kept shaking my head like, ‘Russ, just give me a chance!’ And he did”, Baldwin said of his presnap look just before the third-and-10 from Seattle’s 20 – with the Seahawks a play away from giving Pittsburgh back the ball in a 32-30 game. The Seahawks failed on a two-point conversion try, their third missed conversion of the game, and led 32-27, with 8:12 remaining. – Ryan Fitzpatrick threw four touchdown passes, two to Brandon Marshall, and NY gained some traction in the AFC wild-card race.

-Seattle was pretty good in the red zone, huh?

Philip Rivers passed Joe Montana (273) and tied with Vinny Testaverde (275) for 11th place in the NFL’s all-time passing touchdown rankings as the San Diego Chargers snapped a six-game losing streak with a 31-25 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Seattle’s Baldwin caught six passes for 145 yards and three touchdowns, while Kearse added four receptions for 47 yards and a pair of scores.

He said that during the 49ers game, RB Marshawn Lynch called the offense together on the sidelines and did something he had never done “in public”, Baldwin said.

There is a guy the Steelers can look toward to help shore things up in the secondary, as cornerback Brandon Boykin was acquired in training camp but hasn’t seen much of the field.

It means that the Seahawks are now comfortably in the playoff picture, once more.

But Wheaton seemed to have taken a step back this season – until Sunday, that is.

In the immediate future, the Seahawks will travel to Minnesota next week to take on the NFC North-leading Vikings. “He was going to have a huge day if he was able to stay out there”.