Seahawks place RB Thomas Rawls on injured reserve

A 35-6 pounding by the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday left Baltimore with little to play for except pride.

CLAUSEN ENCORE: Forced into the starting lineup for injured Matt Schaub, Baltimore’s Jimmy Clausen became the sixth quarterback since 1950 to face a team twice in one season as a starter for two different teams.

Any fan can completely sum up the devastation wreaked upon the Ravens’ secondary by the Seattle Seahawks Dec. 13 simply by taking matters into their own hands.

Russell Wilson has been nothing short of flawless in his recent games.

Something had to give.

“It’s nearly like playing 7-on-7 football”, backup quarterback Tarvaris Jackson said. “However, we are all witnessing the evolution of this side of the ball”. That said, the linebacker play has been incredible after Bobby Wagner looked only okay through the first few weeks of the year, and the pass rush and interior-run defense have been disruptive even if the sacks aren’t there.

The questions, though, have to be asked: What happens to the “next man up” philosophy when you run out of next men?

The evolution Baldwin predicted has been clear.

But thanks to Wilson – one of the league leaders in passer rating and completion percentage heading into his team’s game at Baltimore – the Seahawks could.

The Seahawks are currently two games out of first place in the NFC-West behind the Arizona Cardinals (11-2), and must now find a way to replace Rawls and possibly even Marshawn Lynch in the backfield as they push towards the playoffs. That’s some good company. The Seahawks also averaged 9.1 yards per attempt, second-best this season. “Right now, we’re challenged and we have an opportunity to win three football games”, he said. Marshawn Lynch will be too – but the Seahawks still don’t know when. Richard Sherman had an interception in the fourth quarter. Receiver Tyler Lockett also had 104 receiving yards and two touchdowns, including a 49-yard grab.

In the past four games, Wilson threw 16 touchdowns without an interception. Coverage was solid and Sam Koch booted five punts for 226 yards. Jermaine Kearse is contributing. The only blemish was a dropped touchdown pass by Luke Willson.

With veteran center Max Unger gone before the season, the Seahawks placed more responsibility on Wilson before the snap.

Well, it starts up front. The result was reminiscent of what the Ravens saw from their defense earlier in the season, as quarterbacks Josh McCown, Colin Kaepernick, Derek Carr, Philip Rivers and Andy Dalton all topped 300 passing yards in their games against the Ravens.

Wilson is still young, and that part of the position comes with time. Lewis improved the line’s communication vastly, as Seattle’s coaches have told us, and they’re getting on the same page with their protections.

Tackle Russell Okung cited the quick release of Wilson’s passes as helping their protection. According to ESPN Stats & Information, he’s the first player since James Jones in 2012 to do that.

At the end of the day, though, a ton of credit should and will go to Russell Wilson. He’s been amazingly poised.

“There were some good throws there and some bad throws”, Clausen said.

– Third downs are hugely important (what are the most important stats?).

But now the question will be can the Seahawks keep this stretch of exceptional offensive play going forward with yet another significant loss on offense.