Seahawks Spotlight: Doug Baldwin
Nov 8, 2017, 9:51 AM | Updated: 10:36 am
Doug Baldwin wore a backpack to this week’s appearance on the “Seahawks Spotlight” which airs daily at 5 p.m. on 710 ESPN Seattle.
Dave Wyman: Is Josh Norman’s jockstrap in there by any chance?
Baldwin: Why would I be holding Josh Norman’s jock?
Fair point. First of all, NFL players don’t wear jockstraps anymore, and if they did, the one belonging to the Washington cornerback would have been down around his ankles given the way Baldwin completely juked him en route to a go-ahead touchdown in the final 2 minutes of Sunday’s game.
O’Neil: Seahawks need to be worried about offense early, defense late
You’d think everyone would know by now that trying to jam Baldwin at the line is bad business for any defense, but with less than 2 minutes in Sunday’s game there was Norman, who is only one of the highest-paid cornerbacks in the league, trying to grab a hold of Baldwin at the line of scrimmage. Note the use of the word trying because Norman didn’t get so much as a hand on Seattle’s receiver.
“I’ve always said that I felt disrespected,” Baldwin said. “And to some degree I still feel that way especially when it feels like guys don’t watch tape. They don’t realize there’s certain things that you don’t want to do against me. Certain things will work better, but being in press is not one of them.”
Washington came back to score a touchdown less than a minute later, and Seattle’s attempt at a comeback fell incomplete.
Baldwin caught seven passes in the game for 108 yards, his second game this season with more than 100 yards receiving. Halfway through the Seahawks’ schedule, Baldwin ranks 10th in the league with 49 receptions. That puts Baldwin on pace to exceed last season’s total of 94 catches, which matched the franchise record.
Seattle has gone from being one of the most run-heavy teams in the league to ranking second in passing yards at 274.8.
“We’ve evolved,” Baldwin said. “We’ve become more mature in terms of understanding the weapons that we have and how to utilize them in the field, and so you’ve seen the production grow, but again, we’ve had our woes in the past when it comes to the red zone and that continues – whether it’s kicking the ball or scoring touchdowns, we’ve always had our issues.
“That’s something that we’ve got to continue to grow and still work on.”