Groz’s Week 11 Seahawks Memory: Thomas Rawls picks up where Beast Mode left off

The Seahawks’ 2015 season started with a hangover.

Heaps: The sign that the Seahawks’ defense is starting to turn around

The bad feeling about the previous season’s Super Bowl loss to New England permeated the organization, and the Seahawks stumbled to a 3-4 start with a matchup in San Francisco looming and trouble in the backfield.

The Seahawks’ running game was basically Marshawn Lynch, but Beast Mode was ruled out of this game. He said to his replacement, rookie Thomas Rawls, “I’m going to pass you the torch for today,” and Rawls took it – boy, did he take it.

Rawls had already had some nice moments during the season but this Sunday he was a monster. By the time he was done he had turned in the second-best day ever by a Seahawks running back, rolling for 209 yards and scoring two touchdowns as the Seahawks righted the ship in a 29-13 win (watch highlights here).

Rawls accounted for 255 total yards on the day and the Seahawks turned it on from that point forward, winning six of the next eight to once again make the playoffs. Rawls wasn’t the only rookie to shine this day, either – Tyler Lockett caught two touchdown passes as well. But the day belonged to Rawls, who would go on to gain a team-high 830 yards rushing that season.

Follow The Groz on Twitter.

More Seahawks memories from Groz

• Goal-line retribution in Week 10 of 2016 against New England
• The franchise changed direction in Week 9 of Pete Carroll’s third year
• Holmgren’s blowout Green Bay return in Week 8, 1999
• Slaying the 1986 Super Bowl champion Giants in Week 7
• Unlikely hero gets 2005 Super Bowl run going in Week 5, 2005
• Super Bowl championship team shows it’s for real in Week 4, 2013
• Curt Warner establishes ‘Ground Chuck’ in Week 3, 1983

Related

Seahawks’ rocky start is similar to the last defending champWhat history says about 3-3 Seahawks’ Super Bowl chancesMacdonald defends OC amid Seahawks’ offensive strugglesSeahawks confident they can fix their turnover problemSalk: Seahawks make right move in not benching Sam DarnoldSeahawks Injury Updates: The latest on Bradford, Price, Charbonnet