Seahawks ride unknown to win

SEATTLE -- Doug Baldwin picked a national stage to remind the rest of the NFL teams what they passed up in last April's draft.

Baldwin, an undrafted rookie out of Stanford, blocked a first-quarter punt that was returned by Michael Robinson 17 yards for a touchdown, then caught a 29-yard TD pass from Tarvaris Jackson in the third quarter as the Seattle Seahawks pulled away for a 30-13 win over the staggering St. Louis Rams on Monday night.

Seattle (6-7) won for the fourth time in five games and kept alive its slim hopes for reaching the postseason. The Seahawks likely would need to win out to potentially make the playoffs a reality, but they're at least back in the conversation after a 2-6 start.

Much of this late-season rally has been on the shoulders of running back Marshawn Lynch, who also played a key role Monday night.

Lynch topped 100 yards rushing for the fifth time in the last six games, finishing with 115 on 23 carries. He scored a touchdown on a 16-yard run with 2:57 left to put away Seattle's 13th win in its last 14 games against the Rams.

Seahawks fans threw bags of Skittles -- Lynch's admitted preferred candy -- into the end zone as he celebrated his ninth rushing touchdown this season, and he tied a franchise record with nine consecutive games with a TD.

"I think it's more of a team accomplishment," Lynch said. "It's great to have, but that win was a lot better."

Baldwin, who is Seattle's leading receiver and has become the main option for Jackson, finished with seven receptions for 93 yards and his third TD catch of the season.

As a receiver, he disappeared until the third quarter, when he snagged a 22-yard reception across the middle to convert a third-and-11 near midfield. On the next play, Baldwin faked going inside and broke to the sideline, losing Darian Stewart in coverage. Jackson found Baldwin, and he got just inside the pylon to give the Seahawks a 14-point lead.

Baldwin had six of his seven catches in the second half.

"We just expect that out of him now," Jackson said. "We expect him to go out and make plays every week."

His catches seemed secondary to his contribution on special teams.

Baldwin's influence on the game was evident from the start, when he took a pitch from Leon Washington on a kickoff reverse and returned it beyond the 40. Seattle was later forced to punt, but it was Baldwin racing from the outside to down the punt at the Rams 6.

Then he made the biggest of his three fine special teams plays.

Coming almost entirely unblocked off the right end, Baldwin took a punt off the foot of Donnie Jones. The bounding ball hopped up into the arms of Robinson, who went the final 17 yards for an early 7-0 Seahawks lead.

"As far as my expectations go, I expected to be successful. I didn't know how successful, but I expected to be able to come in here and win a job in some capacity, because if you don't have that confidence in yourself, you're not going to win a job," Baldwin said. "To be where I am now, no, I didn't expect this. But at the same time, I'm not satisfied."

Jackson wasn't his best, but didn't need to be against the Rams. He went 21 of 32 for 224 yards and connected with nine receivers.

Seattle topped 100 yards rushing for the sixth straight game, accomplishing that feat for the first time in the same regular season since 1996. It came behind an offensive line that lost its third starter for the season a week ago, when Russell Okung went down with a torn pectoral muscle.

Former Eldorado High standout Steven Jackson had 50 yards rushing on 11 carries by halftime for the Rams (2-11), but he finished with only 63 yards on 20 carries, including a 1-yard TD.