So the NFL’s trade deadline has come and gone. Did you even notice? Do you even care? I’m guessing that the answer to both of those questions is no. There have been a total of two trades since this regular season started. Both of those trades occurred this week. One involved a wide receiver, Mike Thomas being sent from Jacksonville to Detroit to be the fourth wide receiver on the Lions. Jacksonville received an undisclosed draft pick in the deal. The other trade sent suspended cornerback Aqib Talib and a seventh round pick to New England in exchange for a fourth round pick. Riveting stuff no? Unfortunately this lack of trade activity is fairly common in the NFL. You just don’t see the blockbuster trades like you do in other leagues. Every once in a while, though, a trade does happen that changes the fortunes of a team. One such trade happened in 2010 when the Seahawks went out and grabbed Marshawn Lynch from the Buffalo Bills.
Marshawn came in and immediately started for the Seahawks. He helped lead the Seahawks to the playoffs. He ripped off a run that registered on the Richter scale and beat the Saints in the playoffs. The two picks the Seahawks gave up turned into a tackle who has started 3 games this season and a linebacker who is on the Cleveland Browns practice squad. The Seahawks don’t seem to give up all that much for the player who is currently second in the league in rushing. Marshawn has become the centerpiece of the Seahawks offense and will have a chance to add to his rushing totals on Sunday when he meets the Minnesota Vikings.
These are not the Vikings of a couple years ago. Half of the “Williams Wall” is gone and no one is scared to run on this Vikings defense. In their last two games the Vikings have let Larod Stephens-Howling rush for over 100 yards and Doug Martin record over 200 yards of total offense. Against the Vikings Stephens-Howling averaged over five yards a carry. He averaged less than a yard per carry in his next game. Now that was against the 49ers vaunted defense but if you take his game against the Vikings out of the equation Stephens-Howling is averaging less than a yard per carry. He is not exactly a running back that strikes fear into the hearts of defenses. Doug Martin is a better running back than Larod Stephens-Howling but he’s only had one 100 yard performance this season, against the Vikings. He has come close but the Vikings defense was the only one that let him get over the hump.
Marshawn Lynch is a better running back than Doug Martin or Larod Stephens-Howling. He has topped 100 yards in both of his last two games. He is averaging 4.8 yards a carry and 94.6 yards a game. He has had four 100 yard games this season. He should be able to run rampant on the Vikings defense. Lynch should be the focus of the Seahawks offense this week as the team looks to go back above five hundred. If Lynch is able to run on the Vikings it will create opportunities for his quarterback to shine. The Seahawks should be 5-4 at the end of the week.
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