The Seattle Seahawks locked up the NFC West, and the No. 1 seed in the NFC, with a 20-6 victory over the St. Louis Rams in Seattle, Wash. While the Seahawks started off the game slowly, St. Louis was unable to contain the Seahawks’ offensive attack in the second half.

Wide receiver Kevin Norwood put the Seahawks in the redzone prior to Lynch’s touchdown. (Courtesy of CBS Seattle)

Running back Marshawn Lynch scored the go ahead touchdown early in the fourth quarter. Lynch received the handoff from quarterback Russell Wilson, and he took it up the middle nine-yards for the score. The running back broke a couple of tackles at the line of scrimmage before waltzing into the end zone.

Seattle wasn’t done scoring in the fourth quarter, as linebacker Bruce Irving picked off a Sean Hill pass and took it 49-yards to the house. Irving’s score put the game out of reach, and gave the Seahawks their second straight NFC West title; as well as home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

After such a terrible start to the season, for the Seahawks to finish their last six games by allowing 6.5 points per game, is incredible. The defense really anchored down Seattle’s turnaround from earlier in the year. And the defense’s mid-season turnaround was the result of the secondary getting healthy, and the defensive line starting to generate pressure on opposing quarterbacks.

The defensive line harassed Hill throughout the game, as they constantly beat-up on St. Louis’s offensive line. Hill struggled to make good decisions while under duress, including an attempt to throw the ball away at the feet of his running back…which was intercepted by defensive tackle Jordan Hill. Irvin’s interception came when he jumped the route and prevented the wide receiver from completing the catch.

Seattle’s offense took a while to warm-up, as the Seahawks offensive line was unable to deal with the Rams pass rush. Wilson struggled to find time in the pocket to scan down field and complete passes. While the running backs were unable to find space at the line of scrimmage. As a result of the Seahawks’ offensive struggles, the Rams built up a 6-0 lead (two field goals) by half time.

But the Seahawks offense made adjustments at halftime and was able to march down the field to score a touchdown. While the defense continued to be awesome.

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