Suddenly, throwing on second-and-goal doesn’t seem so bad for the Seattle Seahawks.
In what nearly was a stunning upset in which their star quarterback suffered a concerning injury, the Seahawks reversed the narrative. Russell Wilson drove the Seahawks 14 plays and 75 yards in the final four minutes as they scratched out a win over the Miami Dolphins, 12-10.
The Dolphins had driven 86 yards over seven plays in just over three minutes to take a 10-6 lead. It looked like a stunning upset and a survivor-league-crushing result in the making in Dolphins head coach Adam Gase’s debut.
The Seattle Seahawks always have a chance because of Russell Wilson (AP). Wilson, who had suffered an ankle injury when Ndamukong Suh (inadvertently) stepped on it earlier in the game, took over and was clearly limited in his mobility. But the Seahawks converted two fourth downs on the drive, including a 22-yard throw to Doug Baldwin on fourth-and-4 after Suh had batted down the third-down pass.
Wilson later hit Baldwin for a 2-yard touchdown —*on an audible, Baldwin said after the game —*with 35 seconds left. Ricardo Lockette and Marshawn Lynch were not in the building on this day, so any comparison to the Super Bowl red-zone meltdown is off target. But it does show that this team is going to do whatever needs to be done to win a game.
In this case, it was putting the ball in the hands of Wilson first. He’s the best player in his division, one of the best players in the NFL and a legitimate MVP candidate this season. Games like this prove it. He used to be hard to defend because of the threat of scrambling. With the injury taking that away from Wilson in this game, offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell still wanted his quarterback throwing it — just as he did last season.
Baldwin is a true WR1 now. He’s clutch and tough and his game belies whatever apparent physical limitations he might have. Wilson had to get him the ball on both the huge fourth-down play and on the game-winner.

Judging this team on its Week 1 performance is risky. And the Seahawks surely do need to clean a lot of things up — and pray that Wilson’s ankle heals. But if he’s upright, Seattle has a chance to win every time out.
– – – – – – –
Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
Follow @Eric_Edholm