Sizzling Seahawks join exclusive club

TORONTO – It wasn’t that long ago when Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll was worried about overwhelming rookie quarterback Russell Wilson with too much information.

That’s no longer a concern after Wilson and the surging Seahawks showed they’re capable of piling up points north of the border, too.

A week after a 58-0 win at home against Arizona, Wilson ran for three touchdowns and threw for another in a 50-17 rout of the Bills in Buffalo’s annual game in Toronto on Sunday.

“I’m just thrilled that he’s been able to continue to grow,” Carroll said. “For a time, we were just trying to get the offense going and not screw it up and make sure he could keep growing.

“Well, we’re past that now.”

Wilson was unstoppable during a first half in which he directed scoring drives on the Seahawks’ first five possessions in building a 31-7 lead. It was a stretch in which he scored on 14-, 25- and 13-yard runs to become the NFL’s first quarterback to run for three touchdowns in one half since Daunte Culpepper did it against Chicago on Sept. 3, 2000, according to STATS. And Wilson’s 4-yard touchdown pass to Zach Miller was his 21st of the season, moving into a tie for second with Cam Newton among NFL rookies. Only Peyton Manning, with 26 in 1998, had more.

Then the Seahawks’ opportunistic defense took over by forcing three consecutive turnovers to start the second half, including safety Earl Thomas scoring on 57-yard interception return.

“We’re definitely clicking well,” Wilson said, a third-round draft pick out of Wisconsin. “I’ve been on a couple of teams that have scored that many in college. But to do it in the National Football League, I mean that’s really tough to do.”

He’s not kidding.

The Seahawks became the NFL’s third team to score 50 points in consecutive weeks, joining the Los Angeles Rams and New York Giants, who both did it in 1950, according to STATS. And the 108 combined points over two weeks matched the NFL’s third-highest total. The New England Patriots also scored 108 points in consecutive games last month, according to STATS.

And it’s happening with the Seahawks (9-5) mounting a playoff push. They’ve won for the fifth time in six games and still aren’t out of the running to win the NFC West. They return home to host division-leading San Francisco (10-3-1) in what has become a key showdown.

The Bills (5-9) find themselves in a familiar state of unraveling. They were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention for a 13th season – the NFL’s longest active drought. And their performance further raises questions about coach Chan Gailey’s job security.

“We played bad. We played poorly. And when you play poorly against a good football team you’re going to look extremely bad,” Gailey said. “You’re angry at yourself because you didn’t get the team ready to play at the level they needed to play.”

The defense had a meltdown in giving up 45 or more points three times this season.

The offense sputtered for much of the first half before scoring 10 points in the final 1:10 cut the Seahawks’ lead to 31-17.

And then things got ugly.

Ryan Fitzpatrick threw two interceptions and lost a fumble in turning the ball over on each of the Bills’ first three possessions. The Seahawks capitalized by turning the three turnovers into 17 points.

“It went downhill from there fast,” said Fitzpatrick, who was more upset about how the team’s performance reflected on Gailey. “We played poorly and it reflects poorly on him. It eats me up.”

Fitzpatrick went 21 of 38 for 217 yards with a 20-yard TD to Stevie Johnson.

Wilson went 14 of 23 for 205 yards passing, and had 92 yards rushing.

Running back Marshawn Lynch had 113 yards rushing and scored on a 13-yard run in his first game against his former team.

Seattle	14	17	16	3	—	50
Buffalo	7	10	0	0	—	17

Sea—Wilson 14 run (Hauschka kick)

Sea—Wilson 25 run (Hauschka kick)

Buf—Spiller 14 run (Lindell kick)

Sea—FG Hauschka 19

Sea—Miller 4 pass from Wilson (Hauschka kick)

Sea—Wilson 13 run (Hauschka kick)

Buf—St.Johnson 20 pass from Fitzpatrick (Lindell kick)

Buf—FG Lindell 41

Sea—Lynch 13 run (kick blocked)

Sea—FG Hauschka 33

Sea—Thomas 57 int. return (Hauschka kick)

Sea—FG Hauschka 23

A—40,770.

	Sea	Buf
First downs	22	21
Total Net Yards	466	333
Rushes-yards	32-270	21-118
Passing	196	215
Punt Returns	3-20	0-0
Kickoff Returns	3-66	5-139
Interceptions Ret.	2-81	0-0
Comp-Att-Int	14-23-0	24-43-2
Sacked-Yrds Lost	2-9	3-32
Punts	2-39.5	4-48.5
Fumbles-Lost	0-0	1-1
Penalties-Yards	4-32	4-20
Time of Poss.	28:57	31:03

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Seattle, Lynch 10-113, Wilson 9-92, Turbin 10-31, Robinson 1-29, Washington 2-5. Buffalo, Spiller 17-103, Fitzpatrick 3-8, Choice 1-7.

PASSING—Seattle, Wilson 14-23-0-205. Buffalo, Fitzpatrick 21-38-2-217, Thigpen 3-5-0-30.

RECEIVING—Seattle, Rice 4-76, Tate 3-64, Miller 3-26, Robinson 1-20, Lynch 1-14, Baldwin 1-8, Turbin 1-(minus 3). Buffalo, St.Johnson 8-115, Chandler 5-58, Graham 3-32, B.Smith 3-26, Spiller 3-(minus 2), Dickerson 1-10, Martin 1-8.

MISSED FIELD GOALS—None.