Undrafted rookie running back Thomas Rawls has emerged as the team’s top option in the running game, due to various injuries to starter Marshawn Lynch. And with Lynch recovering from hernia surgery, he had specific advice for Rawls.
“He told me go out there with the same mentality that I’ve been having and listen to Fred [Jackson],” Rawls told reporters on Friday. “Because he’s gone right now, just listen to Fred, and any questions I need to ask him.”
There really isn’t much Fred or Marshawn or anyone else can tell Rawls about playing the position, because Rawls plays without conscious thought -- or regard to his health.
“I play off of instinct and I just play my game,” Rawls said regarding whether he’ll avoid some contact to preserve his body. “As I’m out there, I’m not thinking a lot. I don’t think at all. I just go out there and play my game and do what’s best for the team. So if that’s making plays, if that’s going down, which I’ll probably try not to do. But it all depends on the flow of the game.”
Rawls, a Flint, Michigan native who is making his hometown proud, will get his next chance to get in the flow of the game against the Steelers, a team that 10 years ago beat Seattle for a Super Bowl played in Michigan -- with another Michigan native at running back for Pittsburgh. With Rawls suddenly getting so much national publicity, coach Pete Carroll wanted to be sure the rookie is ready to go.
“I visited with him about [the attention],” Carroll told reporters on Friday. “He seemed very squared away. Not wanting to change anything about how he prepares and his habits and things like that. I thought it was worth talking to him about since it was such a shift. That’s hard on anybody.”
Rawls has been hard on defenses this year, and the Steelers are about to get a taste of what the guy whose name wasn’t called during the draft can do.