SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Doug Baldwin doesn’t do ties.
Not on the scoreboard. Not in the Seahawks’ record book, either.
Seattle’s often-intense No. 1 wide receiver had two catches Sunday, including a leaping, 41-yard grab in the second quarter that finally got the Seattle offense going on its way to a 25-23 victory at San Francisco.
Baldwin finished his first regular season since signing a $46 million contract extension with a career-high 94 receptions.
That tied Bobby Engram (2007) for the most catches in a season in franchise history.
What’s does that mean to Baldwin?
“It means I was one short of owning the record,” Baldwin deadpanned with a slight nod of his head while sitting at his locker at Levi’s Stadium.
Baldwin’s seven touchdown catches this season were half of his league-leading total from 2015. That was more a function of the Seahawks’ offense being inconsistent as a whole, of quarterback Russell Wilson playing from mid-September into late November with a high-ankle sprain and sprained knee ligament — and of the offensive line often struggling to give Wilson enough time to find Baldwin coming out of his route cuts.
Still, 94 catches is tied for the most in the 41-year history of Seahawks football.
“Doug Baldwin has always been clutch,” Wilson said. “He’s always made plays.”
For Baldwin, the more important number on which he expanded — a little bit more, anyway — was 10. That’s the number of wins the Seahawks (10-5-1) have achieved or surpassed in five of Baldwin’s six seasons with the team.
“We have won 10 games. That is huge for us,” Baldwin said. “I am thankful to be a part of it.”
This is the first time the Seahawks have had five consecutive seasons with 10 or more wins.
In fact, the Seahawks never had consecutive seasons with double-digit wins until Pete Carroll arrived in 2010 and the winning began in 2012.
This season it meant the third NFC West championship in four years, and a third seed in the conference for the playoffs that begin Saturday against the Detroit Lions at CenturyLink Field.
“Another 10-win season. That’s obviously huge,” Wilson said. “We think about 10 wins every year. … That’s not easy to do in the National Football League.
“I think it comes down to consistency. It comes down to hard work, players playing for one another. Our coaching staff is unbelievable, we believe in them.”
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