Seattle Seahawks star receiver Doug Baldwin was on the field for 53 snaps in Sunday’s 33-31 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. He was only targeted once, however, hauling in a meager 1-yard reception along the sideline.

After battling a pair of serious knee injuries dating back to training camp, it is easy to assume Baldwin’s lack of targets on Sunday was due to lingering soreness. However, Pete Carroll was adamant Tuesday that was not the case.

“No, that had nothing to do with it,” Carroll stated when asked about Baldwin’s knees factoring into his limited play. “It just didn’t go to him. We always want Doug to get the football. We didn’t throw the ball very much and it just got mixed around where he didn’t get it. There’s always a clear intention to make him a big part of the game, it just didn’t work out in this one.”

For the third week in a row, the Seahawks went very run-heavy, with Chris Carson and Mike Davis combining for 31 carries and 184 yards. When Seattle did pass, they looked to the outside quite a bit. Often they were trying to exploit Rams corner Marcus Peters, who was battling a knee injury and did not appear to be playing at 100 percent.

When they weren’t doing that, quarterback Russell Wilson was often scrambling outside of the pocket, which led to a few broken plays that turned into big yardage, including a 32-yard scamper by Nick Vannett on a short pitch.

For those who are concerned with Baldwin’s lack of touches on Sunday, this seems like a combination of unique circumstances and is unlikely to result in low usage like this going forward.

As long as Baldwin is healthy, he will remain a big part of Seattle’s offense in 2018 and beyond.