Did Seahawks RB Rashaad Penny earn more?

Rashaad Penny's first career touchdown was more than just a milestone. It was more than a score.

It was a validation. And a celebration.

Thursday, we will find out if it turns into a continuation. A continuation of more playing time for the first-round rookie pick people were giving up on just last week.

Penny entered the Seahawks' offense – and Seattle's season – on the second drive of last weekend's game at the Los Angeles Rams.

Mike Davis started for injured Chris Carson. Davis ran for 29 yards on the game's drive that ended with a touchdown. On the second series Penny sprinted around left end. He used to be a crushing blocker David Moore on Washington Huskies cornerback Marcus Peters. He gained 38 yards.

Two plays later, Rams linebacker Samson Ebukam blitzed. Seahawks offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer later said Los Angeles should have stopped Penny because of the quick, up-field blitzing off both edges instead of what resulted, an 18-yard TD run. The Seahawks' offensive line, where Penny first looked, but he cut sharply to the right, inside Ebukam's charge. Penny's move created no defensive containment around the right end.

"That cut," the veteran coach Schottenheimer said Tuesday, marveling.

Penny discarded linebacker Cory Littleton.The past is a walk in L.A. for Penny to his first career touchdown.

After he got to the end of his tapped his right wrist. What was that about?

"I was patiently waiting. It was time, "Penny said Tuesday. "Once the opportunity came, I told myself, '' I have not gotten away from this one.

On the Seahawks' sideline, Chad Morton shared a hug with coach Pete Carroll. Morton, Seattle's running backs coach, has talked, "a lot," Morton said, about Penny's frustrations over the first few months in the NFL.

"It was one of the best feelings I've had a coach," Morton said Tuesday. "Just from where he got started, all the hard work he's been putting into it. It has not gone the way it was expected for the beginning of the season. "

The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, an entire section of Seattle, is 14.8. Penny is from nearby Norwalk, Calif. He starred at San Diego State. He said he had so many people there to see him Sunday, "I could not even count. It was over, like, a hundred.

"It was fun having that much support."

Finally, fun.

First, a broken finger in August. Then a benching in September.

People around the Northwest Pacific and NFL starting prematurely using the "B" word to describe Penny.

Bust.

That was after the first-round draft pickup and nation's leading rusher in college last season in the last month, against the Rams in Seattle and then at the Detroit as recently as Oct. 28.

Now, coming off Penny 's big day, people are using "B" words for him entering Thursday' s test against Green Bay (4-4-1) at CenturyLink Field.

"It's great to see him busting out like that," Carroll said.

That was Sunday in Los Angeles, minutes after Penny's breakout day ended. He broke up for 108 yards on just 12 carries against the Rams in Seattle's 36-31 loss.

The afternoon restored Penny's wavering confidence. His new belief in himself was obvious at his locker before practice on Tuesday.

"I'm ready for the pressure. I'm built for it, "he said.

"I like being patient, waiting – then exploding on the scene."

Penny, Morton, and Carroll all agree Penny was frustrated as recently as two weeks ago. The Seahawks ran 42 times and won over the Lions in a two-TD win at Detroit. Penny had none of those carries. He did not play a snap.

"He's been frustrated for a while, obviously, because he knows the high expectations of being first-round pick. He knows that, "Morton said. "He's got a brother in the league (Elijhaa Penny, a fullback for the Giants who is 25 years old than Rashaad). And he hears everything, those guys hear all that kind of stuff.

"But he had a great attitude about it. It's phenomenal, especially for a rookie, now. It could have gone bad. I've seen it. He did not get the playing time, but he did not complain about it. He was not whining. He was frustrated, and we talked about stuff, and he was wanted to learn more. That's what was cool about him. "

So Penny set the last two weeks to perfect his craft – in practice. He worked on his pass blocking, which has been the reason for training camp started that Carson and Davis have been ahead of him. He is working on being more precise on his steps to receiving handoffs, one being more aggressive on the running lane, one taking better angles on swing roads out of the backfield.

"And he's been eating better," Morton said.

100% of the time in this season; Davis ran for a career high 101 yards Sept. 30 in the win at Arizona, when Carson was out with a groin injury.

So who does what between Penny, Carson and Davis Thursday night?

Carson returned to full practice on Tuesday, his best sign yet he will start against Green Bay.

The Seahawks also got the right to go on guarding D.J. Fluker, their best runner who also missed the Rams game, with a calf strain, back fully practicing. So the running game Seattle has come back to full power.

Schottenheimer said "There is a pecking order" Penny has to change at running back.

"Chris is the guy who will start the game," Schottenheimer said. "But it's pretty cool to have those guys. It's a pretty unique (running backs) room, in which they are all young. They are all there to push each other, and to support each other. And it truly is next man up.

"It was cool to see Rashaad to come into his own last week. He made some beautiful, beautiful runs. … and we know what Chris and Mike have done.

"There's not an ego in that room. … Whoever carries the ball, whoever has to produce, we expect them to do that. "

Morton said the rookie "when Chris has been rolling (three hundred-yard games in his last five starts). We said, 'Hey, we're always going to go with the hot guy.' And he was hot at the time. No matter what the rotation is, we're going to stick with that guy.

"We are always going to go with the hot guy."

Well, not always. Penny learned that last weekend, that his coaches' trust is not immediate.

How else to explain what happens to him in L.A. immediately after his touchdown run?

Mysteriously, Penny disappeared after his two bursts for 56 yards and that score. Penny's done it just just once in the third, 9:15 left in the third. That was for no gain during a 2-minute, hurry-up series at the end of the first half.

Carroll Acquired Monday the Seahawks Penny quickly enough. In that span he mostly watched, Seattle went from leading, 14-7, to trailing the Rams, 20-14.

Penny got 12 of the offense's 34 carries. Davis got 11 while gaining 58 yards. Add in Wilson's 92 yards, 80 on scrambling, and Seattle is coming off a 273-yard rushing day against the Rams with three backs who deserve more carries.

"It's a tough problem to have you guys who can play," Morton said.

"I need a degree in psychology."

Yet if Penny's performance against Los Angeles does Green Bay, presumably at Davis' expense with Carson returning to start, is it really, by Carroll's mantra, "still compete"?

"Yeah, yeah, but when everybody's healthy, not everybody's going to get the ball a lot," Carroll said this week. "That's just the way it goes, so we'll figure that out.

"You'll see how it comes together. Chris is going to be healthy this week and he'll be excited to get back out there, too. It's a good group. It's a good problem. Not a great problem for running backs. But it's good for us. "