SEATTLE vs LOS ANGELES
RAMS WIN 21 – 19
- Story of the Game – Despite a Terrible Day from Darnold Seattle Nearly Pulled Out a Win in LA but Ultimately Fall Short
With the Rams pass rush causing issues for the Seattle OL all night long Darnold was forced to sort through pressure and muddy pockets to simply operate the offense. The Rams secondary took advantage of this by reading Darnold’s eyes as he was late to reads which allowed them to jump routes across the middle of the field. This continued throughout the entire game but Seattle’s defense was able to contain a Rams’ offense that has been rolling all year to keep them in the game. Had the Rams not had all of the short fields they did from INTs this game very well may have ended in a Seattle victory. Despite the Seahawks defense causing trouble for the Rams offense the Rams were able to find success in the run game and make the key plays they needed to so they could pull out a win. While neither team played their best ball this game I think there’s positives to come away with for both sides. Seattle had a chance to win the game with a last second field goal despite throwing 4 interceptions and their offense struggling to create explosives all game long which has been the driving force of their success on that side of the ball. The Rams also struggled offensively, specifically in the passing game, for a large chunk of this game but their defense had an incredible showing. They pressured and forced turnovers all game long and even more impressively held Seattle’s explosive offense to limited gains and forced them to inch their way downfield while holding up well in the red zone.
- Key Notes for the Rams
The Rams defense from top down was absolutely lights out against a Seahawks offense that has been rolling all year. Their pass rush won consistently both off the edge and within the interior which forced Darnold off his spot and in turn to make late reads. This allowed their DBs to play over the top and down with their eyes on the QB which made it all that much easier to read routes and jump them for interceptions.
Along with shutting down the deep passing attack and forcing turnovers the Rams held strong in the run game. Forcing short gains in both the run and pass allowed the Rams to control the game as their offense out executed the Seahawks offense in big situations especially later on in the game with Kyren Williams breaking off big runs and Puka Nacua coming up with big catches in clutch spots. The Rams played a complete game today and despite them not having the day they wanted on offense either they came up with big plays when they needed it most, aside from a rough ending to a drive to start the game.
- Key Notes for the Seahawks
While Darnold throwing 4 interceptions and playing the way that he did wasn’t the result you were hoping for going into the game I think it spoke more to the way the entire team played than Darnold “falling back down to earth.” Darnold wasn’t great and I’m not defending every interception but there were a couple that speak more to the constant pressure and/or mistakes in a route than just Darnold playing poorly. The offense has to play better as a whole, especially up front, if they want to have the success that they have had in past weeks against the best teams in the league down the stretch of the season.
All in all the Seahawks offense moved the ball well but continued mistakes like turnovers and drives stalling in the red zone where there downfall of this team. Not being able to push the ball down the field and break off explosives didn’t kill the offense but it magnified and allowed for them to make more mistakes.
- Standout Performers
- LAR
Kyren Williams – 12/91 1 TD – 1/5 rec
Puka Nacua – 7/75 – 2/18 rush
Kamren Kinchens – 4 Tackles (3 Solo) 2 INT 2 PBUs
Jared Verse – 3 Tackles (2 Solo) 1 PD
- Blew up Seattle pass protection all game long
Cobie Durant – 3 Tackles 1 INT 2 PBUs
- SEA
Jaxon Smith-Njigba – 9/105 – 1/11 rush
AJ Barner – 10/70
Coby Bryant – 5 Tackles (3 Solo) 1 FF
Byron Murphy II – 5 Tackles (1 Solo) 1 TFL
- Continues to play great in the middle of the SEA DL as he has all year
