The more things change, the more they stay the same?
This was the big opportunity for the Seattle Seahawks against the Los Angeles Rams, who have emphatically owned them throughout the Sean McVay era. Half of their six wins versus the Rams since 2017 have come against backup quarterbacks. This was the clash of the top teams in the NFC West and the Seahawks came oh so close but didn’t get the job done. There’s one player who stands out above the rest in terms of the cut of the blame pie, but it’s not all just on the Seahawks’ quarterback.
It’s time for Winners and Losers from Rams 21, Seahawks 19.
Winners
Uchenna Nwosu
I could credit the whole defensive line for their outstanding work, particularly in short yardage, but Nwosu showed his value as a two-way player. He had a tackle for loss, a pass defensed, and was instrumental in Seattle slowing down the Rams offense after the slow opening quarter. By no means was Nwosu’s two-tackle performance representative of an uninvolved player.
DeMarcus Lawrence
He continues to wreak havoc as a run stopper but I am amazed at how he’s recaptured his best pass rushing form. ‘Tank’ had a QB hit, a tackle for loss, and was one of the reasons the Rams’ ordinarily outstanding play-action game was mostly snuffed out.
Coby Bryant
I thought he was in Loser territory for his early missed tackles, but that forced fumble on Puka Nacua after Darnold’s interception was reminiscent of his rookie season. Bryant also had a critical tackle on a Nacua jet sweep that gave Seattle that final possession.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba
It didn’t feel like it but yes, JSN had 9 catches for 105 yards even with the struggles of Sam Darnold. His highlight was a sick one-handed catch along the sideline. Perhaps worryingly, JSN was the only receiver with a catch until the third quarter. The JSN-centric nature of this offense continues and I think it speaks to the need for Tory Horton to return ASAP.
Kenneth Walker III
Finally! Walker had a touchdown lost to a hold, but he did get Seattle’s only TD toward the end of the game. He rushed for 67 yards on 16 carries and 44 yards on three catches, giving him 111 scrimmage yards. I don’t believe Kubiak is getting either Walker or Charbonnet involved enough as pass catchers in this offense.
AJ Barner
Bet you didn’t have Barner having 10 catches in this one. Not exactly efficient with 70 receiving yards, but he picked up several key first downs as a receiver and he’s still very efficient as the sneak option in short yardage. Bad news? The Barn Yard sneak was finally defeated on the eighth attempt.
Jason Myers
I’m not faulting him for missing a 61-yard field goal, which would’ve tied his career long. He had four field goals (including from 57) and an extra point, so he accounted for 13 points on the afternoon.
Losers
Sam Darnold
With a capital L. That was atrocious. For all of the talk about unlucky turnovers charged to Darnold in recent weeks, he earned all of those interceptions on Sunday. Even the two-minute drill, which I understand is tough when pinned at your own 1, was not managed well from a clock management standpoint. Darnold cost Seattle several seconds and therefore potential yards with non-spike decisions and a terrible scramble throwaway for no yards. He nearly ran the clock out with :05 left on the quick throw to Rashid Shaheed to set up the Jason Myers field goal attempt. The missed TD to Shaheed was also a killer but I’m hopeful that chemistry will improve with those two over time.
The Rams seem to break him; or at least the Rams’ defensive concepts. That’s a huge problem for the rematch that he and Klint Kubiak will have to figure out. And in the grander scheme of things, Darnold has 10 turnovers over four games. His productivity on the positive side has been amazing but it was absent in the biggest regular season game Seattle has played in years.
Klint Kubiak
I don’t totally believe Kubiak called a poor game, but I wasn’t impressed with certain situational aspects, mainly the red zone failures. The Seahawks only called nine play-action passes out of 49 dropbacks. That can’t happen in a game where you never trailed by more than 11 points. What I think this game might have exposed or confirmed is that the Seahawks in true dropback passing are not potent enough to threaten top defenses like the Rams. This is why it’s of paramount importance the Seahawks control the game by playing with leads so that they don’t get forced into the type of passing offense that they’re not comfortable operating under.
Seattle’s clock management on offense (Klint Kubiak? Mike Macdonald? Sam Darnold? All of the above?)
This has been a recurring theme for the Seahawks in two-minute drills. I was fine with the time management to end the first half because it meant either the Seahawks scored or they didn’t, therefore denying the Rams another chance to get the ball back. They did not treat the fourth quarter with the urgency that was warranted when down by nine points, and I don’t think that’s acceptable.
Seattle has had the luxury of playing with leads almost the entire season, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers loss was one of the few times prior to this game that the Seahawks had to somewhat abandon their game plan. Whether it’s Darnold, Mike Macdonald, or Klint Kubiak, the clock management on offense has to be better in terms of looking to score more quickly.
And as an aside, I hated Mike Macdonald punting on 4th and 1 near his own 40 after Barner’s sneak was stuffed. Just run it again with a proper push and not the little wrinkle that was thrown in there! That type of conservative coaching is what Pete Carroll would be slated for by fans, so Mike shouldn’t be immune to that. Mike looks like a tremendous coach but his willingness to err on the side of caution in high-leverage situations is disappointing.
Seahawks’ offensive line health
After pristine health and therefore continuity on the Seattle offensive line, the dam is starting to burst at the weakest spot. Jalen Sundell is out with a knee injury for at least the next three weeks, while Grey Zabel’s knee injury looks more serious and we won’t know the answer for sure until imaging is done. Christian Haynes came in cold and you could see him get driven back multiple times in limited reps. This is really going to be a gut-check moment for John Benton’s group, because Zabel out could be way more catastrophic than realized.
The official who flagged Devon Witherspoon for a “personal foul” penalty
Seriously, what kind of bullshit was that? Is Witherspoon not supposed to tackle a guy who didn’t look like he gave himself up? The Rams didn’t score on this drive but the principle of flagging that is what pisses me off.
Final Notes
- Despite everything I said about Darnold, I still believe he’s been a very good and often great quarterback this season. The clunker and timing of it against the specific opponent will dog him until at least the rematch in Seattle in Week 16, but I don’t want his turnover stretch to override how well he’s performed. He absolutely has to be more careful with the ball; avoiding sacks by throwing into coverage is not a good thing. I appreciate Ernest Jones IV sticking up for his teammate.
- Rashid Shaheed is slowly getting more involved in the offense, catching a 20-yard pass off play action and it may need to be sped up a bit if Horton is out much longer. He’d have had a touchdown if not for Darnold’s underthrow/a good PBU by Emmanuel Forbes.
- Riq Woolen got beat by Davante Adams on the slant for a touchdown. It ain’t worthy of a demerit to me. Woolen generally had another strong game and Adams’ footwork is some of the best we’ve ever seen, plus Stafford called out of a designed run to hit that throw.
- Ty Okada’s whiff on Colby Parkinson was tough. Not one of his better moments.
- Anthony Bradford continues to struggle to handle T-E stunts. One of those interceptions was him essentially double-teaming Braden Fiske with Abe Lucas, leaving a free rusher to force Darnold into a bad throw.
- Cooper Kupp can’t be the WR2 long-term. All of his catches came on the touchdown drive, but otherwise he’s just not a consistent threat throughout the course of a game. It’s another reason why the Horton injury hurts so much.
- Elijah Arroyo may have run the wrong route on Darnold’s third interception. Greg Olsen seemed adamant about it and I trust him. What I don’t believe is that it was still an open throw and a likely completion for Darnold.
- This loss sucks. The Seahawks are still contenders to me. They should be favored to beat the Tennessee Titans, Minnesota Vikings, and Atlanta Falcons (who may not have Michael Penix Jr moving forward) over the next three weeks. If they hold serve, they’re 10-3 and the playoffs are inevitable. Winning the division undeniably got harder by losing this game, but it’s not impossible. I’m still a believer in the defense, the offense is still functionally above-average but has to de-sloppify itself soon, otherwise they’ll keep losing close against contenders and maybe even risk suffering upset losses to inferior opposition as the weeks progress. Ultimately, Seattle is in a great place as far as the postseason. I’m not going to let this defeat drastically change my viewpoint of what the team is and what I expect them to be. If they stumble over the next three weeks? Then I might have a different opinion.
