The Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams kicked off the Week 5 NFL schedule in a divisional showdown on Thursday Night Football. The last time these two teams faced off was in Week 10 of the 2018 season, when first round pick Rashaad Penny had the best game of his career, rushing for more than a hundred yards and adding a touchdown as well.
Penny did not have that kind of success on the ground for Seattle this time around, gaining eight yards on his first carry of the night, and then adding ten more yards over his next five carries. However, Penny did find success through the air when he and Russell Wilson connected on a 30 yard pass play late in the third quarter. The play is interesting, as it shows what being aggressive can do to an aging cornerback against a young and speedy running back lined up wide.
Rashaad Penny, the wide receiver. pic.twitter.com/pXdosJW8OH
— Jon Schaeffer (@jonschaeffer) October 4, 2019
As you watch that video, that’s Penny at the very top of the screen lined up across from five time Pro Bowl cornerback Aqib Talib, a former Kansas Jayhawk with a penchant for making big plays.
Getting back to Thursday’s game, when you watch Talib in coverage on Penny, it appears as though he believes that Brian Schottenheimer may have called the pick-6 play. Penny, to his credit, slows and turns, making it appear as though he’s running six yards and then turning around and sitting down for a route underneath Talib’s coverage. The instant Talib looks to jump up under Penny, however, Penny takes advantage of the fact that he’s nine years, eleven months and about three weeks younger than Talib and blows right past for the long reception.
In any case, this isn’t a review of the passing game, it’s the Run Game Review, so without wasting any more of your time, here are all of Penny’s carries against the Rams.
In Week 6 the Hawks travel back to the Eastern Time Zone to face the Cleveland Browns in another 10 am game.