Rams 23 Seahawks 16: Winners and Losers from pitiful defeat

This game was bad. This day was bad. The Seattle Seahawks season went from starting as brightly as possible to looking like they may not even finish as the NFC West runner-up. Their saving grace is a favorable four-game stretch against the NFC East + New York Jets, plus the realization that we could see a 16-team NFL playoff if the COVID-19 pandemic creates more havoc with the schedule. It’s a damn good thing the playoff expansion went into effect this year or else I think it would be very possible the Seahawks would miss out in the 12-team format.

There aren’t a lot of earnest winners but this is still the Winners and Losers column.

Winners

Jason Myers

What a year he’s had. Outside of one missed extra point he’s been perfect and he set a new franchise record with a 61-yard field goal just before halftime. He had 62% of the Seahawks’ scoring output today. Good for him.

Alex Collins

Welcome back to Seattle, Mr. Collins! It was telling that he was the default number one back over Deejay Dallas and Travis Homer. He had Seattle’s only touchdown, which must count for something given just 43 yards on 11 carries.

Poona Ford and Jamal Adams

These two had the only sacks of Jared Goff. Adams had a strip-sack turnover, while Ford had a sack and two QB hits. That might have been Ford’s best performance as a pass rusher that I can think of.

Penny Hart

Russell Wilson wouldn’t throw it to DK Metcalf when Jalen Ramsey covered him, but gladly did it when Penny Hart was in the game. He drew a pass interference. Awesome.

DJ Reed

Screw that horseshit pass interference call, Reed is a 5’9” nickel corner who was tasked with working on the outside and he was at least respectable. He also had a big kick return (that went to waste) and looked way more comfortable handling those duties than Travis Homer ever has.

Losers

Russell Wilson

It’s not even close. Wilson was the worst player on the field and I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve said that. It was probably his worst showing since the five-interception shitfest at Lambeau Field in 2016. His accuracy was scattershot. His pocket presence turned into the worst habits he developed as a rookie and through 2017. The decision-making was atrocious and Jameis-like. Wilson really just doesn’t do well against the Rams in general but the turnovers are a problem and he has been a negative for two weeks running. The clock management on the final drive was awful. They essentially had no urgency down by 10.

Offensive line

Too many busts in protection leading to free rushers. It was a relatively good performance in the first half and totally unraveled from there, especially in the interior. Run blocking continues to be an issue between the tackles, as well.

Kyle Fuller

It was a tall task replacing Ethan Pocic and he ended the game fighting through a high-ankle sprain. His first shotgun snap was low and his most critical one led to a turnover in the 4th quarter. Here’s to Pocic being ready for Thursday.

Pete Carroll

Not going for it on 4th and inches from your own 42 is chickenshit on so many levels but he really botched this. Carroll wasted a challenge reviewing the spot that had no chance of being overturned. Timeout lost. Then he tried to do the hard count with Russ, something he’s rarely succeeded at. Penalty. Then they punt it and give up a long touchdown drive. Game functionally over. His reasoning for not going for it is horrible, too.

Tre Flowers

He shouldn’t even be getting snaps on this defense. In fact when Shaquill Griffin or Quinton Dunbar returns, Flowers needs to lose his starting job. He cannot stay with receivers at all and is rarely able to make a play on the ball. I had hopes for Flowers as a rookie, then it waned during last postseason, now my optimism is gone. It’s not all on the coaches, sometimes the players are a major problem too.

DK Metcalf

Safe to say that for DK to take that next step as an elite wide receiver he’ll need to get the better of the top corners in his own division. Patrick Peterson locked him down last year and this year, and Jalen Ramsey did much of the same. In fairness, the one time Wilson did go his way with Ramsey in coverage it was a slight overthrow and Metcalf couldn’t quite make the catch. He was certainly open on a couple of other plays and there was one replay that showed Metcalf visibly pissed that Wilson didn’t throw it to him. Just two catches for 28 yards.

Brian Schottenheimer

The shine has come off of Skybox Schotty. Wilson is one of the most blitzed quarterbacks in the NFL. There does not seem to be an effective counter to this and I suspect a lot of the blitzing is to eliminate the time Wilson has to look for those shot plays. The deep passing game has struggled in recent weeks and with it the Seahawks passing attack has been thrown off kilter. You also have to wonder about the comical pass-run imbalance that has been created even when the game is hardly out of reach. I’m not talking about giving it to only giving the 3rd and 4th string RBs more, this can still be designed Wilson runs or jet sweeps with your receivers. Seattle shifted its predictability with their run-heavy offense to predictability with their pass-heavy offense. Teams catch on after a bit and the Seahawks’ run of easy defenses week after week has come to an end.

Final Notes

• Jordyn Brooks had a nice pass break-up on the Rams’ final offensive possession. I cannot call him a winner without revisiting this game a little more deeply, which I don’t intend to do. At least he made a play, something lacking from much of this defense.
• Clete Blakeman’s crew sucks. Dunlap and Ford were allowed to be mauled without penalty multiple times over. And initially calling Metcalf’s final catch incomplete was ridiculous and forced Seattle to use a challenge.
• The shoddy third down defense (what else is new?) aside, that was not a bad defensive performance by the Seahawks given the injuries. It was a terrible first three series but afterwards the Rams only scored six points. The offense failed Seattle big time.
• Bring on the Cardinals. Ugh. Seattle has never lost three in a row under Wilson but this absolutely could be the year that streak ends. The Seahawks are in trouble and have little room for error the rest of the way if they want to win the NFC West. They need to get key players back ASAP or else the team previously known for finishing strongly may fizzle out once more.