Game Overview ::
By Mike Johnson >>
- A rematch of a Week 1 game that was a surprising and dominant performance by the Rams in a 30-13 victory.
- The Seahawks have a quick turnaround for a Thanksgiving night showdown with the 49ers which will have huge divisional and playoff implications.
- The Rams are coming off their bye week and need some wins to stay in playoff contention after a hot start to their season.
- Seattle’s defense has been elite against the run for most of this season.
- The Rams have scored more than 20 points only once in their last five games.
How seattle Will Try To Win ::
The Seahawks are a hard team to nail down, as they have a 6-3 record and a couple of impressive performances but also have been dominated twice this season, including a season-opening defeat at the hands of the Rams. That game was a 30-13 Rams victory and the Ravens steamrolled Seattle two weeks ago in Baltimore 37-3. If you look closer at the Seahawks victories this season, this is what you see:
- 37-31 impressive road win over a very good Lions team
- 37-27 home win over the 1-8 Panthers
- 24-3 win over the 2-8 Giants
- 20-10 win over the 2-8 Cardinals
- 24-20 home win over the Browns with their backup QB
- 29-26 home win over the 4-6 Commanders
Looking down that list you can see that the Seahawks really haven’t had an overly impressive performance since Week 2 against the Lions. The Seahawks can’t control who is on their schedule, but it is hard to give them the respect their record would initially indicate once you understand the totality of what went into that record. The Seahawks have a negative one point differential for the season through Week 10. For comparison’s sake, they are tied for the NFC West division lead with the 49ers who have a plus 89 point differential.
This week’s matchup with the Rams presents an opportunity for the Seahawks to avenge their embarrassing Week 1 loss but it will surely be no easy task. The Rams and Seahawks know each other well and both coaching staffs have been in place for several years, so there should be very few surprises but also both teams know a few things that will work against their opponent on both sides of the ball. The Seahawks passing game appears to be hitting its stride after a very good performance against the Commanders last week. In Week 1, rookie wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba was coming off an injury and the Seahawks lost both starting tackles during the game. Seattle’s pass protection should be much improved by comparison this week and Geno Smith is playing well with all his receivers available. The Rams play the 6th highest rate of zone coverage and rank 26th in the NFL in QB pressure rate. This creates a situation where Geno Smith should have a clean pocket and be able to find his receivers in open spots in the Rams zone coverage this week to move the ball. The Rams run defense metrics are a little misleading, as they have Aaron Donald who can disrupt things and grade out as PFF’s 8th ranked run defense. The Seattle running game has been up and down this season, but they have not run well against the Rams historically. Notably, the Seahawks passing game had one of their best performances of the season last year against the Rams on the road in the second half of the year. It was one of the few times that both DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett had highly productive games in the same week.
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