Los Angeles Rams – 3
Seattle Seahawks – 24
I will fully admit I care too much about the Seahawks. I am embarrassed to admit that the outcome of games does affect my happiness for the week to some extent, at least for the first half. It is pathetic, I am aware, but fan is short for fanatic. After watching the living nightmare that transpired in Green Bay last Sunday, I was eager to move on to the next game to try and wash the taste out of my mouth. Luckily for me the next game came only four days later, as the Seahawks got back to their winning ways by dominating the Los Angeles Rams by 21 points. Seattle finally got their revenge on the Rams after losing three straight to them, including four of the last five meetings, to split the season series 1-1. Not only were they finally able to down a pesky Rams team that always seems to have their number, the Seahawks officially clinched the NFC West for a third time in four seasons. Seattle (9-4-1) is the first team this season to have won a division title, thus ensuring their participation in January’s playoffs. The Seahawks finish 2016 unbeaten at 4-0-1 on primetime. Since 2012, Seattle has won 16 primetime games.
Going into Thursday night the Rams (3-10) were already at a significant disadvantage. Monday morning they fired longtime Head Coach Jeff Fisher, only two weeks after he signed a two year extension. Fisher may not have been a great coach, but the one thing he did well was beating the Seahawks. So on Seahawks week they choose to let him go and give the reigns to John Fassel, a man who has never been an NFL head coach. Fassel then had three days to implement a game plan to beat a pissed off Seahawks squad in Seattle with a bad rookie quarterback. It went about as well as you would expect. Star running back Todd Gurley found no room to run outside of a single 22 yard rush, rookie Mike Thomas dropped what could have been a touchdown, quarterback Jared Goff brutally missed a wide-open receiver in the end zone for what would have been a game-tying score, and a failed fake punt. The Rams were lucky to escape the first half down only 10-3, which oddly mirrored Earl Thomas’s final score prediction. Although it was only a 7 point game at the break, it hardly felt that close. The third quarter proved even more fruitless as Los Angeles finished with -3 total yards.
By nature of these Rams/Seahawk games, it was still a fairly low scoring game throughout most of it. However, Seattle was able to move the ball on slow and methodical drives that ate up the clock. Russell Wilson took over in the second half, shaking off his abysmal performance at Lambeau by going 19/26 for 229 yards and 3 touchdowns. One to Luke Willson (his first of the season), one to Doug Baldwin (his first since New England), and a 57 yard bomb to Tyler Lockett (Wilson’s longest career touchdown pass). The Seahawks improve to a gaudy 14-0 when Wilson throws 3+ touchdowns. As for his counterpart, Jared Goff left the game with a nasty concussion courtesy of Richard Sherman as he scampered towards the end zone.
It was hardly a perfect game played by the Seahawks, and many persisting issues were on clear display. The ground game struggled yet again as Thomas Rawls barely earned 34 yards on 21 carries. In fact, the second leading rusher for the day was punter Jon Ryan with 26 yards, which ended with him fumbling and receiving a possible concussion. The offensive line continues to leave much to be desired, letting Wilson be sacked twice and giving up a concerning SIX tackles for a loss. Seattle was also penalized 13 times for 86 yards. Rams receivers were also able to find holes in the LOB, even blowing the top off Earl Thomas replacement Steven Terrell. If this had been an opponent with a decent quarterback or receivers who could catch, it may have been not so dominate a performance. This game was also another example of the difference between the Seahawks on the road versus the Seahawks at home. Dominating the Eagles followed by being dominated by the Buccaneers, blowing out the Panthers then being blown out by the Packers.
Seattle may be inconsistent on the road as of late, but what they are consistent at doing is making the post season. For a fifth straight season, the Seahawks will be playing January football and competing for a Lombardi trophy. It is the sixth time in the seven years under Pete Carroll that the Seahawks are in the playoffs.
The Good – The Color Rush uniforms. Oh yes, these were truly a thing of pure beauty. The navy and neon were awesome, and I sincerely hope that the Seahawks are able to incorporate the look into other games going forward. Let me go on the record and say I am a huge fan of the Color Rush that the NFL has been doing for these Thursday games. All these monochromatic alternate uniforms have been unique and an interesting new aspect to Thursday night games which have been under fire as less than stellar these past few years. It’s simply another example of the NFL’s brilliance to create new ways for fans to engage. The “Action Green” alternates that Seattle wore were no different. They fit the Seahawks perfectly: loud, slightly obnoxious, and impossible to not talk about. Cynics may bemoan that it’s simply another marketing ploy to get fans to buy new stuff from Nike. Maybe it is, but that certainly didn’t stop me from asking Santa for a Russell Wilson one this Christmas.
The Bad – The officiating. Mouth breathers who never watch the Seahawks consistently, or only go off of the one clip they saw from Facebook, will always cry out how Seattle gets “all” the calls. I already debunked that myth a few weeks ago, but Thursday’s game was a perfect example of just the opposite. Starting with the line judge, who consistently spotted the ball almost a yard short of first downs earl on, along with giving the Rams one after Gurley was clearly stuffed. This led to Pete Carroll challenging the spots an astonishing three times, winning two of them. Not to mention how the officials missed a blatant offsides call from the Rams, along with a subsequent no-call for a late hit on Russell Wilson. Star corner Richard Sherman claims how Thursday night games leave players not 100% ready for the game, maybe the refs aren’t 100% either. Oh, Richard Sherman, now that I mention him…
The Ugly – Richard Sherman. I love Sherman, I love his passion, I love his play, I love what he brings to Seattle. However, I feel like I would be a hypocrite if I didn’t call him out on this one. Following an incomplete pass to Jimmy Graham you could see Sherman yelling his lungs out at Offensive Coordinator Darrell Bevell. When asked about it after the game, Sherman explained how he didn’t like the call to throw it on the one yard line. “I'm upset about us throwing from the 1… We've seen that and I'm sure you guys have seen that play enough times." I have spent many a Sunday afternoon complaining about some of the boneheaded decisions from Bevell over the years, he is certainly not my favorite coach, but I do not like seeing a star player exploding on a coach then calling him out in a post-game presser. This does not change my opinion on Sherman in the slightest, he is still one of my favorite players. The optics of the situation, as this segment suggests, were just ugly.
Looking Ahead – Richard Sherman may complain about playing another game on a short week, but I doubt he and the rest of the team will be complaining about the few extra days off the team receives after playing the Thursday matchup. It’s almost like another bye week. Seattle certainly could use a few more days off as Michael Bennett and Jon Ryan try to rest up from potential concussions. When they return they will be home for a rematch against the Arizona Cardinals. The Seahawks were outright dominated for nearly 75 minutes in week 7, yet the Red Birds still couldn’t score more than 6 points in a bizarre tie. Russell Wilson was clearly not healthy in that game, and Arizona (5-7-1) has not been the same team going a subpar 2-3 since the Sunday night showdown in the desert. This may be a disappointing season for the Cardinals after finishing with 14 wins and a berth in the NFC Championship game, but that does not change the fact that this is still a talented and competitive squad. With their postseason hopes all but mathematically eliminated, the Cardinals are playing for pride. This will not be an easy game for the Seahawks, as Arizona has shown they are more than capable of beating them in Seattle. Winning last season 39-32, and 17-10 in 2013, the Cardinals are the only team to have beaten Russell Wilson at home more than once.
