Could I have hit the nail more on the head in last Friday’s preview post? I even got the part about being down double digits, scrambling late to pull it to a single score, and needing an onside kick that ultimately didn’t bounce our way!
Look, I can’t say with any certainty that I’m definitely psychic, but slots for my palm readings are filling up fast! Be advised, these are VERY sexual readings …
What I got wrong in that post, I got VERY wrong though. I never would’ve predicted a game where less than 40 total points were scored, but there you have it: Rams 23, Seahawks 16. That seemed pretty unthinkable in the first quarter, when the Seahawks got the ball on their first drive of the day and drove it 78 yards to take a 7-3 lead. The Rams promptly made it 17-7 midway through the second quarter, and this REALLY had all the markings of a no-defense special, something we’ve been lapping up all year like goons.
This game took a weird turn after that, and I couldn’t for the life of me explain why it ended the way it did. After pulling the game to 17-10, the Rams had the ball and it looked like they were set on blowing the game wide open. Instead, Jamal Adams got in there and forced a Goff fumble that the Seahawks recovered deep in enemy territory. It looked like we were set to tie the game up heading into halftime! Then, with nothing but green grass ahead of him, Russell Wilson inexplicably threw an interception in the endzone to kill that dream. The only reason I can think of for the decision is Wilson is counting his stats. He saw he hadn’t thrown a touchdown pass all day, saw one of his receivers briefly flash open, but failed to see the defender who had an EASY play on the ball.
This was always the worry of handing the keys to the Ferrari to Russell Wilson after years of his safe and reliable Subaru driving. He’s pretty talented behind the wheel, but when you REALLY open it up, those cars can be dangerous and spin off the road every once in a while!
Or, I guess we can stick with the cooking analogy. Wilson has spent his career making perfect golden-brown DiGiorno pepperoni pizzas and now we’re asking him to make Fugu; sometimes it turns out perfect, but prepare it wrong and it can kill you.
As much as we see Russell Wilson as a team-first guy who only cares about winning – and certainly, he says all the right things all the time – he’s also human. He’s a hotshot NFL quarterback with an ego the size of Virginia. He wants that MVP award and he’s going to do everything in his power to get it. Even if circumstances arise that he’s unable to see, and by trying to do too much on his own, he inflicts more damage upon his chances than settling for a simple rushing touchdown would’ve done.
That pick was a bitter pill to swallow. But, my sharpest criticism of this game falls on Pete Carroll. Forget the fact that he and the rest of his staff didn’t seem to have the team properly prepared for this one, but his in-game decisionmaking was atrocious. The Seahawks brought the game to 17-13 at halftime – thanks to a franchise-record 61-yard field goal as the clock expired by Jason Myers, who is having a fabulous year – and got the ball first in the second half. On 3rd & 4, Wilson nearly scrambled for a first down, but was deemed to be less than a yard short. On 4th & Inches, on our own 42 yard line, we wasted a challenge on the spot, then wasted 25 full seconds with that bullshit where the quarterback stands at the line of scrimmage barking fake signals to try to get the defense to jump offsides. This NEVER FUCKING WORKS and I wish the Seahawks would put this tactic in a rocketship with “icing the kicker” and “Michael Dickson’s onside drop-kick that never gives us a chance to recover” and send them all on a collison course with the fucking sun, because they’re all equally as asinine. Then, with a 5-yard delay of game penalty, we punted. Fucking hell!
I lost my mind after that. Forget the fact that our defense had shown us NOTHING at that point, except one fumble we wasted. All you have to see is the fact that we lost by one score – needing the aforementioned onside kick that fell into Robert Woods’ open arms – and you can point to this wasted possession. I don’t care where we were on the field; the Rams can score from any distance (indeed, they drove RIGHT down the field right after that punt, 88 yards, to take a 23-13 lead); but if we can’t convert INCHES, then we obviously have no business even playing the game.
With the Rams able to safely sit on a two-score lead, they teed off on Russell Wilson. Knowing the Seahawks like to strike plays deep down field – and knowing we NEEDED to do just that, with time ticking away – it makes a lot of sense that our offense did next-to-nothing the rest of the way, because they could have their secondary play back and force us to check down. Most importantly, the Rams were able to take the ball out of the hands of their biggest liability – Jared Goff – and we suffered as a result. Sure, we forced the Rams’ offense into some second half punts, but we missed out on the opportunity for Goff to turn the ball over and give us some more short fields! The Rams could’ve knelt down on every offensive play and prevailed once they were up by 10 points.
I was especially dismayed with the way Wilson ignored D.K. Metcalf the entire game. Sure, Jalen Ramsey was locked onto him for most of the game, but he wasn’t shadowing him 100% of the time; there were plays for Metcalf to make! He was open and Wilson didn’t even bother checking in. Also, not for nothing, but D.K. Metcalf is a fucking monster; even when he’s got blanket coverage he’s still open! Why not toss him a jump ball or two when it’s one-on-one coverage? Make the All Pro defender make a play or two; Ramsey isn’t perfect! He’s been beaten before and he’ll be beaten again!
One of the biggest take-aways from this one is how much the team is missing Chris Carson. Alex Collins got a lot of carries and I thought looked pretty good, but he’s no Carson. He’s not the pass-catching threat that Carson is. Nor is he the total badass that Carson is!
It’s tough to totally make out whether or not the defense made any progress in this one. We had three more sacks, but two of them were via Jamal Adams blitzes. Obviously, only giving up the six second half points is a positive, but as I mentioned, the Rams went hyper-conservative towards the end.
Nevertheless, I’m not panicking yet. As predicted, the Cardinals beat the Bills (on a last-second hail mary touchdown, which is insane), so the Seahawks are currently third place in the division thanks to head-to-head tiebreakers. We can rectify that – and get to work on our atrocious divisional record – this Thursday night, at home, against those very Cardinals. If we prevail, my prediction for a 7-game winning streak to close the season is very much in play.
If we lose … then yes, I will be panicking. And so should you.