Rams keep win streak going

Inglewood, CA – A win in the NFL is a win. There are no brownie points in the way a team wins or loses. For the Los Angeles Rams, their 21-19 win against the Seattle Seahawks in an NFC West divisional game played at SoFi Stadium was anything but pretty.

But hey, who cares if it was pretty? Seattle more than doubled the Rams in first downs (26-12). The Seahawks were more effective on third-down efficiency (7-16 compared to LA’s 2 of 11 attempts). That Seattle outgained the Rams in total yards offensively (414 yards to 249) does not matter.   

The Rams have now won five straight and are 8-2 and have the best record in the division, and are the sole holder of first place. 

“We started off the game… I thought we started off pretty well,” Rams head coach Sean McVay said during his postgame comments. “Ended up only having three plays in the second quarter. We had some things that we can really learn from in terms of early down efficiency. You get behind the sticks against a great defense like that… but we’re never going to apologize for finding ways to be able to win. This is a resilient group.” 

The pressure on Seattle quarterback Sam Darnold by the front seven of the Rams made the difference against the Seahawks. Numbers matter to a certain point. Then there are times when stat sheets simply should be thrown out the window. 

Winning a football game comes down to physical, mental and emotional tug-of-war wrestling matches. The Rams used all three of these measurables to beat the Seahawks.

Despite not recording a single sack in the game, the pressure of the Rams’ defensive line did its work on Darnold, who threw four interceptions. 

Darnold got a taste of that pressure early when Kamren Kinchens picked him off in the first quarter. It started with Darnold tap-dancing in the pocket, then scrambling in order to try to get out of harm’s way. 

Kinchens wound up intercepting Darnold twice in the game. Fellow defensive backs Darious Williams and Cobie Durant also blessed the Rams faithful with their own interceptions off Darnold.

“I can’t say enough about what a great job our defense did to be able to get four interceptions,” McVay remarked. “[Safety] Kamren Kinchens, [Cornerback] Darius Williams, [Cornerback] Cobie Durant, stop after stop.” . 

When he ran out of time in the pocket, Darnold reverted to when all else fails, try to throw the ball downfield blindly in hopes of preferable results. That did not materialize the way Darnold and the Seahawks had hoped. 

When Darnold decided to dump the football into one of his receivers’ hands or when he felt like he was running out of time, a Rams defender would be there to pick him off. Darnold completed 29 of 44 passes for 279 yards and those four interceptions with a passer rating of 45.5 percent. 

Afterward, Darnold talked about what the Rams did to set up the interceptions. 

“They do a good job of disguising shell and all those things,” Darnold said. “I feel like a lot of defenses do the same thing. I feel like their pass rush, their linebackers, their safeties are all on the same page and playing really good football. They do it at a high level. They seem like really smart players.”

Coming into their NFC West rumble, the Rams and Seattle Seahawks appeared to be eerily similar to one another. Both teams boasted 7-2 marks, and across the statistical charts, the Rams and Seahawks closely mirror each other. 

So, it was no surprise that the matinee game between Seattle and Los Angeles was meant to play out just how close these two teams vibe. The Rams took over the first quarter, accumulating 134 net yards in offense and scoring two touchdowns. 

The Seahawks had only 43 total yards of offense. What looked like a potential blowout after Davante Adams caught his 1,000th career pass on a 1-yard touchdown reception from Matthew Stafford to put the Rams up by double-digits turned into a granular, tough-it-out contest.  

“The Rams are a really good team and we need to be able to capitalize on scoring opportunities in the red zone,” Seattle head coach Mike Macdonald said. “We knew we were going to have to take care of the football, and we didn’t do that.”