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The St. Louis Rams defense hasn't been special, with a few notable exceptions this season. However, for the second week in a row, they kept the game close enough through the first two quarters of play for the Rams to be competitive. The offense just couldn't oblige. This week's five best defensive plays all came in the first half.
Gibson's first quarter sack helped hold the Seahawks to a field goal on their first offensive series after scoring on the blocked punt.
1-10-SL 23 (3:00) T.Jackson sacked at SL 28 for -5 yards (G.Gibson)
The Rams offense managed to get a field goal at the end of the first quarter, making the score 3-10. Seattle's first drive after that got off to a rough start with two tackles for a loss. Those put Seattle in a third-and-long that allowed the defense to pressure Tarvaris Jackson, who only managed to scramble for two yards and a three-and-out.
1-10-SEA 18 (10:59) M.Lynch left end to SEA 16 for -2 yards (J.Laurinaitis, Q.Mikell).
2-12-SEA 16 (10:22) M.Lynch right end to SEA 14 for -2 yards (D.Stewart)
The defense was playing well enough to keep the Rams in the game. On the series after that last three-and-out mentioned above, Seattle managed to move into field goal range. Three points might as well have been a thousand given how the Rams offense was playing. They came up big recovering a Jackson fumble that prevented any further scoring at that point.
3-1-STL 27 (2:04) 7-T.Jackson FUMBLES (Aborted) at STL 31, RECOVERED by STL-51-B.Poppinga at STL 29. 51-B.Poppinga to STL 29 for no gain (67-P.McQuistan).
With the clock ticking down on the second quarter, St. Louis picked up their second sack of the game. It preserved that 3-10 score at the half.
2-15-SEA 34 (:36) (Shotgun) 7-T.Jackson sacked at SEA 29 for -5 yards (99-C.Ah You).
It was all down hill in the second half. A Sam Bradford interception led to another three points. The Rams offense then managed to get all the way down to the one-yard line, thanks in part to a 50-yard screen pass to Steven Jackson, but they managed to botch that with more poor blocking, a penalty and bad play.