Los Angeles Rams vs. Seattle Seahawks: Stock up, stock down

In what was the biggest game of their entire season, the Los Angeles Rams thoroughly thrashed the Seattle Seahawks by a score of 28-12 in Week 14. The Rams dominated the entire game, specifically on offense and defense as the special teams did have a blunder or two.

Let’s get into the matchups to watch:

Stock Down

Special Teams

The special teams weren’t terrible, but they can’t allow a chip-shot field goal from K Greg Zuerlein to be blocked, particularly in the situation the Rams were in as the offense was struggling from mistake-prone drives. The special teams units don’t feel as productive as they once were.

Mistakes

The main mistakes were the two drive-stopping interceptions, one of which turned into a touchdown for the Seahawks and one of which removed a potential chance at a long field goal. Lastly, the blocked field goal didn’t help the cause. The Rams should have blown the Seahawks out but they continued to allow them to hang around. No biggie, but a cleaner game would have been a perfect one.

Stock Up

QB Jared Goff

If you only looked at the box score, you’d be convinced that Goff had a bad game as he had as many interceptions as he did touchdowns (two). The context says one of the interceptions — the pick-six — was not on Goff as Woods should have kept running his route. Woods believed the coverage was zone and broke his route off and sat down, while Goff read it correctly and tried to lead him. The second interception was iffy, but it wasn’t the worst decision. Still, even with two turnovers, Goff was sharp, decisive, and accurate in this contest. He was in a rhythm and looked calm all game.

Skill Positions

WR’s Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp, TE Tyler Higbee, and RB Todd Gurley all deserve shoutouts for their performances. Higbee pulled down seven receptions for 116 yards and one touchdown, stringing together two incredibly strong performances in consecutive weeks. Woods totaled 98 yards and a touchdown and Kupp totaled 45 yards and a touchdown. The last of the bunch was Gurley, chipping in over 100 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown himself. Gurley’s stiff-arm on his touchdown carry was something to behold.

Offensive Line

Goff was not sacked one single time and the rushing attack was strong throughout the contest. Sure, the play calling designed by Head Coach Sean McVay was to help the offensive line, but they stepped up when they needed to and did their job with effectiveness. The new unit on the offensive line is beginning to gel.

Play Calling

McVay was brilliant tonight, bottom line. For long stretches — and basically the entire first half — the offense felt like the same one from 2018. The rushing attack was gaining good yardage, the passing attack stemmed from strong play-action fakes, and we seen some throwbacks like a bunch of effective WR jet sweeps. Not to mention, the fake third-down WR screens that turned into TE wheel routes were brilliant as McVay has been setting it up all season. The near touchdown throw from Kupp to Higbee was also something to behold. In addition to the offense, the defense was lights out throughout.

Defense

The defense allowed a total of six points to arguably the league’s MVP in QB Russell Wilson. The defensive line routinely applied pressure and were led by EDGE Samson Ebukam and DT Aaron Donald. The linebackers — mainly ILB’s Cory Littleton and Travin Howard — made several plays utilizing their sideline-to-sideline speed. And lastly, the secondary was excellent with no breakdowns in coverage and keeping everything in front of them.