6 takeaways from the Rams’ 30-29 loss in Seattle

Steve Rebeiro

6 takeaways from the Rams' 30-29 loss in Seattle

The Los Angeles Rams suffered a heart-breaking defeat at the hands of division-rival Seattle Thursday night. When the game is decided by one point, the mistakes sting a bit deeper. Here are six takeaways, both positive and negative, from the Rams’ gut-wrenching Week 5 loss to the Seahawks.

Mistakes, Mistakes, Mistakes

The Rams ended the game by missing a 44-yard field goal. It’s a kick that Greg Zuerlein almost always makes. It was the icing on the cake for a game marred by Rams mistakes.
The good news is that the Rams played much better this week than they did against Tampa Bay in Week 4. The bad news is that they still lost the game, and are currently in third place in a tough division. Worst of all, the loss could have easily been avoided if not for a handful of crucial mistakes.
Missed tackles were a major factor in Seattle’s offensive success. Chris Carson and Russell Wilson were bouncing off tacklers all game. It felt like anytime a Seattle runner took off he’d break a tackle or two. Pee-wee football coaches everywhere watching this game were losing their minds about tackling form and wrapping up.
There were dropped passes, including Gerald Everett’s that resulted in an interception. There were plenty of missed throws from Goff. There were missed blocks by the offensive lineman and a few crucial mental errors to boot. Clay Matthews was called for roughing the passer late in the game, albeit a very questionable roughing the passer call. Brian Allen forgot to snap the ball with 20 seconds remaining in the football game. Even Todd Gurley fumbled for the first time in roughly 20 games.

Clean up a few crucial mistakes and this game doesn’t comedown to a last-second field goal. The Rams should have walked out of Seattle with a fourth straight victory against the Seahawks. That only makes the loss tougher to swallow.

McVay moves away from Gurley/Brown split

Through the first four games of the season, the Rams substitute Gurley for Malcolm Brown on a few drives each game. McVay opted to give each running back full drives rather than swap Gurley out for Brown mid-drive.

That wasn’t the case on Thursday night. For the first time all year, Gurley trotted onto the field for the first play of every single drive, and he barely came out. Brown received just one carry on the day.

It remains clear if this strategy will continue moving forward, but in Week 5 the Rams were not concerned with conserving Todd Gurley. He played nearly the entire game. Even though his touches and yards are down overall, Gurley has continued to show a knack for finding the end zone when given red zone touches, and scored two more touchdowns against Seattle.

The Rams offense was better as a result of keeping Gurley on the field. We’ll see if McVay is willing to stick with it against San Francisco next week.

Pass rush pressures Wilson, but can’t close the deal

Aaron Donald and the Rams pass rush were in Russell Wilson’s face all game long. Somehow, they only came away with one sack.

The Rams pass rush did a solid job of getting Wilson out of the pocket all night. Unfortunately, they were chasing after Russell Wilson. The six-time Pro Bowler had one hell of a game against the Rams, and some of his best throws came from outside the pocket. He went 17 for 23 with 268 yards, four touchdowns, and no turnovers. He added 32 rushing yards on eight carries.

Both the Rams and Wilson deserve credit for the lack of sacks. The Rams could not wrap up and bring down Wilson whatsoever. If somebody told me that Wilson doused his jersey in crisco oil before the game, I might actually believe them. That’s how insane some of Wilson’s missed tackles were. Credit goes to Wilson for evading pressure and looking phenomenal when rolling out of the pocket, but the Rams need to finish on these tackles. They should not be coming out of this game with one sack.

Gerald Everett’s career day marred by crucial mistake

Gerald Everett had one hell of a game on Thursday Night Football. The third-year tight end shattered just about every one of his career highs. He finished the night with seven receptions for 136 yards on 11 targets. All three are career highs. Everett should have added a touchdown to his stat-line, but was called down on the one yard line and the Rams chose not to challenge it. He looked unstoppable running the football after the catch.

Unfortunately for Everett and the Rams, he dropped a pass at the worst possible time. With just over 2:00 remaining in the fourth quarter, Goff tossed a perfect pass to Everett over the middle for a first down. The ball went right through Everett’s hands. Somehow, Seattle safety Tedric Thompson was able to get his hands on the tipped ball and corral it for an interception.

The play almost the Rams the football game. Luckily, the defense was able to produce a three-and-out, and Everett had a shot at redemption. He recorded three receptions for 46 yards on the final drive of the game. Had Zuerlein made the game-winning field goal, Everett’s game would have been remembered for one of perseverance. With the loss, the dropped pass stings a bit more.

Goff not perfect, but trending in the right direction

It was an up-and-down game for Jared Goff on Thursday night. He made some miraculous throws against the Seahawks and he missed some that he’d certainly like to have back. This season, the misses outweighed the hits. Tonight, it felt like the opposite.

Goff didn’t have the best game of his career, but it’s hard to walk away feeling anything but positive when it comes to the fourth-year quarterback. Goff never backed down when things didn’t go right and fought to the very last breathe. He made strike after strike on the final drive to give the Rams a shot at a victory. When the offensive line got flagged for mental mistakes, Goff rebounded to keep those respective drives alive.

Rams fans will never have to worry about Goff not trying. Through the good and the bad, this guy has given it everything he’s got this season. The loss against Seattle was a step in the right direction for Goff. Let’s hope he takes another in a victory next Sunday.

It’s going to be a stressful season

The 2019 Los Angeles Rams are a good football team. As of October 4th, they are not a great football team. This is a team that should be playing come January. But it might not be as much of a cake-walk to the playoffs as it was last season.

The NFC West is as tough as it’s been in years. Seattle is still Seattle, and the 49ers are currently undefeated and will be a factor in this division. The Rams are going to have their hands full with two of their three division rivals. With the way they are currently playing, even Arizona doesn’t feel like a walk in the park.

Still, this is a team loaded with talent and a front office who hasn’t been afraid to make trades to improve the team mid-season. They should figure this thing out. They were on the verge of it against Seattle. The Rams have proven that they’re still a good team. But if they want to return to the greatness they achieved last year, they’ve got a lot of work to do.

LMU93

Do you know what the Rams’ record under McVay was in games decided by 6 or fewer points coming into last night? 11-1. Eleven. And. One. The one loss being that Seattle game in LA in early 2017 when Kupp couldn’t quite haul in the late TD pass.

This is the NFL. You’re just not going to win all the close ones. If you win 60% of the close ones you’re in good shape. The Rams have won 85% of the close ones under McVay.

Stu Jackson@StuJRams
LB Samson Ebukam will step up in Matthews’ place.

McVay said he thinks Matthews got kicked in the jaw by Carson.

That tight end that go overpaid on the #Rams is now graded 4th in the league per #PFF. pic.twitter.com/pcpIoyuGX9

— DOWNTOWN RAMS [DTR] (@DowntownRams) October 4, 2019

Frank Gore is a master craftsman. Elite footwork, awareness and processing allow him to manipulate defenders by pressing gaps he has no intention of attacking. As seen here, he even does it on gap-style runs, where there is less room for improvisation. pic.twitter.com/TTFCnIJyJ8

— J Moyer (@JMoyerFB) October 4, 2019

NFL fined Bucs’ OT Donovan Smith $28,075 for this hit Sunday on Rams’ CB Marcus Peters, per league source. pic.twitter.com/i2eSEfA96s

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 4, 2019

Lindsey Thiry@LindseyThiry
Rams WR Brandin Cooks has been placed into concussion protocol, Sean McVay said. McVay added that he has been asymptomatic.

The #Rams’ TEs were both top performers among the offense last night! pic.twitter.com/jET1NefXUS

— PFF (@PFF) October 4, 2019

"Jared Goff, at the end of that game was excellent… He looked like Tom Brady in a playoff game." @ColinCowherd on why Jared Goff is not the problem for the Rams pic.twitter.com/jrc9fL0TKv

— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) October 4, 2019

Los Angeles Rams UK@LARams_UK
I think (hope) the offense turned a corner tonight. It wasn’t perfect, but it was the best performance of the season.

If the defense can regroup in the long week and iron out some things, this is a playoff team imo.

DOWNTOWN RAMS [DTR]@DowntownRams
– Goff looks better. Still missing throws hes capable of hitting but he played a solid game tonight.

– Gurley is still Gurley.

– The TE’s Everett and Higbee need to be featured more.

– Reeder didn’t look out of place as a starter

– OL is still struggling but appeared to play better than I anticipated.

– 2nd half adjustments were huge for the Rams.

– JoJo Natson not fielding the punt which allowed Seattle to pin it at the 2 was detrimental to the Rams field position battle.

– Rapp is missed

Blaine Grisak@bgrisakPFN
Goff started at the 7 in one of the most hostile environments in the league and put his team in position to win

Doug Farrar@NFL_DougFarrar
That may be the worst roughing the passer call in a long and interesting history of horsecrap roughing the passer calls in recent NFL history.

—

Clay Matthews using his shoulder to hit Russell Wilson’s shoulder is a penalty apparently. pic.twitter.com/EvVGrDT19G

— Jordan Dajani (@JordanDajani) October 4, 2019

Rich Hammond@Rich_Hammond
I’m not trying to start something. I’m not.

I’m seriously not.

But Greg Zuerlein has two FG misses from inside 45 yards this season, on nine attempts. He was 26 of 27 from inside 45 last season, and 26 of 27 in 2017.

Los Angeles Rams UK@LARams_UK
Going for 2 was the absolute correct call at the time, but man it looks dumb now when you see the score.

ESPN Stats & Info@ESPNStatsInfo
The Seahawks improve to 18-2 at home in prime time over the last 10 seasons, the 2nd-best record in the NFL behind only the Ravens.

Lindsey Thiry@LindseyThiry
Rams CB Marcus Peters declined to talk with reporters after the game.

Omar Ruiz@OmarDRuiz
“I thought Russell played one of the best games I’ve ever seen him play,” Pete Carroll on Wilson’s performance tonight.

That’s a good vid (and thanks for posting) but I disagree with Carter on Goff. I think even in a bad loss Goff showed last game that he has progressed. Beat the hell up, throwing every down, coming from several scores down, playing behind a struggling line against a top pass rushing defense, he got them close…to the point where a couple of times in the game, I thought, they’re going to take this one. That was only and solely because of the passing game…while everything else, especially the defense, was crashing and burning.

Geoff Schwartz@geoffschwartz
I went back and watched the last three games worth of run snap for the Rams. They are struggling at guard in the zone game. Penetration is the death of the zone run game and it’s happening too much. When they mix it up, like pull a OG, it’s tough as well

Someone is missing a block, not always at OG either. The Rams have NO misdirection runs, unless I missed them. No scissors, stutter, windback, whatever… nothing. And when they can’t run the ball, they put the offense behind the sticks, which doesn’t help Goff

stlramz

Just ran into Weddle’s family. To a person they said the team is really fired up after the embarrassing loss. The players have been hearing the chatter and they plan on showing who the top dog is in the west tonight.

From their lips to gods ears!

With the trade deadline 26 days away, teams tightest to the cap, per this AM's cap report …

1) Vikings $227K
2) Patriots $1.823M
3) Rams $2.076M
4) Giants $2.353M
5) Saints $2.491M
6) Falcons $2.703M
7) Steelers $3.946M
8) Cardinals $5.840M
9) Bucs $5.978M
10) Jets $6.367M

— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) October 3, 2019