By Byron Richmond
Week 14’s edition of Sunday Night Football presented us with a battle between NFC West division foes. The Seattle Seahawks, who entered play with legitimate NFC-representing Super Bowl aspirations, and the Los Angeles Rams, who, despite the bevy of criticism they’ve received, were still fighting to remain in the playoff picture.
The running narrative whenever the two teams meet posits that Rams’ head coach Sean McVay outcoaches “Sneaky” Pete Carroll.
In their last 3 meetings, including last night’s game, the Rams offense has averaged over 450 total yards. Rams’ QB Jared Goff, has, in those 4 outings, thrown for over 300 yards and totaled for 8 touchdowns against the Seahawks; Defense.
Todd Gurley, who was the eye of controversy given McVay’s reluctance to use him in Super Bowl LIII, looked formidable against the Seattle defense, carrying for 79 yards on 23 carries. Tight end Tyler Higbee was Goff’s favorite target on the night, as he caught 7 passes for 116 yards.
As for Seattle, QB Russell Wilson, arguably in the midst of the best season of his career, failed to connect with any of his receivers in the end zone, ending the night 22-36 with 245 yards passing.
So, while the Rams found themselves on the right side of the matchup and stalled the Seahawks clinching a playoff berth for another week, the Seahawks should revert to their winning ways when they square off against the desolate 5-8 Carolina Panthers, a team who recently fired longtime head coach Ron Rivera.
As for Los Angeles, the remaining three games on their schedule presents itself as a mixed bag; in week’s 15, 16, and 17, the Rams will square off against a struggling Cowboys team, the darlings of the NFC in 2019, the San Francisco ‘49ers, and a young-Kyler Murray-led Arizona Cardinals team.
For all that has been said about the ludicrosity of Jared Goff’s 4-year/$134M contract, in his three full seasons as the Rams’ starting quarterback, the team has managed to go 32-12 in his starts since the start of 2017. The point here is, despite an inconsistent season thus far (15 TD-14 INT), Goff and co. have managed to help Los Angeles stay afloat as they surge onward with playoff expectations still in sight.
