Rams Squeeze Out on Top of a Thriller Between Defensive Juggernauts

Week 11 gifted NFL fans with a divisional matchup between two of the top teams of the NFC. The Seattle Seahawks traveled down the coast to battle against the Los Angeles Rams in SoFi Stadium for the top spot in the NFC West. Both teams entered the game tied for the best record in the NFC at 7-2. They also both had top-five ranked scoring offenses and top-five ranked scoring defenses. As two of the top teams in the NFL, this matchup has significant ramifications past just this week and could be a preview of what the postseason has in store.

​The first quarter started with both teams trading turnovers. Los Angeles was able to get into the red zone off a monster 30-yard rush from Kyren Williams, but found themselves in trouble when Williams was ruled short of a first down on third and six at Seattle’s 13-yard line. Despite Los Angeles challenging the call, they were unable to get the first down and turned the ball over after going for it on fourth and one. The Seahawks were unable to capitalize on the mistake because Sam Darnold threw an interception on their third play on offense. Kamren Kinchens intercepted a short pass intended for Cooper Kupp, the former Rams superstar who made his return to Los Angeles in this game.

​Kinchens returned the ball to Seattle’s three-yard line, and the Rams capitalized on the amazing field position. The Seahawks defense was able to make it difficult, though, as Blake Corum ran three plays in a row and only gained two yards. Williams came back in the game on fourth down and ran it down the middle to secure the first points of the game. The Rams continued to start their new pickup, Harrison Mevis, who hasn’t missed an extra point in Los Angeles, and kicked another one through here. This shouldn’t be a notable stat, but the Rams’ special teams troubles have made this kicker change an important story to track in their games.

​The Seahawks got the chance to respond with points of their own. A pair of completions to Jaxon Smith-Njigba set up Jason Myers for a deep 57-yard field goal. Los Angeles got one more chance to score before the end of the first quarter with six and a half minutes left. Matthew Stafford continued the tight end connection that has developed over the past couple of weeks with a catch and run to Tyler Higbee for 23 yards. Williams followed with another monster 34-yard run that set up the Rams to score with one yard left. Davante Adams caught a short fade in the endzone, which marked his league-leading ninth touchdown on the year.

​The second quarter was all Seattle, as the Rams only had possession for one minute of the second quarter. In their first drive of the second, Zach Charbonnet and Darnold grinded away at Los Angeles’ defense, with three completions to AJ Barner to keep the drive alive. The drive petered out with three incompletions at Los Angeles’ 12-yard line. Part of this was because Emmanuel Forbes continued his strong stretch of cornerback play with a diving pass breakup in one-on-one coverage that would’ve given up a touchdown to Rashid Shaheed. That being said, Darnold may still be getting accustomed to the new arrival’s speed, as Shaheed had to just slightly slow down to Darnold’s underthrown ball. The Seahawks settled for their second field goal of the game, cutting the lead to 14-6. The Seahawks defense finally showed some of its true upper-echelon dominance, getting a quick three-and-out and giving them a chance to catch up to the Rams. Kenneth Walker started the drive by ripping a 25-yard run, and Darnold and Smith-Njigba connected on a highlight one-handed catch on the left sideline just barely within Smith-Njigba’s reach for 28 yards. The Walker-Charbonnet one-two punch ground Seattle back into the red zone, but with time running low and the Rams’ bend but don’t break defense, Seattle once again had to settle for a field goal as the first half ended.

​With a score of 14-9 with Los Angeles in the lead, the Seahawks had some urgency to score their first touchdown of the game. This is especially true considering that Seattle has been a significantly better first half team. They got off to the second half on the wrong foot when Darnold was intercepted a second time this game by Cobie Durant. However, the Rams gifted Darnold with a chance to redeem himself when Puka Nacua fumbled the ball almost immediately. The fumble was forced by Coby Bryant and recovered by Drake Thomas. Seattle continued to the script of the second quarter with Walker and Barner contributing multiple moderate yardage plays that ultimately resulted in a stalled drive in the redzone. This time, Walker got into the endzone, but a hold on the tight end Nick Kallerup called it back and placed the Seahawks’ offense in an unfavorable position. Jason Myers lined up to kick his fourth field goal of the game. The third quarter ended with both defenses showcasing their talents, trading back to back to back punts. Then, Los Angeles' defense had another huge splash play as Kinchens caught his second interception on the first play of Seattle’s drive, marking Darnold’s third interception of the day.

​The Rams, with great field position from the interception, quickly got the first touchdown of the second half off a six-yard touchdown pass to Colby Parkinson, the former Seahawk. In response, the Seahawks’ offense continued to struggle as Darnold threw his fourth interception to Darious Williams. However, this interception didn’t end up mattering all too much as after three consecutive three-and-outs, the Seahawks got the ball back. Darnold finally got the offense moving again with a 23-yard pass to Walker. Cooper Kupp got some rhythm going with three catches for 23 yards, to the cheering of a home crowd that still loves him despite the fact that he was playing for the other team. This set up Walker to punch in Seattle’s first touchdown of the game, and cut the lead to 19-21 with just over two minutes left in the game. However, the first touchdown for Seattle may have come at too high a cost as Grey Zabel, the team’s outstanding rookie first-round pick at guard, had a player get thrown into his knee from behind. He had to be helped off the field, and the Seahawks knew they would have to try to win the game without him.

​After Nacua's 18-yard run, the Rams got nothing going offensively. They had two zero-yard rushes at the two-minute warning and ended up having to punt after only four plays. They also only ate up 42 seconds of the clock, especially after a rough incompletion on third and 10 that stopped the clock. This gave Seattle the ball back, down two with 1:41 left on the clock. However, Ethan Evans made the punt of his career, pinning the Seahawks on their own one-yard line with a pristine bounce out of bounds on the sideline, inches away from being a touchback.

​Now with the ball and the chance to kick a field goal to win the game, Darnold threw two completions to Barner to secure a first down and 13 yards. A pair of completions to Smith-Njigba got Seattle to Seattle’s 26-yard line. After an incompletion to Kupp, Smith-Njigba caught Forbes on a defensive pass interference that got the Seahawks just out of field goal range at their own 38, and five seconds left on the clock. Darnold was able to get a quick pass out to Shaheed for six yards, calling their final timeout with just one second on the clock. Jason Myers got the chance to kick his fifth field goal of the game to win it and bring Seattle to the top of the NFC West, but had to do it from his career-long of 61 yards. Myers lined up to kick and sent it wide right as time expired, unfortunately failing to secure a Seahawks’ victory.