Field Gulls
The nightmare continues for Sam Darnold against the Los Angeles Rams.
Last season with the Minnesota Vikings, Darnold had two losses to the Rams, including a nightmare performance in the playoffs that ended his Vikings tenure. As quarterback of the Seattle Seahawks (7-3), he had a disaster of all disasters, throwing four mostly brutal interceptions in a 21-19 loss. The Rams (8-2) are now atop the division with the tiebreaker after jumping out to an early 14-3 lead and hanging on for dear life at the end.
Darnold not only made several back-breaking mistakes, the red zone offense was not clicking for the Seahawks. Five trips resulted in four field goals and Kenneth Walker’s fourth quarter touchdown. The defense played well; two of the three touchdowns allowed were on drives that went a combined 28 yards. It’s a game that is almost entirely on the failures of the offense, and more specifically Darnold. As brilliantly as Darnold has played all year, he was a mess against the Rams again, and the turnovers he’s committing are now high volume.
To top it all off, standout rookie left guard Grey Zabel and linebacker Tyrice Knight both left the game with injuries. Zabel’s knee injury might be serious, whereas Knight left early in the first quarter with a concussion on special teams.
Damn. This stings.
The Rams started on offense and got a gift from the officials right away. Devon Witherspoon was flagged for a ridiculous personal foul penalty when tackling Rams receiver Xavier Smith, who made a catch and was deemed to have given himself up. He was clearly getting up to try and gain more yards, but the refs gave the Rams a free 15 yards.
A huge run by Kyren Williams set up LA in the red zone, and after a brilliant tackle by Nick Emmanwori to set up 4th and inches, the Seahawks defense denied Matthew Stafford on 4th down for a turnover on downs!
Sam Darnold gave it right back just three plays later, throwing off his backfoot with Poona Ford pressuring on the interior. Kamren Kinchens came up with the pick and ran it all the way inside Seattle’s 5.
Seattle’s run defense stymied the Rams on three straight plays, only to get spread out on 4th and goal for a Kyren Williams touchdown.
Darnold and Jaxon Smith-Njigba converted on a couple of first downs before the drive stalled. A misfire to Rashid Shaheed followed by a “touchdown” to Cooper Kupp that hit the ground and bounced into his arms. Kupp got up and scored but it was obviously incomplete. The end result was a Jason Myers 57-yard field goal to make it 7-3.
Like clockwork, the Rams gashed the Seahawks with screens and short passes, and worryingly the run defense was showing cracks. Kyren Williams burst through on 4th and 1 for 34 yards all the way toward the 1-yard line. Matthew Stafford found Davante Adams for his 1,000th career catch and 10th...
