Turf Show Times
It will be tough for the Los Angeles Rams to recover from their 37-38 overtime loss to the Seattle Seahawks. The Rams fall to 11-4. Seattle swells to 12-3.
Los Angeles is now unlikely to win either the NFC conference or the NFC West division. Simply put, Seattle and the San Francisco 49ers have a much easier path.
Playoff seeding doesn’t matter much to some. A first round bye is of the upmost importance because it saves you from a surprise trip home, and now that is likely out of reach. Winning the division allows the team to host at least one home postseason game, and now that will also be difficult for the Rams to attain.
This isn’t to be overly dramatic about the loss. We knew the stakes were high coming into Thursday Night Football.
Now we must reconcile the fallout and give both credit and blame to the individuals that led us to this moment.
If there’s one player on the defense that came to play Thursday night it was Kobie Turner. He consistently pressured Sam Darnold and made an early sack (plus another half sack) that got his unit off the field. Turner also dropped into coverage at the goal line to intercept Darnold to protect the margin of victory prior to the comeback.
There might not be a better player in the NFL over the last three weeks than Puka Nacua, and this came come amidst personal adversity for the third-year receiver. He earned a career-high in receiving yards with 225 yards and added two scores, including the go-ahead touchdown in overtime.
Nacua is the Rams’ offense. This is especially true when Davante Adams isn’t on the field.
Both of the Rams’ interceptions on Darnold were the result of impressive scheme from Chris Shula. On the Josh Wallace pick, LA was showing man before Wallace swapped to zone and jumped underneath the outside receiver. Shula also threw a changeup to drop Turner into coverage and caught Darnold by surprise.
The overall result is poor. Shula’s defense is mostly responsible for the loss because they allowed a TD and two point conversion in overtime that led to the loss. However, he obviously gave the Rams defense a massive schematic advantage that should have been enough to win in regulation.
Terrance Ferguson could have caught multiple touchdowns last week. He had another called back due to penalty early (Justin Dedich replaced the injured Kevin Dotson and then called for illegal man downfield) and then hauled in another that actually counted. The rookie tight end was open often but the connection is still off between him and Stafford.
Ferguson caught three of four targets for 33 yards and a score, but he left at least two big plays on the field. It could have been much, much better. That bodes well for him moving forward.
