The Rams will head to Seattle this weekend to play the Seahawks with a trip to Super Bowl LX on the line. Their third matchup of the season will feature the Rams' No. 1 scoring offense against the Seahawks' No. 1 scoring defense in a heavyweight showdown between NFC West foes. Kickoff Sunday at Lumen Field is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. pacific time on FOX.
Ahead of the contest, here are 3 Keys to Winning for the Rams, presented by The Law Offices of Jacob Emrani (CallJacob.com).
1) Pressure Sam Darnold into mistakes
Whenever the Rams have played the Seahawks' quarterback over the past two seasons, creating pressure on him has paved the path to victory. Los Angeles' defense uses a combination of stunts, simulated pressures and disguised coverages to confuse Darnold and force him to hold the ball for a click too long, or force it into tight coverages. Obviously, other factors affect the result, but pressure has driven the success of the Rams' defense.
The Rams intercepted Darnold six times in the first two matchups between these teams, and causing that chaos again will go a long way toward a Rams win.
2) Force third and longs
Seattle had the third-lowest conversion rate in the NFL on third-and-longs (seven or more yards to go) in the regular season at 17.8%, according to Next Gen Stats, and the lowest on pass plays in that context (17.3%). Forcing those will not only set the Rams up in positions to get the ball back, but will also give them opportunities to rush Darnold on true pass sets, where he has to throw the ball downfield. That will help L.A. cause the turnovers and/or negative plays that have yielded success against Darnold in the past.
To create those situations, the Rams will have to be stout against the run and play sticky coverage to avoid underneath completions on early downs.
3) Establish the run to succeed on play-action
This is something the Rams got away from last week, but did extremely well against Seattle in their last meeting. When the Rams got some push in the run game, Seattle started to bring an extra defender into the box, and quarterback Matthew Stafford picked the defense apart on play-action passes, completing 9 of 15 throws for 151 yards and two touchdowns, according to Next Gen Stats. The Seahawks like to play lighter groupings, but are among the best at defending the run out of those, which gives them an advantage in the pass game. Succeeding on the ground will mitigate that edge.
The Rams ran more play-action passes than any other team in the regular season by a wide margin. Yet, against a talent-rich and well-coached Seattle defense, those plays will only be effective if they can establish the run to draw defenders closer to the line of scrimmage, enabling receivers to win down the field.
