The 11-3 Rams head to Seattle on a short week of rest for a crucial divisional game on Thursday Night Football. Their ticket to the playoffs is already punched, but this game will have significant implications for the NFC West title and playoff seeding. Kickoff from Lumen Field in Seattle, Wash. is scheduled for 5:15 p.m. pacific time on Amazon Prime Video.
Ahead of the contest, here are 3 Keys to Winning for the Rams, presented by The Law Offices of Jacob Emrani (CallJacob.com).
1) Make Sam Darnold uncomfortable
The last two times the Rams played Darnold, pressure around him either led to a high sack number (nine in the Wild Card round) or a high turnover total (four interceptions in Week 11). Collapsing the pocket around Darnold has led to negative plays in the past, and whether they've been sacks or turnovers, that has been the Rams' path to victory against him, and will be again on Thursday.
Darnold has had trouble throwing into tight windows since the Rams' first matchup, going 2-for-20 on those passes over the last five weeks, according to ESPN. Getting pressure on him with sticky coverage down the field will force him to make those throws.
2) Spread the ball around offensively
With wide receiver Davante Adams' status still up in the air as he heals from a hamstring injury, the Rams can't rely solely on wide receiver Puka Nacua against one of the league's top defenses. As both head coach Sean McVay and offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur acknowledged this week, the Seattle coaching staff always cooks up new ways to slow down opposing offenses' strengths, and the Rams' biggest one has been Nacua over the past several weeks.
They will need to spread out their targets and employ a healthy balance between the run and the pass game to move the ball better than they did in the last matchup, when they totaled 249 yards of offense. They've averaged 383.6 on the season.
3) Contain Jaxon Smith-Njigba
The league's leading receiver has only had under 75 yards once this season, and went for 105 yards against the Rams on nine catches in Week 11. With the game on the line, Darnold targeted Smith-Njigba three times and he accounted for 20 yards to get Seattle into field goal range. Containing him will be crucial to the Rams' success on Thursday night, especially in crucial situations like third downs or late in the game.
