Ouch. The Seattle Seahawks suffered a brutal 28-12 loss in front of a national audience on Sunday night at the hands of the Los Angeles Rams. It was about as complete a team loss the Seahawks have been dealt in the Pete Carroll era. Seattle looked entirely out of sync in nearly every aspect of the game.
On a night where the Seahawks had a prime opportunity to move into first place in the conference thanks to the 49ers beating the Saints, Seattle has fallen back to a wild card as San Francisco reclaimed first place.
The loss proved costly, but if there is a silver lining, the Seahawks still control their destiny for a division title and first-round bye. The bad news is all margin for error is now eliminated and Seattle must win all remaining games.
Here is who stood out in the ugly loss.
No. 1 Duds – The entire Seahawks offense
What a disaster Sunday night was for the Seahawks offense. It’s hard to single out any one player in particular, as it was a collective nightmare across the board for one of the league’s better units.
Russell Wilson was sacked five times and hit an astonishing 11 times. He also threw an interception in a fourth straight game, albeit on a desperation Hail Mary late. Receivers struggled to get consistently open, and the ground game’s empty yardage made little impact.
Seattle’s offense failed to score a touchdown for the first time since Week 1 of the 2017 season, managing only six measly points off two field goals. As the defense managed to clamp down late, the Seahawks offense was unable to capitalize.
No. 1 Stud – Quandre Diggs
This certainly wasn’t an all-time performance from the Seahawks defense, nor did it live up to how the unit has been playing for the past month, but the lone bright spot on the day was Seahawks’ safety, Quandre Diggs.
Ever since he was acquired from the Lions, Diggs has been playing lights out football for Seattle. He has certainly brought the boom back to the L.O.B. On Sunday, Diggs snagged a pair of interceptions on back-to-back possessions, including one he returned 55-yards for a touchdown.
It was Rams quarterback Jared Goff’s first pick-six thrown since his rookie year in 2016, breaking the longest active streak without a pick-six in the NFL.
It’s unfortunate the Seahawks were unable to do something with Diggs’ interceptions, as both provided prime opportunities in momentum shifts.
No. 2 Duds – The pass rush
Seattle’s fatal flaw this year is its pass rush or lack-thereof. In the past few weeks, there were signs of life. Jadeveon Clowney was abusing offensive linemen, and Ziggy Ansah had finally started contributing in a meaningful way.
Unfortunately, the Seahawks really missed Ansah who was inactive Sunday night with an injury. The Seahawks pass rush never materialized and hardly came close to making life uncomfortable for Goff, who proceeded to torch Seattle’s secondary.
The one positive moment came when Shaquem Griffin almost got to Goff on the play he threw the pick-six. The key to this defense is the pass rush. When it is bringing the heat, it’s hard to move the ball against Seattle. When it’s not on, things fall apart fast for the Seahawks.
No. 3 Dud – Malik Turner
Overall, the Seahawks offense was simply tragic and it was hard to place the blame. But Malik Turner had a particularly weak outing against the Rams.
The first transgression happened on a critical 4th-and-1 in the second half. A promising Seattle drive stalled when Turner flat out dropped a crucial conversion to deny the Seahawks any points.
The second happened in the fourth quarter. Turner was open in the end zone and Wilson threw a perfect ball right at him, only to see it fall incomplete as Turner didn’t even make an attempt to catch it. Instead of trying to keep pace with the Rams with a much-needed touchdown, the Seahawks had to settle for their final points of the night with a field goal.
