Seattle Seahawks vs. St. Louis Rams: Breaking Down Seattle's Game Plan

The Seattle Seahawks have been nearly unbeatable at home since the arrival of Russell Wilson, but the Dallas Cowboys did everything Seattle does better last Sunday. The reigning Super Bowl champions now have 19-2 record at home over that span (including playoffs).

Many of the same issues that nearly cost the Seahawks a win in Washington cropped up again, and there was nothing they could do to solve it. Seattle has gone through the gauntlet to start their season, facing teams with a combined record of 17-7 (Seattle games excluded). A game against the now 1-4 St. Louis Rams is a welcome sight on Seattle's schedule.

The opening lines for the game between the Seahawks and Rams has fluctuated between Seattle being 6.5- to 7.5-point favorites, according to Odds Shark. While St. Louis' season has fast slipped away with injuries and poor performances, the injuries are quickly piling up for Seattle as well.

With Seattle now a game behind the Arizona Cardinals and half a game behind the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC West, it's important for the team to come away with a win in its first division game of the year.

Seattle Seahawks	Category	St. Louis Rams
335.8 (20th)	Total Offense	376.0 (13th)
26.6 (12th)	Scoring Offense	20.2 (24th)
186.0 (31st)	Passing Offense	270.0 (7th)
7.1 (20th)	Yards Per Attempt	7.3 (17th)
149.8 (2nd)	Rushing Offense	106.0 (19th)
5.3 (1st)	Yards Per Attempt	4.1 (19th)
38.1 (23rd)	3rd Down Percentage	43.9 (11th)
334.4 (9th)	Total Defense	362.2 (18th)
22.6 (14th)	Scoring Defense	30.0 (30th)
252.2 (19th)	Passing Defense	222.4 (9th)
7.0 (9th)	Yards Per Attempt	7.9 (27th)
82.2 (6th)	Rushing Defense	139.8 (26th)
3.1 (2nd)	Yards Per Attempt	4.5 (24th)
47.3 (28th)	3rd Down Percentage	44.1 (21st)

Defense

The Seattle defense will look to its form against a still formidable passing game, but will likely do so without the play of CB Byron Maxwell and MLB Bobby Wagner due to injury. While rookie quarterback Austin Davis has proved to be better than expected, his lack of experience at the NFL level is a detriment.

No. 2 overall pick of the 2014 NFL draft Greg Robinson made his first career appearance, and was largely unspectacular. He allowed a sack in the game. The Rams have allowed 16 sacks, 17 hits and 58 hurries this season.

The Seahawks have struggled with applying pressure as of late, and this game provides an opportunity to reinvigorate the team's defensive line. Per Pro Football Focus, Austin Davis has 51.5 percent of his passes for 434 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions when he's been pressured.

Overall, Davis has a 63.8 percent completion rate, but he struggles under pressure—like most quarterbacks. Davis has been pressured on 40.9 percent of his dropbacks. The only quarterbacks who have found themselves forced from the pocket more often are Mike Glennon (44.7) and Russell Wilson (41.1). 

The Seahawks secondary has not been anywhere near as strong as it was last season, seeing an 80.2-yards allowed per game increase this year. The Seahawks have the opportunity to regain some confidence, defensively, if they can pressure the quarterback and force turnovers.

Offense

The biggest thing is that Russell Wilson needs to get back to being himself. Wilson was plain bad against the Dallas Cowboys. He didn't look through his progressions when he had time, was lucky to have turned the ball over just once (three near interceptions and a fumble), and sailed a few of his passes at times.

The offense lacked creativity and variance in a game that was close throughout. For some reason the running game was hardly utilized, despite the team's elite ranking in the category, and its usage of Percy Harvin is far from inspiring.

Scott Eklund/Associated Press

While the use of Harvin as a decoy on running plays and to create plays after the catch on short throws over the middle are valuable, they lack effectiveness if he's not given the opportunity to run actual routes. Of his team-leading 26 targets, only four have been on passes that were 10 yards or longer.

My feeling is that the team went into the game conceding the battle in the trenches offensively due to the injury to starting center Max Unger and tried their best to make their screen game with Harvin act as the team's rushing attack. Obviously, the plan failed; Dallas was ready each and every time. 

Marshawn Lynch, Harvin and Wilson are too good to not be utilized as the strength of this offense. The Seahawks need to go into their game against St. Louis intent on committing to the running game and to assert themselves on a still solid division rival.

*All stats gathered from Pro Football Focus.