Seattle Seahawks vs. St. Louis Rams: Final Report Card Grades for Seattle
The Seattle Seahawks were left looking for answers as they dropped their second loss in a row and third of the season on Sunday. The offense was most effective later in the game, while the team looked average on defense and terrible in special teams.
Over the last three weeks in particular, the Seattle offense has only been able to move the ball when Russell Wilson uses his legs. He accounted for more than 400 yards of offense, yet Seattle still lost this game to a Rams team playing with a backup quarterback and without Chris Long.
The Rams needed every single trick play and penalty they could get to hold off the Seahawks, but they got them and held on for a stunning 28-26 victory. Let's take a look at the final team stats before delving into the grime of this ugly loss for the reigning champions.
Final Game Stats
| Seattle Seahawks | Category | St. Louis Rams |
|---|---|---|
| 463 | Total Yards | 272 |
| 292 | Passing Yards | 170 |
| 7.5 | Yards Per Attempt | 7.7 |
| 171 | Rushing Yards | 102 |
| 5.9 | Yards Per Attempt | 3.8 |
| 10-89 | Penalties | 2-20 |
| 0 | Turnovers | 0 |
| 6-of-12 | Third-Down Conversions | 4-of-9 |
| 32:24 | Possession | 27:36 |
Quarterback
1 of 10
Russell Wilson started the game fairly slow, missing on a couple of passes to open receivers and struggling to keep drives alive. When Seattle switched to more of a hurry-up approach and called some zone-read option plays, things opened up immediately.
Wilson finished with 313 yards passing and two touchdowns, completing 23 of 36 passing attempts and rushing for 106 yards and another score on just seven carries. He had a particularly key 52-yard run that helped keep the offense on the field and swung the momentum in Seattle's favor.
With Percy Harvin no longer in the mix, the Seattle offense lost a lot of the bubble screens it had called through the first six weeks of the season; however, the trade didn't seem to be an issue in the passing game. Wilson completed passes to seven different targets, with all but one of them making two receptions.
The Seattle offense has become almost entirely reliant on Wilson's ability to run for the unit to be successful over the last three games. Too much pressure has been placed on one player, and the result has been a 1-2 record over the time span.
Grade: A+
Running Back
2 of 10
It was tough sledding for Marshawn Lynch and company in this game. The team had a total of 171 yards rushing, but Wilson accounted for 106 of those yards. In comparison, Lynch rushed for just 53 yards on 18 carries.
Robert Turbin and Christine Michael combined for 12 yards on four carries. In total, Seattle running backs averaged approximately three yards per carry. Lynch had a couple of nice runs, including one for a touchdown, that were nullified due to penalties from the offensive line, but the running backs did not have a good game.
Fullback Derrick Coleman was missing in action after suffering a broken foot during pregame warm-ups. Perhaps the injury to Coleman had something to do with the poor showings across the board, but the loss of Harvin may have contributed as well.
Turbin also made three grabs for 24 yards, while Lynch had 18 yards of his own on two receptions. Those were great contributions from the two backs but not enough to counteract their lackluster rushing numbers.
Grade: C-
Wide Receiver and Tight End
3 of 10
Doug Baldwin took full advantage of the added responsibility placed on him following Harvin's trade. Baldwin broke tackles and appeared elusive in the open field. It was not the rock-handed performance he put on a week earlier. He finished the game with seven catches for 123 yards and a touchdown on a team-high 11 targets.
Reserve tight end Cooper Helfet made several big catches as well. He became Seattle's top tight end after injuries to Zach Miller and Luke Willson, finishing the day with three catches for 61 yards and an amazing touchdown grab.
Young receivers Paul Richardson and Kevin Norwood saw extended playing time and showed solid production in their time on the field. Norwood made his first career catch for a gain of four yards on his only target, while Richardson hauled in four catches for 33 yards.
While the results were promising from a receiving perspective, the pass-catchersr still need to do a better job of getting open when the Seahawks are running their normal offense.
Grade: B+
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Offensive Line
4 of 10
The St. Louis Rams started the day with only one sack in five games, but the Seattle offensive line is like chicken noodle soup for opposing defenses...it makes them feel better. The Rams hauled down Wilson for three sacks in five plays and hit him repeatedly throughout the game.
Once the Seahawks started calling runs for Wilson, the Rams had to change their approach, but the defense continued to get hits on him. Penalties marred the day again with a handful of calls on the unit, including one that nullified a score.
Once again the unit struggled to open lanes on a traditional running plays, as noted by the struggles of all of the running backs. Wilson found some room on the ground, but not all of his carries were by design.
Stephen Schilling, who was in the starting lineup for an injured Max Unger, left the game for a bit with an injury. The interior of the group was beaten too often at times when the team needed space for a running play. Alvin Bailey, specifically, was beaten a couple of times almost immediately by defensive tackle Aaron Donald.
It was a horrendous day by a unit that needs some time to recover physically and is hurt by injuries to Derrick Coleman and Zach Miller at peripheral positions.
Grade: F
Defensive Line
5 of 10
The Seahawks defense had a less than stellar day in run defense again and failed to create any pressure on Rams quarterback Austin Davis for the majority of the contest. The defensive line produced two quarterback hits, three tackles for loss and zero sacks.
St. Louis rushed for 102 yards on 27 carries for an average of 3.8 yards per carry, which for Seattle is an improvement over last week. However, it was still not up to the team's standard from earlier in the year. Obviously, injuries all over the defense are part of the reason for the weak performance, but there were more significant ones in other areas of the defense.
Jordan Hill is an important figure in Seattle's defensive line rotation for whom the team didn't have a replacement. The Seahawks had three sacks in their first game of the season but have just four sacks since. None of them came in this game. If anything, the missing Hill seemed to create less rest for the interior of the unit.
Grade: D
Linebacker
6 of 10
With Bobby Wagner out of the lineup, the Seahawks shifted K.J. Wright into the middle and started Malcolm Smith on the weak side. The group missed a few tackles on some running plays but was pretty sound for the most part. The main issue seemed to be a lack of pass rush.
Austin Davis did not throw an incomplete pass in the game until the second half and finished with just three in the game. Tre Mason reeled off 85 yards and a score on 18 carries for an average of 4.7 yards per carry.
Seattle is lucky to have a player like Smith as a backup, but the loss of Wagner did hurt in this game. Smith and Wright each had 10 tackles to lead the team, while Bruce Irvin made one tackle and provided one of the three hits that Davis felt in the game.
Benny Cunningham had five catches for 46 yards and a touchdown; Jared Cook and Lance Kendricks combined for an additional five grabs for an additional 42 yards and a touchdown. The scoring grab by Kendricks marks the eighth touchdown reception by a tight end the Seattle defense has allowed.
Not all of the receptions were on the linebackers to cover, though; the secondary failed to handle some of these situations as well.
Grade: C-
Secondary
7 of 10
Richard Sherman was challenged early in the game with a well-run fake in-and-out run by Kenny Britt but was otherwise rarely challenged in coverage. Sherman knocked a pass away on a third-down play and made several tackles in the running game, including one for a loss.
Kam Chancellor led the secondary with seven tackles, and Earl Thomas made several big hits in the game, finishing with six tackles of his own. The safety duo did a quality job of contributing in run defense. The returning Tharold Simon started the game very poorly; he was called for two penalties and was lucky not to be called for three.
He had a bad pass interference play and an obvious unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that gave the Rams a key first down, which led to a touchdown. He eventually settled down, but the penalties were immeasurably costly to the team.
Nickel corner Marcus Burley was good for most of the game, but he allowed a 30-yard pass to Chris Givens late in the third quarter in another crucial situation. For the most part, the coverage was strong by the secondary, but Austin Davis often had too much time to throw the ball.
Holding a team to just 170 yards passing in today's NFL is still a quality performance.
Grade: B+
Special Teams
8 of 10
The Seahawks' special teams units had been a major area of strength leading up to this game. They consistently stopped opponents from making big returns and allowed the team to stay ahead in field position battles. That was not the case Sunday.
Benny Cunningham had a 75-yard kick return to set up the Rams' first touchdown drive. St. Louis also had an 89-yard punt return for a touchdown by Stedman Bailey on a brilliant decoy play with Tavon Austin. Later in the game, the Rams pulled off a fake punt for a gain of 18 yards that all but put the game on ice.
These three plays proved to be the keys to victory for St. Louis in an otherwise tightly played affair.
Steven Hauschka nailed two easy field goals, and Jon Ryan had a healthy 42.3-yard average on his four punts.
Grade: D
Coaching
9 of 10
The Seahawks have to change the way they're doing things offensively. The team is decidedly ineffective on that side of the ball until switching to a hurried approach. The team has been incapable of creating any big plays and is relying too heavily on players breaking tackles to keep drives alive.
I will repeat this for the third time in this article: Russell Wilson has too much on his shoulders and is taking too many hits. He's being asked to stand in on passing plays behind a putrid offensive line and be the team's rushing attack.
On special teams, coach Brian Schneider has to know the history of Jeff Fisher squads and their propensity for calling trick plays on special teams. He failed to have his players prepared schematically or mentally for anything the Rams threw at them, and it cost Seattle.
Grade: F
Final Grades
10 of 10
| Positional Unit | Overall Grade |
| QB | A+ |
| RB | C- |
| WR/TE | B+ |
| OL | F |
| DL | D |
| LB | C- |
| DB | B+ |
| Special Teams | D |
| Coaching | F |
| Cumulative Grade | D+ |
The Seahawks have a lot of injuries on the defensive side of the ball, but the offense is what has been setting the team back over the last three weeks. There's been no spark or creativity from the unit until it's too late.
Defensively, the team is playing well enough to stay in games, but the offense is underperforming at an alarming rate. The offensive line has been mediocre in run/pass blocking and is taking too many penalties for the unit to succeed.
This is likely an anomaly of a performance by the special teams, but the coaches need to take the errors seriously nonetheless.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
.png?w=480)
