Seahawks vs. Rams: Score and Twitter Reaction from 2016 Regular Season

The NFL is officially back in the City of Angels after the Los Angeles Rams earned a 9-3 victory Sunday over the Seattle Seahawks in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Yahoo Sports' Jeff Eisenberg tweeted how Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll had previously enjoyed massive success in the Coliseum from his days with the USC Trojans:

While the game will be remembered as a landmark occasion for the Rams, it provided little in the way of beauty or entertainment. The Rams and Seahawks combined for 19 penalties and 13 punts and went 7-of-25 on third downs. Neither team scored a touchdown.

Russell Wilson was 22-of-35 passing for 254 yards, and Christine Michael led the team with 60 yards rushing on 10 carries.

On the other sideline, Case Keenum was 18-of-30 for 239 yards. To the disappointment of many fantasy football owners, Todd Gurley only made marginal improvements from his lackluster showing in Week 1. He ran for 51 yards on 19 carries.

Since this was the first NFL regular-season game in Los Angeles since the Rams and Los Angeles Raiders relocated in 1994, the stars came out in full force at the L.A. Coliseum. The Rams shared a photo of Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James before the game:

Holly Robinson Peete also posted a photo of herself and Los Angeles Lakers legend Magic Johnson:

The Seahawks offense failed to string positive drives together last week. Seattle gained 352 yards of total offense but scored on only three of its 12 possessions.

The trend continued through the first half Sunday, with the Seahawks putting three points on the board courtesy of a 23-yard Steven Hauschka field goal with 14:45 left in the second quarter. CBSSports.com's Sean Wagner-McGough illustrated how much Seattle has struggled to move the ball:

Greg Zuerlein drew first blood on a 39-yard field goal in the first quarter to put Los Angeles ahead, and he nailed a 28-yarder 1:08 from halftime to put the Rams up 6-3. 

While some might have expected the Seahawks to open a significant lead on the Rams following Los Angeles' lifeless Week 1 defeat to the San Francisco 49ers, ESPN's Arash Markazi expected to see a competitive game:

NFL.com's Marc Sessler didn't think anything else was in store given the two teams on the field:

Little changed for the Seahawks in the second half. Wilson sprained his right ankle in Week 1 and his status for Sunday's game was in doubt until Friday. Fox Sports analyst and former NFL executive Michael Lombardi wondered whether Wilson's health will be a major issue this year:

NFL Media's Steve Wyche noted the Rams weren't shy about laying into the Seahawks passer when given the opportunity:

While the Rams defense was doing a great job keeping Seattle off the board, the offense wasn't holding up its end of the bargain. A 47-yard field goal by Zuerlein with 14:15 left in the game gave Los Angeles a little breathing room, but still left the Seahawks down by one score, 9-3.

Seattle had a chance to get the win late in the fourth quarter. A 53-yard reception for Tyler Lockett got the ball down to the Rams 35-yard line with 1:33 remaining. Three plays later, though, Michael fumbled after making a five-yard reception. Rams linebacker Alec Ogletree recovered to seal the victory.

ESPN.com's Bill Barnwell joked the Rams front office is already hard at work on head coach Jeff Fisher's extension:

Los Angeles fans will be happy to see the team register its first win, but they won't be enthusiastic with how ineffective the offense was for long stretches of the game.

If the Rams are going to make the playoffs this year, Gurley needs to have a far bigger impact. The jury is still out whether Keenum is good enough to lead a team to the postseason and whether the team is hurting Jared Goff's long-term development by sitting him on the bench.

The Rams play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 3, which will be a good chance for them to show Sunday's win is the start of things to come rather than a false dawn.

Panicking early in the season is rarely a good idea. The Seahawks still have a lot of football left to play, and it wasn't that long ago (2014) fans started sounding alarms following a Week 2 defeat to the San Diego Chargers. Seattle went on to win the NFC that year.

With that said, pass protection remains a problem, which is troublesome given Wilson is already carrying a minor injury. If Seattle can't keep its quarterback upright, its strong defense won't be enough to guarantee a fifth straight season of playoff football.

Postgame Reaction

Markazi provided a clip from Fisher's postgame press conference:

The Seattle Times' Bob Condotta shared Wilson's thoughts after the game:

Carroll confirmed running back Thomas Rawls suffered a leg contusion, which kept him out for most of the second half, per the Seahawks' official website. He added that Wilson was "limited" as a result of the ankle injury and will rehab it more ahead of Week 3.