Week 14 Recap – Seattle Seahawks @ St. Louis Rams
ST. LOUIS – On December 12, the Seahawks and Rams had their thirteenth regular season game this year. The Rams are coming off a shutout loss away against the San Francisco 49ers and the Seahawks are coming off a big win at home against the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday night.
Pre-game notes: The last time these two teams played (three weeks ago) the Rams lost 24-7 at home; the Seahawks are heavily favored tonight. The Rams cut S Nate Ness, G Jacob Bell (right mcl) was placed on IR, acquired QB Kellen Clemens from waivers, CB Chris Smith was activated from the practice squad, QB Matt Gutierrez, DT Cornell Banks and RB Chase Reynolds were added to the practice squad and Gutierrez was later deleted from the practice squad. Seahawks T Russell Okung (torn right pectoral muscle) was placed on IR, G Mike Gibson was signed and RB Jay Finley and LB Keith Darbut were added to the practice squad.
Seahawks QB Tarvaris Jackson (pectoral) is active and will start, as well as DE Raheem Brock and MLB David Hawthorne. Rams QB Sam Bradford (ankle) is active and will start. Rams QBs Tom Brandstater and A.J. Feeley are inactive, meaning that newly-signed Clemens is the only other active QB. Rams DE Chris Long and TE Lance Kendricks are also active. Here is a list of the Rams’ inactives: Brandstater, LB Justin Cole, Feeley, OT Kevin Hughes, FB Brit Miller, RB Quinn Porter and DT Fred Robbins. Seattle will look to keep pace with Arizona for a wild card berth with a win tonight at Qwest Field.
1st quarter:
On 4th-and-6 at the STL 40, Seahawks P Jon Ryan punted the ball 34 yards and it was downed at the STL 6.
On 4th-and-6 at the STL 37, Rams P Donnie Jones had his punt blocked and it was recovered by FB Michael Robinson, which resulted in a touchdown and extra point by Seahawks K Steven Hauschka. Rams 0 Seahawks 7
On 4th-and-8 at the STL 44, Jones punted the ball 40 yards and it was fair caught at the SEA 16.
On 4th-and-11 at the STL 24, Hauschka successfully kicked a 42-yard field goal. Rams 0 Seahawks 10
2nd quarter:
On 4th-and-13 at the SEA 28, Rams K Josh Brown successfully kicked a 46-yard field goal. Rams 3 Seahawks 10
On 4th-and-12 at the SEA 16, Ryan punted the ball 41 yards and it was fair caught at the STL 43.
On 4th-and-1 at the SEA 36, Bradford threw an incomplete deep right pass intended for WR Danario Alexander.
On 3rd-and-1 at the STL 27, Tarvaris Jackson fumbled the ball on the exchange and it was recovered by LB Brady Poppinga at the STL 29.
On 4th-and-11 at the STL 28, Jones punted the ball 47 yards and it was fair caught at the SEA 25.
On 4th-and-12 at the SEA 37, Ryan punted the ball 38 yards and it was returned to the STL 26.
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3rd quarter:
On 1st-and-10 at the STL 23, Bradford threw a short middle pass intended for WR Brandon Lloyd and the ball was intercepted by CB Brandon Browner who returned it to the STL 34.
On 4th-and-5 at the STL 5, Hauschka successfully kicked a 23-yard field goal. Rams 3 Seahawks 13
On 4th-and-15 at the STL 20, Jones punted the ball 50 yards and it was returned to the SEA 47.
On 4th-and-3 at the STL 19, Hauschka unsuccessfully kicked a 38-yard field goal wide right.
On 4th-and-goal at the SEA 11, Brown successfully kicked a 29-yard field goal. Rams 6 Seahawks 13
On 1st-and-10 at the STL 29, Tarvaris Jackson threw a deep left pass to WR Doug Baldwin, which resulted in a touchdown and extra point by Hauschka. Rams 6 Seahawks 20
4th quarter:
On 4th-and-4 at the STL 42, Jones punted the ball 44 yards and it was fair caught at the SEA 14.
On 4th-and-5 at the STL 30, Hauschka successfully kicked a 48-yard field goal. Rams 6 Seahawks 23
On 3rd-and-goal at the SEA 1, Rams RB Steven Jackson rushed the ball up the right tackle, which resulted in a touchdown and extra point by Brown. Rams 13 Seahawks 23
On 1st-and-10 at the STL 16, Seahawks RB Marshawn Lynch rushed the ball up the left tackle, which resulted in a touchdown and extra point by Hauschka. Rams 13 Seahawks 30
On 4th-and-16 at the STL 49, Rams backup RB Cadillac Williams rushed the ball up the right tackle to the SEA 42.
On 1st and-10 at the SEA 42, Tarvaris Jackson knelt to the SEA 41. End game
Post-game notes: The Rams really had no injuries. The Seahawks only had a couple of injuries. Seahawks LB Leroy Hill sustained a stinger near the end, but should be okay. Seahawks G Robert Gallery was removed late in the game with a sore hip.
Lynch now has at least one touchdown in nine straight games (ties franchise record) and had another +100 game on the ground (fifth time out of six games). WR Baldwin also had a nice game by finishing just shy of 100 receiving, returning the pitch on the opening kickoff for good field position and was the one who blocked the punt; disappointingly, he did commit two penalties. Bradford’s completion percentage was terrible. Rams RB Jackson and WR Lloyd had a decent game and KR Jerious Norwood had a lot of return yards.
In a loss that was well-deserved, the Rams got beat bad by the Seattle “Loud Fans” Seahawks 13-30. The Rams have lost five of their last six games; on the contrary, the Seahawks have now won four of their last five. The game was still close near the end of the third quarter until undrafted rookie Baldwin’s touchdown. The game got out of hand after Lynch’s touchdown (The fans threw Skittles at Lynch immediately after he scored). The Seahawks have now won thirteen of the last fourteen against the Rams. Seattle has had over 100 yards on the ground for six straight games.
The Rams were bad on third downs and fourth downs. The Seahawks had more rushing and receiving yards. One stat that the Rams did win was penalties, with the Seahawks having four more penalties for double the yardage. Ball control was very similar, slightly favoring the Seahawks. The Rams had no fumbles, though the Seahawks had two fumbles, but only lost one. However, the Seahawks had no interceptions and the Rams had one. Neither team was good in the red zone or goal to go.
The big stats of the game were the blocked punt, field goals and touchdowns. Seattle blocked the Rams’ first punt and took it to the house. The Rams converted all two field goals, but the Seahawks converted only three of four field goal chances. The Rams had one touchdown and the Seahawks had three.
The season is looking even worse for the Rams, now that they are 2-11 in the regular season; they are still eight games behind the San Francisco 49ers. Chances are the Rams will receive yet another #2 (maybe #3) overall pick in the 2012 draft.
By Trevor Roe
ProFootball-fans.com St. Louis Rams Correspondent