Rams’ high-powered offense sputters in second half vs. Seahawks
Keep the throwback uniforms, Rams.
Lose the throwback offense.
As their offense sputtered and wheezed in the second half against Seattle on Sunday, it was as if the Rams were using last year’s playbook. They looked uninspired and predictable, nothing like the team that tore through the first month of the season averaging an NFL-best 35.5 points a game.
The Rams, who wore their classic royal blue and yellow uniforms, had better hope the 16-10 loss was a hiccup because this is where the bottom dropped out of last season. They started 3-1, then lost 11 of their next 12.
If they want to point to a thread of a silver lining, it’s that they made some uncharacteristic mistakes. They had five turnovers, as many as they had in the first four games combined. The previously red-hot Todd Gurley was unremarkable, and the normally reliable Greg Zuerlein pushed a 36-yard kick wide right, a field goal that would have made a huge difference. Yet they still had a prayer of winning at the end.
The problem for the Rams now is they’re going on the road, essentially for a month, and that sliver of Los Angeles spotlight they had is gone. They’re heading for Jacksonville, then London, will have a week off, then go to New York. Out of sight, out of mind.
In the meantime, this city will be preoccupied with the Dodgers in the postseason, Lonzo-palooza with the Lakers, and who knows what else. The window of attention opened and closed for the Rams with the speed of a camera shutter, and it’s up to them to pry it back open.
There was more energy at the Coliseum on Sunday than for a typical Rams game, but part of that was the healthy contingent of Seahawks fans sitting behind the visitors’ sideline. The Rams’ next home game is against Houston on Nov. 12, and if they played the way they did Sunday, this old stadium could be a library.
Fresh off an impressive victory at Dallas, the Rams were looking to send the message that they’re the team to beat in the NFC West. It certainly isn’t Arizona or San Francisco. But, just like quarterback Russell Wilson improbably chasing down John Johnson on that 69-yard interception return, the Seahawks had a message of their own: Not so fast.
The division still belongs to the Seahawks, as dysfunctional as they appear to be at times. They have a bad offensive line and a diminished running game, yet they know how to win. Sunday, it was with a punishing defense that turned up the heat on Rams quarterback Jared Goff in the second half, getting in his face and taking advantage of his forced throws.
“A lot of these guys weren’t here for the 2013 and 2014 show of dominance,” Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman said of his younger teammates. “So they’d kind of hear the stories of, ‘These guys are great.’ What makes them great? … Today, they got to see it.”
Said Seahawks Coach Pete Carroll of Goff: “I thought we made him throw the ball — scatter the ball around a little bit in the second half. You could see some throws were getting away. I don’t know if that’s because of the rush or coverage or not, I just know the ball was not on target. So we had some effect on him.”
The game was a mulligan for Carroll. The legendary USC coach lost a year ago in his first return to the Coliseum since his days with the Trojans. Even though his 2016 team would go on to win the division, that homecoming defeat was bitter. Sunday washed that away.
“Been a long time since we’ve won in the Coliseum,” he said with a smile.
Prior to Sunday, the last time the Seahawks won in this venue was when they beat the Los Angeles Raiders on Sept. 11, 1994, back when they were both AFC West teams. There are players on the Seahawks who weren’t even born then.
But for Carroll, Sunday’s game was reminiscent of a dramatic 23-17 USC victory over Cal in 2004. Aaron Rodgers had a record-setting day and a chance to win with a first-and-goal from the nine-yard line with 1:47 to play. With the game on the line and the crowd cranked to full volume, USC’s defense came through and Rodgers went: incompletion, sacked, incompletion, incompletion.
It was Goff, also a Cal quarterback, at the helm Sunday, and his was anything but a record-setting day. But he was within striking range of that same end zone with three shots from the 20.
“It reminded me of that Cal game,” Carroll said. “I was thinking about it. And for our guys to come through and finish like that, that’s as exciting as the game gets.”
Los Angeles hasn’t felt that NFL excitement in a long while. Now, it’s up to the Rams to relocate it — or simply lament it slipping through their grasp.
Follow Sam Farmer on Twitter @LATimesfarmer
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