In what was essentially a must-win game to keep their playoff hopes alive, the Los Angeles Rams came out firing on both ends en route to a convincing 28-12 victory over the Seattle Seahawks in Week 14.
While the offense picked up where it left off from last week’s blowout win over the Arizona Cardinals, the Rams defense perhaps most stood out on Sunday. The unit did not allow an offensive touchdown, giving Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson fits all night.
The Rams defense held Wilson to just 245 passing yards and a 69.8 quarterback rating, picking him off once while sacking him five times.
Rams outside linebacker Samson Ebukam accounted for two of those sacks and revealed that the top priority for the team in Week 14 was simply containing Wilson, via Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times:
“That was a focal point this week — we had to make sure [Wilson] didn’t hurt us as much as he did in the first game with his legs,” linebacker Samson Ebukam said after the Rams kept their playoff hopes alive with a 28-12 victory before a crowd of 71,501 in the Coliseum.
“We had to be disciplined. We had to do our job and trust that the plays are going to come to us instead of always trying to go make plays, because he will make you miss. He’s a baller.”
Ebukam additionally noted that the Rams’ recent encounters with Lamar Jackson and Kyler Murray helped them better prepare for Wilson, who has a similar skill set:
“We’ve been playing scrambling quarterbacks for the last few weeks, so every one of them was like a preparation for this one,” Ebukam said. “But Wilson is a little special in the way he scrambles. All of them are different, but he has more experience, more savvy.
“We didn’t spy him a lot. We just had to stay disciplined and cover our gaps. Don’t over-pursue. Be patient. Do your job, trust others are going to do their jobs, and don’t always try to force a play, because that’s when he hurts you. He finds a gap and exposes that.”
With Sunday’s win over the Seahawks, the Rams improved to 4-2 against their NFC West rival since Sean McVay’s arrival as head coach in 2017.
The victory also pulled the Rams to just two games behind the Seahawks for the top Wild Card spot with three games remaining in the regular season. L.A. additionally trails the Minnesota Vikings by only one game for the sixth seed in the NFC.
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