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The RamCave
By Joe Torosian
Tonight, I like the Rams over the Seattle Seahawks—33-27.
I don’t have a crystal ball. All I’ve got is what I’ve seen and what the stats say. And all of that informs me the Rams should win. They should win by ten points…but they won’t. If they win, it will be by a touchdown.
But I won’t be shocked if they lose.
Offensively, there’s nothing wrong with this team other than Sean McVay’s occasional OCD when it comes to passing the ball. He’s still a great coach, the offensive line is great, the running game is available, and Matt Stafford is a quarterback who can deliver any pass.
The Seahawks’ secondary is a tire fire. I feel good about the Rams scoring consistently as long as they balance the pass with the run, and Stafford avoids being Cooper Kupp-centric.
Also, the talk about Stafford and the receivers still developing chemistry after not playing in the pre-season is ridiculous. There are three pre-season games, and at most (and this is a bit of a stretch), the starters play three quarters. The Rams are 16-quarters into this season, pre-season means nothing at this point.
The thing to worry about is the defense. It’s like getting a “do-over” against the Arizona Cardinals. The Seahawks have a quarterback who can pass and use his legs. They’ve got weapons on the outside just as good as the Cardinals.
What are the Rams going to do on defense? Sit back and react, or are they going to dictate? They’ve got too much money invested in the defense (Aaron Donald, Leonard Floyd, Jalen Ramsey) to not force the issue.
By the way, they haven’t created a turnover since the end of Week 2. (And that was against the Colts Jacob Eason.)
I couldn’t stand Raheem Morris’ calling out of David Long Jr. Was Long great against Arizona? No. Was it Long’s fault there was no help deep? Was it Long’s fault the defensive line didn’t stay in its rush lanes, and the edge defenders didn’t contain? Oh, and is it all on Long that the team consistently—a month into the season—fails to wrap up?
The Rams safeties play so deep that while the game is being played in SoFi, Taylor Rapp and Jordan Fuller are lining up in Bell Gardens. And they still got beat deep by the Cardinals.
Russell Wilson will go deep, and that is why Ramsey (almost exclusively the slot/nickel corner this season) needs to move to the boundary. DK Metcalf belongs to Ramsey, and Tyler Lockett belongs to Darious Williams.
There are issues along the Seahawks offensive line, and the Rams need to exploit it.
Everything says Los Angeles should be motivated by superior talent and Sunday’s humiliation. I’m taking them to win this game. If they don’t, the reason will be far from a mystery.
The Rams take “The Chuck Knox Trophy.”
The Seahawks lead the Rams head-to-head: 25-2-0 (The Rams have won both playoff meetings/both in Seattle)
The last time these teams met on an October 7th was in 2018 in Seattle.
In that battle the Rams won 33-31 and improved to 5-0. The Seahawks fell to 2-3. Jared Goff threw for 321-yards, 2 picks, and a touchdown that went to Cooper Kupp.
The first time these teams met was on Halloween in 1976. Seattle was an expansion team, the Rams won, 45-6, and I was there. Seahawk quarterbacks Bill Munson and Jim Zorn were sacked five times. Rams quarterback James Harris threw two touchdown passes (Ron Jessie & Harold Jackson), and Pat Haden threw one (Tom Geredine) in mop up.
At halftime they filmed the Olympics scene from the Michael Landon movie “The Loneliest Runner.” They announced it over the speakers and told us to cheer when Landon entered the stadium.
That was the beginning and the end of my film career.
Days & Numbers of Future Past:
Floyd #54—(Brandon Chillar wore #54 to some distinction from 2004-2007. Jack “Hacksaw” Reynolds wore it for the 1970 season. But the longest tenured, most successful, to wear it is Mike Wilcher who played for the team from 1983-1990.)
Donald #99—(Just eight players have worn #99, none comparable to Donald. Alvin Wright—1986-92—was a starter for four years. Ray Agnew, who made his bones in New England wore #99 for three seasons as a starter for the Rams—1998-2000–and was a starter on the Super Bowl 34 team.)
Joe T. is the author of “Tangent Dreams: A High School Football Novel” … “Temple City & The Company of The Ages” … “The Dead Bug Tales” … “The Dark Norm” & “FaithViews for Storm Riders”…all five available through Amazon.com.
www.JoeTorosian.com
jtbank1964@yahoo.com
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