Seahawks were onto the Rams while still in the locker room for the win at Arizona
Pete Carroll didn’t have much trouble re-orienting his Seahawks away from beating the Cardinals and onto the quick turnaround to Los Angeles.
They were already focusing on the Rams before they even left the locker room Sunday in Arizona.
Just about every one of the 46 players in uniform for the 27-10 win at the Cardinals, plus Seahawks coaches and staffers, were massed under two, overhead televisions in the visiting locker room immediately after Sunday’s victory. Some guys, such as defensive end Quinton Jefferson, were still in full, gray uniform, shoulder pads and all. They were all attracted to the end of the Rams’ game against Tampa Bay on the TV screens.
When Ndamukong Suh ruined Los Angeles’ last comeback while a fumble recovery return for a touchdown against his former Rams teammates to seal L.A.’s 55-40 home loss to the Buccaneers, the Seahawks players erupted. Hootin’ joined with hollerin’ as they reacted to Los Angeles’ first loss since February’s Super Bowl.
So some angry Rams (3-1) are coming to Seattle to play some happy Seahawks (3-1) Thursday night in an NFC West showdown at CenturyLink Field.
See, when Carroll was leading his players through an unusual day-after of recovery upon their return home with practicing late Monday afternoon, the Seahawks had already been in Rams mode for almost 24 hours.
Beyond their TV watching in the locker room, Russell Wilson started his preparation on the almost three-hour flight back from Phoenix to Seattle Sunday night. That was after his 22-for-28 passing day and Chris Carson’s first 100-yard rushing day of the season buried the Cardinals.
“For me, as soon as (the Sunday game ends), playing a Thursday night game, I hydrate like crazy,” Wilson said. “Hydration is big. Hydrating, hydrating, hydrating. Flushing your body, it heals you up quicker, quicker than anything.”
The water continued for Wilson on Monday.
“The first thing I do is, I’ll swim in the mornings,” he said. “Without saying too much. I don’t want everybody, well, you know...”
Finding out what gets a Super Bowl-winning, six-time Pro Bowl QB ready to play this ultra-violent game again in four days.
“But I’ll swim in the mornings, get in the pool, swim around,” Wilson said. “Just keep my body moving. Then get a lot of treatment, with Janet (Jin, his physical therapist) and with the team.
“That’s really key.”
Pass rusher Jadeveon Clowney was sitting at his locker in Glendale, Arizona, after changing Sunday’s game with his first career interception return for a touchdown in the first half. He was already talking about the Rams, and recovery, for Thursday, too.
“It’s all about taking care of your body. I think you need to start today (Sunday),” Clowney said. “Everybody is starting today taking care of their body, trying to regroup and get healthy and get ready to go for Thursday.”
That’s off the field. On it, Carroll is still thinking about healing during the three practices between the Cardinals and Rams games.
“Well, they are different. On this day, we’re still in recovery mode,” Carroll said Monday. “You have to try to maximize recovery and get your guys ready to go.
“I don’t think I need to share all the stuff that we do, so I’m not going to.
“We do look after them. You can’t practice much. You can’t practice in the same fashion that you normally do because it’s the day before the game before you know it. It’s really important to look after the recovery aspect of this so that they can be at their best and they can play and get ready and everything.
“They have to still learn the stuff. There’s still practice. You’ve got to still go through reps and all that kind of stuff. You’ve got to find your way to do that.”
The Rams’ defense at first glance looks like it got historically torched by the Buccaneers on Sunday. But it really gave up “only” 34 of Tampa Bay’s 55 points. The Bucs scored 21 points off two interceptions and the last fumble by Goff.
He and Los Angeles’ offense haven’t been the unstoppable forces they were for most of last season.
Goff signed a $134-million extension with an NFL-record $110 million guaranteed in early September. The guarantees for the 24-year-old is $3 million more than the 30-year-old Wilson got guaranteed from Seattle in his new deal he signed this spring.
In his first four games since signing his megabucks contract, Goff has thrown six touchdown passes against six interceptions and four fumbles. Last season when he and running back Todd Gurley led the Rams’ supersonic offense into the Super Bowl, Goff threw for 32 touchdowns and just 12 interceptions.
He’s been hit 16 times in four games, including nine times by Suh (twice) and the Buccaneers on Sunday, when the Rams fell behind 21-0 at home. Those 16 QB hits are almost half the 34 times he got hit all last season.
Goff’s passer rating has fallen from 101.1 last season to 82.9 so far this season.
Carroll knew all that and far more by Monday after completing a crash course in film prep on the Rams. What has Carroll seen from Goff so far this season that is different from last, when L.A. beat the Seahawks twice (33-31 in Seattle, 36-31 in Los Angeles)?
“It hasn’t been quite as explosive as it has been,” Carroll said. “He threw for 520 (yards) yesterday, so it’s pretty big. The games have been tough games that they’ve had. All their games have been fought hard to get the wins.
“(Sunday), they were fighting from behind the whole time, so that was really unusual for them. He’s working hard, but the numbers aren’t there in support of how he finished last year. He was over 100-plus- rated quarterback. It’s hard to get that done. Had a great couple years going into it.
“This year, they’re not quite there yet—but very, very dangerous football team. He leads a big-time attack.”
Goff’s and the Rams’ issues seem to center on Gurley. The do-it-all running back has an arthritic knee related to the reconstructive surgery he had that prematurely ended his college career at Georgia five years ago.
The Rams have controlled games for years against Seattle with Gurley’s dynamic running and receiving. But so far this season—and at the end of last year—he’s been a shell of himself.
Gurley had 16 yards on just five rushes against Tampa Bay. But, again, the Rams fell behind 21-0 and stopped running while Goff threw a whopping 68 passes. Gurley has just 219 yards rushing and 62 receiving with three total touchdowns through four games.
In Gurley’s previous, healthier two seasons before this one he averaged 1,278 yards rushing, 669 yards rushing and 20 touchdowns.
Before the Tampa Bay debacle, Los Angeles won 30-27 at Carolina, 27-9 at home over New Orleans the day Drew Brees got hurt and 20-13 at Cleveland.
Thursday’s game isn’t for first place in the division; San Francisco is 3-0 coming off a bye. The 49ers play Monday night at the Browns (2-2).
Thursday’s game is for the Seahawks to restore their equality, if not superiority just yet, with Los Angeles in the NFC West.
The Rams have beaten the Seahawks three consecutive times and in six of their last eight meetings. The most telling of those L.A. victories was their 42-7 runaway in Seattle on Dec. 17, 2017. The worst loss of Carroll’s 10 Seattle seasons eliminated the Seahawks from the playoffs for the only time in the last seven years. It established the Rams as the new—and still—kings of the division.
Gurley had 144 yards and three touchdowns in that game. In the first half.
He has 699 total yards and nine total touchdowns in seven career games against Seattle.
How Gurley is Thursday could go a long way to how the Rams—and the Seahawks—go.
“These games are going to come with big challenges, and we’ve got to come through,” Carroll said. “This is a big deal. Every one of them is. This is a championship match-up.
“And we’re going to try to rise to that and make sure that that’s where we are: championship football.”
This story was originally published October 1, 2019 at 7:17 AM.
