Seattle Seahawks: 3 Big takeaways from loss vs. Rams in Week 10

The Seattle Seahawks hung on until the last minute but in the end the relentless Los Angeles Rams offense and defensive line were to much.

Just like last week, the Seattle Seahawks failed to score on their final drive of the game, turning the ball over on downs. The final score was 36-31 and the Los Angeles Rams got a rebound win after losing last week.

Things are starting to look pretty gloomy for the Seahawks. They have a difficult schedule remaining and are sitting at 4-5 on a two-game losing streak. Their playoff hopes couldn’t look much worse. It will take a concentrated push for the team to overcome their record and flaws to beat out the other wild card contenders. While it is still technically possible, after the last two weeks, the playoffs seem too far out of Seattle’s reach in my mind.

Despite all of the pessimism up to this point, the Seahawks had another impressive showing against the Rams on Sunday. It was a great game that the Seahawks had a real chance to win. This is the second time this season the Seahawks fell just short of toppling the Rams and the rivalry is starting to look like it will produce good games in the coming seasons.

For now these were three big takeaways from the game for Seattle.

Rashaad Penny has settled in

The rookie first-round pick had two big plays in the first quarter of the game, now of which was a rushing touchdown. That was the first touchdown of his career and it has been a long time in the making. Penny has not played a major role on the Seahawks offense this season and is actually the third running back on the depth chart.

That being said, he played like a starter on Sunday. The San Diego State product carried the ball 12 times for 108 yards and a touchdown. That’s an average of nine yards per carry! I’ve been openly critical of the Seahawks selection of Penny and his play so far. But he made me eat my words with this most recent performance. Up until this game Penny has just 42 carries and 146 rushing yards on the season, with just an average of 3.5 yards per attempt.

The biggest issue for the Seahawks, assuming Penny can replicate this performance, with regards to the backfield now is who will get carries and which players does the team want to retain in the future. Regular starter, Chris Carson, and the second running back on the depth chart, Mike Davis, are both having good seasons. Obviously the team wants Penny, that’s why they spent a first-round pick on him, but where does that leave Carson and Davis?