No matchup is an easy matchup but some teams match up better than others so who’s the more favorable matchup for the Los Angeles Rams?
The Los Angeles Rams dominated most of the 2018 NFL season. The result that they earned for their success in the regular season is a first-round bye in the 2019 NFL Playoffs. Whoever they face will have to take them on in their house in the Divisional Round, where they are 7-1 this season.
Despite having g a defense ranked in the bottom half of the league — a defense that’s terrible against the run — the Rams know how to get after the quarterback. Led by arguably the greatest defensive player in the league, defensive tackle Aaron Donald.
Offensively, the Rams are the complete opposite. They are a high-powered offensive juggernaut led by Todd Gurley and Jared Goff. In fact, they averaged the second most yards (421) and points per game (33), sitting only behind the Chiefs.
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Part of the reason they are unstoppable offensively is their ability to utilizes the running game. Subsequently, when you look at the potential opponents that LA could face in the Divisional Round (the Bears, Cowboys and Seahawks are all possible), the Rams should hope to face the Seattle Seahawks for the third time this year.
The Seahawks defense doesn’t have the same mystique and prowess it once had. You’ve heard it before, but the Legion of Boom is dead and so is their once-dominant front seven. The Rams know that better than anyone.
As a matter of fact, the Rams have beaten the Seahawks in three-straight games, dating back to the 2017 season. The contributing factor to the Rams dominance was their ability to exploit the Seahawks front seven.
Over their last three meetings, the Rams have totaled 548 yards and eight touchdowns on the ground. In the 2018 season, the Rams swept the Seahawks by rushing for 155 yards and three touchdowns in Week 5, then another 149 yards and two scores in their Week 10 matchup. With the newly discovered talent that is C.J. Anderson, the Rams don’t have to strictly rely on Gurley.
Over the last two weeks of the 2018 season, Anderson rushed for over 100 yards. Anderson ran for 167 and 132 yards, respectively, in the final two weeks of the season with Gurley out of the lineup due to injury and to rest for the postseason.
Conversely, the Rams gave up over 460 yards to the Seahawks on the ground. However, Russell Wilson didn’t pass for 200 yards in either game, but he did throw for three touchdowns in each outing.
Naturally, both games were close, but it was the Rams who came out on top. For some, third time might the charm, but it’s not the case of the Seahawks. The Cowboys will beat them up in the Wild Card, making things a little easier for Rams — although things are never easy.
Still, if the Rams had their way, they’d play Seattle for the third time in this NFL season.