Seahawks: Is the improved offensive line ready for the Rams?

The Seattle Seahawks‘ offensive line is much improved, but is it ready for the challenge of the Rams’ front four?

The Seattle Seahawks have had a bit of an offensive renesaunce in the second half of the season. Much of that has had to do with the big-nasties up front deciding to play competently.

This week’s game though will offer the improved line the biggest challenge they’ve seen in the long time. The St. Louis Rams have arguably the best defensive line in the NFL.

Seattle’s new-look offense line has already been manhandled by the Rams front 4 this season. The two teams played back in Week 1, and it wasn’t pretty.

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We all know what happened. Russell Wilson was hit so many times and it was a surprise that he didn’t die. Aaron Donald spend so much time in the backfield that it was like he wasn’t being blocked at all. (He wasn’t, at least not really.)

Seattle’s offense was an inefficient mess. Only a fumble recovery for a TD by CB Cary Williams and a special teams TD by Tyler Lockett kept the Seahawks in the game.

Ultimately, it wasn’t enough though. The Seahawks were only able to average 4.3 yards per offensive play, in part because Wilson was sacked 6 times.

Seattle’s offense had multiple chances to pull out a win at the end, but couldn’t generate points. A sack killed Seattle’s drive at the end of regulation, and Marshawn Lynch couldn’t get one yard fourth down in overtime.

At the end of the day, it was an awful performance by Seattle’s offense. The bulk of the blame for that poor performance belonged to the offensive line.

That was then, but this is now. Seattle’s offensive line is no longer a punchline to a joke that isn’t funny. For over a month now, that unit has been playing rather well.

Wilson was sacked 6 times against the Rams in Week 1. That’s the same number of times he’s been sacked in the last four games combined. In fact, he hasn’t been sacked more than twice in any game since before the bye week.

On top of that, the line has been truly plowing the road for the running game. Thomas Rawls leads the NFL in yards per carry. Even the combination of Christine Michael and Bryce Brown were able to rush for over 5 yards per carry last week.

Of course, that was against the Browns. Beating up on the 49ers and Ravens isn’t really much to write home about either.

The Steelers are a good team, but only on the offensive side of the ball. The only good defensive team that the Seahawks have played in their recent run is the Vikings, and they were without their three most talented defenders.

And that brings us to Sunday’s game against St. Louis. The Rams are terrible on offense, but their defense is legit. Aaron Donald and Robert Quinn can get after the QB as well as anyone in the league.

Sunday’s game will give us a chance to see just how far the offensive line has come in their development.