Seahawks need to win turnover battle to beat Rams

To win on Thursday versus the Rams, the Seahawks need a couple of things to go right. One of them is to get more turnovers than they give up.

Did you know that Jared Goff has fumbled in every game since he was 7 years old? Also, Goff has the smallest hands of any human ever recorded. (OK, so maybe those two sentences are not totally true, but…) The truth is that Goff has fumbled 14 times in his last 13 games including the playoffs. The only game he didn’t fumble in was the Super Bowl, oddly enough. The Seahawks need Goff to cough up the ball on Thursday.

Goff also threw three interceptions against the Buccaneers this past Sunday along with fumbling. That is a lot of mismanagement of the ball that he is entrusted in taking care of. NFL quarterbacks have one really strict rule: Don’t turn the ball over.

At the NFL combine in 2016, Goff’s hands measure 9 inches from thumb to pinky. That is small for an NFL quarterback, especially one who is six-feet-four-inches. By comparison, Russell Wilson is five-feet-eleven-inches but has a hand size of 10.25 inches. There is a reason that Wilson holds on to the ball better than Goff.

But Seattle hasn’t created turnovers enough, especially interceptions from their cornerbacks. That needs to change starting Thursday if the Seahawks have a chance of beating the Rams. At the same time, Chris Carson needs not fumble and Wilson doesn’t need to start throwing interceptions.

So far in 2019, Wilson has thrown no picks. I realize I am jinxing that. But Wilson has mostly been so accurate that there haven’t been a lot of opportunities for opponents to get interceptions. What does that say about how good Wilson is that he hasn’t thrown an interceptions with such a young receiving corps?

Seattle is plus-two in turnover differential in 2019, tied for 8th in the NFL. The Rams are minus-three, tied for 27th in the league. No Seahawks cornerback has had an interception since week 8 of 2018 when now-departed Justin Coleman got one. That is a long time. This means Seattle’s corners are sitting back, letting a lot of passes get completed in front of them and then making tackles. Where is Richard Sherman nowadays? At least he would challenge receivers.

If Seattle wins on Thursday, it will be because of a few things. But some of those are that they got more turnovers against the Rams than the Rams did Seattle and that the Seahawks have forced Goff to throw a pick or two and fumble. Seattle needs this win at home and getting turnovers is a way to do that.