Seattle Seahawks: 5 takeaways from Week 16 victory over Rams

Seahawks win the 4th quarter

Over the last couple of seasons, it is no secret that the Seahawks are no strangers to playing in one-score games. In fact, they have won most of those one-score games in the last year or so. After the game, when we get a sneak peek into the locker room, we hear Coach Carroll say his famous, “can you win a game in the 1st quarter?” speech. He goes on and on with the team responding no until he gets to, “can you win a game in the 4th quarter?”, to which the locker room abrupt with celebration.

In their Week 16 matchup with the Rams, the Seahawks lost the time of possession battle in each of the first three quarters. Coming off a bad loss to the Jets, many were expecting the Rams to get back to their power run offense that allows QB Jared Goff to be successful. Although he didn’t have quite the successful game, the Rams still dominated the time of possession in this one, until the 4th quarter.

At halftime, the two were tied at 6 apiece. But, 12s were feeling lucky to even have the ball game tied as it felt as if the Rams had the ball for the entire first half. The Seahawks defense once again led the way with a bend but don’t break mentality. Whenever the Rams were able to get some momentum going offensively, Seattle would make a timely stop and force a field goal. Another important element to keep in mind is where the Rams were starting their possessions from. P Michael Dickson had another exceptional game. Most of the time, the Rams were starting deep in their own territory. Hence, they would have longer scoring drives because they had more ground to cover.

Although the Seahawks lost the time of possession battle in the 3rd quarter, it felt as if they were in control from the start of the second half. The Rams defense was successful in the first half at rattling Wilson by applying pressure. But, Seattle had two crucial scoring drives in the second half that chewed up some clock and ultimately, put this game away.

In the fourth quarter, the Seahawks won the time of possession battle 9:50 to 5:10. Included in that 9 minute and 50-second timeline was the game-sealing drive. A 9 play, 80-yard drive that accumulated 4 minutes and 29 seconds off the clock. We often hear about “4-minute offense” in the fourth quarter. In which a team is looking to put the game away by pounding the rock, getting first downs and having the clock continually run. While this wasn’t quite similar to that as there were about 9 minutes remaining when Seattle began this drive, they did prove their ability to close out a game. That drive in the fourth quarter is what Super Bowl teams do.