Seahawks must pressure Matthew Stafford to beat the Rams
The Seahawks have to get to Rams QB Matthew Stafford to win tonight. The big question, of course, is can they do it? Or to be more accurate, how likely is it that Seattle can drop him?
The Seahawks certainly have more than one key to beating the Rams tonight. 12thManRising’s Andrew Bailie gave us three big reasons for hope in tonight’s game. Just one spoiler here, 12s: winning the turnover battle would be a tremendous aid to victory, no doubt. One good way to create turnovers, as all good 12s know, is to pressure the quarterback. Just what are the Hawks prospects of pressuring Stafford?
On the surface, not great. The Rams QB has only been sacked three times so far in 2021. The Cardinals didn’t record a single sack last week, yet the Rams lost. That was in no small part due to Stafford’s less than stellar play. As Cameron DaSilva detailed for The Rams Wire of USA Today, the Cards did pressure him 11 times, resulting in just five completions.
Seahawks need to finally get some pressure in week 5
That’s a far cry from his 21-30 performance working in a clean pocket. So even though Arizona didn’t record a sack, they did get enough pressure on the L.A. QB to throw him off his game. L.A. had been averaging almost 32 points per game, but only managed 13 until a meaningless TD pulled them to a 17-point loss. That’s the pressure game working, 12s.
So how likely is it that the Seahawks can apply that kind of pressure? Let’s compare the Hawks to the Cards, who just got it done against the Lambs. Through four games, Arizona has 10 hurries,18 QB knockdowns, and nine sacks, a total of 37 pressures. The Seahawks have recorded 20 hurries, 20 QB knockdowns, and nine sacks for a total of 49 pressures. Yeah, I didn’t believe it either; that’s why I provided the links to Pro Football Reference. Fun fact: Zona’s Chandler Jones has more than half of his team’s QB hits and sacks.
The Seahawks attack is far more balanced than the Cards. Seven players have recorded a sack, led by Darrell Taylor’s three. 12 have recorded at least one QB hit, and 10 have at least one hurry. That presents, or at least should present, a problem for the Rams offensive line. Add in that we haven’t seen nearly as many blitzes from Jamal Adams so far this season, and that could change tonight.
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We all know Russell Wilson is a magician. Matthew Stafford is an excellent quarterback as well and is getting the opportunity to prove it since he’s escaped the near-perennial trainwreck that is the Detroit Lions. But he isn’t Wilson and doesn’t quite have the same tools to deal with pressure. As long as the Seahawks can put the squeeze on the pocket tonight, I like our prospects.