One of the rewards of being a top offense in the NFL is that, usually, for the most part, those teams don't play from behind. There are those rare games where a league's top offensive team will lose simply because they had a bad game and were behind the whole time, or they spend much of the game playing from behind, only to catch up and steal the win on a game-winning drive.
These scenarios play out every season, but for the most part, when you have one of the most lethal offenses in the league, playing from behind is uncommon because you're usually in the lead. This is the case of the Seattle Seahawks this season. Because their offense has been so good, they've rarely had to play from behind, and the stats back that up.
On Sunday, however, playing from behind was Seattle's position all afternoon, and it ultimately cost them in a game they could have won. The Los Angeles Rams did what very few teams have accomplished this season against Seattle. Still, it's only being highlighted at this point because of the nature of their matchup and Sam Darnold's mistakes.
Los Angeles Rams forced the Seattle Seahawks to out of their comfort zone, and it worked
The Seahawks have played mainly according to their own conditions this season. Thanks to an explosive Darnold-Jaxon Smith-Njigba connection, an elite defense playing tight football week after week, and exceptional coaching from Mike Macdonald, the Seahawks have jumped out to early leads, maintained them, and shut the door when it was time.
Now, whether Macdonald's offense is a quarterback friendly offense (like Mike Shanahan's is in San Francisco) and Darnold has flourished because of it (like Geno Smith did last year), or simply because Darnold has truly broken through the barrier that upheld him for several years, either way, the way Seattle has run their offense has kept Darnold in line, and for the most part, avoided any season-altering slip ups.
The loss to the Rams was a major slip-up, but a season-altering one? Well, it's too soon to label it that. There are plenty of games left to play, including another matchup against the Rams. Back to Darnold, it would be fair to say that he's been so good this year because he's played with the lead for most of the time. That in itself reduces pressure and makes the game easier for him.
What we saw Sunday was Darnold playing against immense pressure that the Rams forced upon him, something most other teams have been unsuccessful at. Darnold threw a season-high 44 passes on Sunday. He had to because Seattle was playing from behind, and the more turnovers you produce, the more pressure there is to battle back. Therefore, let it fly.
Even with 44 passes, Darnold was unable to keep up with Los Angeles. Had he not thrown four interceptions, the chances are high the outcome could have been different. Throughout this season, though, Seattle has trailed for only 97 plays, which was the fewest across the NFL. In one game, the Rams forced Seattle to play behind in 81 plays.
Talk about an uncharacteristic statistic. Furthermore, talk about playing outside of your comfort zone, which is exactly what the Rams forced the Seahawks to do. Is this the method to scramble Seattle's explosive offense? If the Tennessee Titans are paying any attention, they can learn something from watching film this week before they welcome the Seahawks to their field next weekend.
What's more important is that the Seahawks learn something: they are at their best when they lead early, build on it, and force other teams to play catch-up, not the other way around.