At halftime of the Week 16 matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams, LA led just 13-7. It felt much worse. Except for the first drive when the Rams went for it on 4th-and-short and failed, and the very last (and utterly meaningless) drive, the Rams had their way with Mike Macdonald's defense.
Macdonald, who is a very good head coach, and this is not meant to take anything away from that fact, was hired by the Seahawks because his predecessor, Pete Carroll, no longer could produce defenses that could consistently slow the Rams or the San Francisco 49ers. So far, Macdonald is struggling a bit in that area as well.
A Macdonald-coached Seattle team has faced the 49ers and Rams seven times over two seasons (the Seahawks will play the 49ers in Week 18), and Seattle's record is 3-4 in those games. Even worse, Macdonald's defensive genius proved once again to have a limit against Sean McVay's offense.
Rams' Sean McVay likely to be a long-term thorn in Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald's side
Sure, Seattle limited the Rams earlier in the season as Sam Darnold threw four interceptions and the Seahawks lost to LA 21-19 in Week 11, but one reason the Rams didn't have a lot of total yards is that Darnold kept turning the ball over and giving LA short field position.
In the first half of Week 16, the Rams had more total yards than they did in all of Week 11. The score was a lie. Los Angeles was dominating, holding onto the ball for 12 and a half more minutes, and outgaining Seattle 257 to 120.
McVay seemed to be able to guess what Macdonald was going to scheme and use that to his advantage. The Rams coach was at his most brilliant, creatively, and the Seahawks simply had no answer for stopping LA's offense for more than three quarters. Los Angeles finished with 581 total yards, the most allowed by Seattle in franchise history.
Seattle's defense got a bit better in the fourth quarter, sure, forcing the Rams to punt on several drives, but in overtime, Los Angeles had another explosive play on a 41-yard touchdown catch by wide receiver Puka Nacua. Nacua torched Seattle throughout the game with 12 catches, 225 yards receiving, and two touchdowns.
If not for Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak's adjusting throughout the game, and the finally stellar play of quarterback Sam Darnold (plus an important punt return for a touchdown by Rashid Shaheed), the Seahawks would have lost. Badly.
Take away the Seahawks and Rams' previous matchup this season, when Darnold kept giving the Rams the ball in Seattle territory with interceptions, Sean McVay's offense has averaged 450 total yards in the other three games against Seattle. That doesn't seem likely to change for years, sadly.