Halftime Observations: Seahawks Trail Rams 14-9

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Despite an ugly early interception by Sam Darnold and several botched red zone opportunities on offense, the Seattle Seahawks went into halftime with some momentum after back-to-back field goal drives, going into the locker room trailing 14-9 to the Los Angeles Rams.

Here are three quick takeaways from the first two quarters at SoFi Stadium:

1. Turnovers, unfinished drives put the Seahawks in an early hole.

Breaking trends from previous seasons, the Seahawks have been one of the NFL’s best offenses to start games, including scoring touchdowns on their opening drive in the previous two games against the Commanders and Cardinals. However, that narrative got turned upside down on Sunday with Sam Darnold failing to notice safety Kamren Kinchens lurking in the middle as he tried to squeeze a deep crossing route to Cooper Kupp, allowing the defender to run underneath the pass and return the interception all the way back to the Seattle three-yard line. Four plays later, Kyren Williams punched it in from a yard out to open the scoring at 7-0, turning the turnover into quick points.

To Darnold’s credit, as he’s done all year coming off mistakes, he promptly lead the Seahawks into field goal range on the ensuing drive, leading to a 57-yard kick by Jason Myers. But after Los Angeles extended the lead to 11 moments later on a touchdown pass from Matthew Stafford to Davante Adams, a second promising possession sputtered in the red zone with back-to-back incompletions by the quarterback, including throwing the third down pass out of the back of the end zone with nobody open. The same result happened at the end of the half with Darnold again having to throw the ball away on third and goal from the four-yard line. Myers converted from 30 yards and 22 yards out on both drives to cut the lead to 14-9, but it was two missed chances to draw closer, which could loom large in the second half.

2. A typically stingy run defense shows massive cracks against Sean McVay’s offense.

Going into Sunday’s contest, Seattle sat in the top five in rushing yards allowed per game and yards per attempt on the ground. But those numbers will take a big hit after Los Angeles set the tone at the line of scrimmage, consistently winning at the point of attack and getting blockers to the second level on linebackers Ernest Jones and Drake Thomas. On the first drive from scrimmage, Williams ripped off a 30-yard run that quickly moved the Rams deep into Seahawks’ territory, shooting through a big gap with nobody home to slow him down. Fortunately, Stafford missed Tyler Higbee on fourth and goal, leading to a turnover on downs.

However, Mike Macdonald’s defense wasn’t so lucky two possessions later. With the Rams again having 4th and 1, McVay dialed up a zone run that the offensive line blocked perfectly, sealing Jones with the defensive line getting blown up on combo blocks, allowing Williams to race 34 yards before safety Nick Emmanwori dragged him down at the one-yard line. Stafford then hit Adams for their 10th touchdown connection of the season, expanding the lead to 11 points before the first quarter came to an end. By the half, Los Angeles had 11 rushes for 85 yards, averaging a gaudy 7.7 yards per carry, making a stout front seven look human in the first 30 minutes.

3. Increasing pressure on Matthew Stafford gives defense momentum.

Showing off his masterful play calling skills, McVay seemed to be a step ahead of Macdonald in the early stages, including dialing up two excellent tight end screens to Higbee and Colby Parkinson against pressure packages by the Seahawks, netting 23 and seven-yard gains. This seemed to loosen up the middle of Seattle’s defense and put defenders on their heels, making life easy for Stafford on play action passes with little disturbance in the pocket while Williams got rolling on the ground.

But after getting gashed on two of the first three drives, the Seahawks came back ready to fight. Demarcus Lawrence shot into the backfield on first down and smashed Stafford on a screen play to Williams, who got dragged down five yards in the backfield by Byron Murphy II for a huge loss. Two plays later, the quarterback got flushed from the pocket by multiple rushers and uncorked an ugly downfield incompletion, leading to the Rams first punt of the game after a three-and-out. Engaged in a chess match against McVay, Macdonald will be hoping to bottle up the rushing success from that series for the second half while ratcheting up gap integrity against the run.