RamView live blog: Rams 23, Seahawks 17

The Rams will try to break a nine-game losing streak at Seattle when they tee it up against the playoff-bound Seahawks at Randomly-Named Telcom Soccer Park later today. The Seahawk offense has done well to survive the same string of injuries at RB that killed my fantasy team, but has another hurdle to jump this week with WR Doug Baldwin's hamstring injury. Baldwin has been one of the league's hottest receivers this month, which coincides with Russell Wilson's amazing hot streak and the Seattle offense's streak of scoring 29 points or more. If he's out or even limited, you have to start to wonder how many weapons is not enough even for Russell. Sneaky name to watch today is probable starting RB Christine Michael, who's been away from Seattle this season up till now but was there a couple of years and has experience in their system. He's talented enough to blow up like Thomas Rawls did if he's got his head on straight.

Injury update: Baldwin is active, but left tackle Russell Okung (calf) is not. That's not as big an injury as it sounds because Okung has looked really limited lately. Seattle shouldn't be a lot worse off this week without him and they're smart to try to get him healthy for the playoffs.


This may have been one of the best weeks for the Rams off the field in many years. Congratulations to 2015 Pro Bowlers Aaron Donald (second time selected), Johnny Hekker (second) and Todd Gurley (first). That's back-to-back rookie Pro Bowlers for the Rams, and their biggest Pro Bowl contingent since 2006. Congratulations also to Benny Cunningham for winning the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week. He's the second Ram to win the award this year; Tavon Austin won it week 1.

And most importantly, congratulations to Stedman Bailey, who has been released from the hospital after receiving life-threatening injuries in a shooting November 24th. That's the best Christmas miracle the Rams could get.

I don't expect the Rams to win this game at all, but I think they can keep it competitive most of the way. I'll pick Seattle to pull away late with a 31-14 win.

Chris Myers and Ronde Barber draw the Rams for the third time in four weeks for Fox. Refereeing will be by John Hussey's crew, who worked the Rams' home loss to the Steelers in September, and according to my notes, allowed a ton of holding.

FIRST QUARTER
Pre-game, I have to give infinite points to sideline reporter Holly Sonders for rocking the Tom Baker Doctor Who hat. But where's your 10-foot scarf?

Seahawks win the toss, defer and the Rams start with a touchback. Todd Gurley runs smack into safety Kelcie McRae for maybe 1. Greg Robinson got out to the 2nd level and whiffed. Meanwhile, the Seahawks have a Kelcie and a Christine on their roster? Are these the cheerleaders, or? Frank Clark burns Rob Havenstein and hits Case Keenum, but Case hits Kenny Britt for 13 on the old buttonhook route. Some more injuries nobody bothered to tell us pregame - Kam Chancellor out for Seattle, Bradley Marquez out for the Rams. Keenum wants Tavon Austin on a quick slant next, but Bruce Irvin forces him to pull the ball down, and the pass is incomplete with the timing gone. Kind of dumb that Irvin's unblocked out there, no? Austin lines up at RB and gets a big two yards up the middle. This is Robinson again. He left the OLB who made the tackle unblocked and went and blocked Bobby Wagner instead. The Rams do not look very schematically sound out of the gate. Benny Cunningham picks up the blitz on 3rd-and-8, but Keenum throws a 3-yard pass behind Austin and incomplete, and we're off to another of 2015's stirring Rams offensive starts. Pro Bowl punter Johnny Hekker kicks an idiotic punt right to Tyler Lockett, who returns out to the 20. Also, Marquez isn't hurt as previously reported; he was just gunning on that return. Block in the back sets Seattle back to their 11.

One play, one QB pressure by Aaron Donald, who flushes Russell Wilson into throwing high and incomplete. Mark Barron gets a QB hit as well. William Hayes then beats J.R. Sweezy easy-peasy and drops Christine Michael for a 4-yard loss. Eugene Sims gets the officiating crew to wake up and call a false start on the RT. 3rd-17. Draw to Fred Jackson is stopped quickly by Rodney McLeod at the 9. Defense bringing it early, nice!

Rams will take over at midfield after the D's excellent work to flip field position. Austin takes a swing pass in the left flat, SPINS out of Jeremy Lane's tackle and gains 16. Gurley runs through McRae for 4. Keenum appears to change the play; Gurley follows Cory Harkey and Cody Wichmann left for another 3. Keenum has Kendricks open in the flat and Brian Quick open on a cross on 3rd-3, but scrambles instead (?), and comes up short. And OF COURSE Jeff Fisher settles for the FG instead of growing a damn set. Greg Zuerlein at least hits from 42. Rams 3, Seahawks 0 Good thing Fisher protected the Rams' playoff chances by not going for it on 4th and less than one there. Oh.

Barber and Myers are pretty sure Keenum panicked on that 3rd down scramble. He had time and open receivers. Zuerlein's kickoff is TERRIBLE, fielded by Lockett at the 8 and run out to the 41. Oh dear! We have to kick outside again! Idiot. Second straight kick DIRECTLY TO the dangerous Lockett, too, if anybody wants to do some COACHING on special teams or anything. But on first down, the hell? The center botches the snap into a pop fly Michael has to field on the run, with a blitzing Barron dropping him for at least a 6-yard loss. That looked like a Wildcat play designed by Salvador Dali. Nice job by Michael to prevent a turnover, honestly. An apparently sleepy Barber thinks the ball went off Wilson's hands. Wake up, Ronde. Shame you're not in a part of America known for caffeinated drinks or anything. And, as they have always done and will do for all of time, the Rams leave Doug Baldwin wide open, to gain 15. It was a pick route, but Baldwin really got open by faking TruJo out of his jock right off the line. Embarrassing.

The egg's all on Seattle's face on 3rd-and-1, though. (And on mine for needing about a dozen replays to get this description right.) On a play that looks like it's in slow motion, the handoff goes to fullback Will Tukuafu, who's not only met head-on by Barron and James Laurinaitis and stuffed for no gain, Barron forces the ball loose. Akeem Ayers jumps on it at the Seattle 45. He gets up. Wilson can't bring him down. Center Patrick Lewis tries, but gets CRUSHED by Michael Brockers for his trouble. (Barber described this as Ayers "making people miss". Wake. Up. Ronde!) Somebody named Kevin Smith, a WR, can't trip him up, TruJo throws a super block at the 10... TOUCHDOWN!!!! The defense is indeed bringing it early. NICE! Rams 10, Seahawks 0

Another terrible kickoff, directly to Lockett at the goal line, but Daren Bates takes him down around the 23. What the hell, Zuerlein? Bubble screen to Lockett gets 13, and shame on the Rams for not defending that Seattle bread-and-butter play better. Wilson gets roughly nine seconds to throw the next play, but all that time, the Rams keep him trapped in the pocket and he eventually overthrows Lockett over the middle. Barron, Sims, Brockers, all did well not to overpursue that play. Nick Fairley slips a downblock and stops Michael for 3. 3rd-7, 3-man rush, BRUTAL HOLDING by Garry Gilliam on Hayes not called, and Wilson of course gets away and scrambles for 9. And even with T.J. McDonald gone, we've got Rams defensive players killing one another. Fairley and Lamarcus Joyner butt heads with frightening force, a piece of chinstrap goes flying a good ten feet, and shockingly, it's Joyner who "won" the collision. They're both being checked by the Rams' comprehensive concussion protocol, which means they'll be back on the field in a minute. Myers lets us know that Ethan Westbrooks is also being checked for a concussion. I'll bet that was on the fumble return TD; Brockers crashed into him on his big block. From the 48, TruJo blows up a swing pass to TE Cooper Helfet for a yard. Bryce Brown up the middle for 4, with Chris Long getting pancaked and Brockers blown away by a double-team. Still 3rd-5. 4-man rush gets nowhere, but it's just a smoke route to Lockett, and Sims drops and stops him a couple of yards short. Seattle's having a ton of trouble dealing with the Rams up front early. The Rams have trouble getting everyone on the field for the punt, INCLUDING AUSTIN, and blow a timeout on 4th-and-1 instead of getting burned by a fake. Is there ANY coaching going on on special teams this week? Or, is anybody in the broadcast booth awake? Myers thinks Seattle called the TO because the play clock was running out. There were 10 seconds left on it! Auuuuugh!

Jermaine Kearse downs the punt at the 5. Tre Mason takes off for 5 off a Harkey block and a mauler of a seal block by Havenstein. They stay with the run, but Tim Barnes, Garrett Reynolds and Robinson are all pushed back and Mason gets stuffed. Wait, has Keenum been complaining about the crowds in St. Louis? Yeah, you go ahead and worry about that, franchise QB. He feathers a terrific pass to Jared Cook for a 1st down at the 16 on an out route. Cliff Avril jumps offside, which Barber rightly mocks, to make it 1st-5. Michael Bennett lines up well wide of Robinson and beats him clean to drop Mason for -2. How many touches does Gurley have so far? 3? And again, could we actually look prepared for things the Seahawks do a lot? Still, this quarter couldn't have gone much better for the Rams.

SECOND QUARTER
Keenum hangs in well against a 4-man rush but his pass is just a 3-yard swing to Mason. Sideline reports that Barron is now being checked for a concussion, too? Holy crap. 3rd-4, Havenstein gets beat on the edge and Barnes and Wichmann can't clear Brandon Mebane to allow Keenum to step up. He has to bail out and hits Wes Welker for only three. This was meant to be a 5-yard comeback to Welker, and it was open, before Havenstein got beat and started the dominoes falling. Surprising fair catch by Lockett, who Hekker KICKED DIRECTLY TO AGAIN, at his 31; he had plenty of room. And Hekker gets a roughing penalty for a cheap shot. This is some brilliant freaking special teams discipline today. Just PENALTY #1 afaik, though.

It is to laugh. Seattle just tried to pull-block Aaron Donald. IT CANNOT BE DONE! He buries Brown for -5, and I think Seattle may have negative rushing yards right now. Wilson scrambles out of trouble again on 2nd down and hits Brown for an apparent big gainer down to the Ram 10, but the refs alertly catch that he threw the pass beyond the LOS. What an incredibly improvised play by Russell Wilson, Barber says. WAKE TFU! It's an incredible PENALTY on Wilson. Now Myers calls it a clever play. IT WAS ILLEGAL! The Rams don't have to cover Brown when Wilson becomes a runner! Augh! 3rd-19. No, now Pete Carroll is challenging the OBVIOUS illegal forward pass! Are they getting tips from the Fox booth? Auugh! Thanks for wasting the timeout there, Pete. 3rd-19 again. 3-man rush does bupkus, but Wilson unwisely goes deep to a double-teamed Lockett, and it's another INT for TruJo!

I'm thinking Russell Wilson, Ronde Barber and the Rams' kickers were all at a humdinger of a Christmas party last night. That was a dumb throw, Russ. And, wow, seven picks for TruJo this season. Rams ball at their 11 as we now add Lockett to the concussion list.

Play action to Gurley, but Avril gets a free run to send Keenum scrambling for 4. And when he slides, Irvin hits him late to send the Rams out to the 30. Inexplicably, Seattle's not looking any sharper than Pittsburgh or Carolina did in surprising upsets from earlier today. Austin doubles back twice in motion but isn't confusing enough, his jet sweep is stopped for 2. Gurley for 10 through a big hole. Great job by Tim Barnes, plowing a guy right and then doubling back to pick off a 2nd-level defender. Play-action slows Seattle down about a blink as they bury Austin for a loss on a bubble screen. Hitch to Kenny Britt for 8. 3rd-6, they try to run a pick for Cook but DeShawn Shead is all over it. Punt time. Poor punt by Hekker, only 35 yards and fair caught by Kevin Smith at the 19. Hekker's cheap shot last time out now has Avril and Bennett head-hunting for him. Way to go, dummy.

Donald stacks up Seattle blockers for Brown to run into for 1, putting them up to 7 yards rushing. Myers shows us referee John Hussey on the Seattle sideline warning them about going after Hekker. Interesting. Will Hayes THROWS Lemuel Jeanpierre, who I'll just call "Frenchy" if I have to mention him again, down and stuffs Brown for 1 again. Frenchy did not start at RT to my knowledge, so Seattle's getting desperate to find a working combination up front. Gregg Williams blitzes both LBs out of a nickel look on 3rd-and-8, and Wilson's buried under a William Hayes avalanche for the Rams' first sack. Gilliam at RT this time, but Hayes smoked him inside. Donald was dropping back in coverage, too; may have influenced Wilson to hold the ball. Punt time. Agh, the Rams look like a freaking playoff team today. Where was this defensive effort against Chicago?  Washington? At home against Arizona?

Ayers gets half that sack for his blitz effort. Meanwhile, Austin fields the punt at midfield, gets a seam on the right side and sprints down to the SEA28. The Rams have completely outplayed Seattle so far. And, WHAT'S THIS?!?!? KILLER INSTINCT?!?!?!? Keenum gets good protection and Britt SMOKES RICHARD SHERMAN for a 28-yard TD down the far sideline!!!!!!! Rams 16, Seahawks 0 Yes, that's 16 because DIPSHIT missed the PAT. Great. Know what's going to come back and haunt us?

That was a perfect throw by Keenum, btw. Now that Lockett's out, Zuerlein can bury a touchback. Brilliant. Seattle at their 20. Swing pass to Fred Jackson for 4. Seattle may be done trying to run. Wilson's not; Donald, Long and Ayers all run him ragged until he finds a TE up the sideline for a drop. 3rd-6, TruJo CRUSHES Luke Willson to break up a 2-yard pass, and gets a penalty for it?!?!?!? PENALTY #2 It's 15 yards for a helmet-to-helmet hit. Willson's a vulnerable receiver there, so I guess I get the call. Stupidly, had he caught the ball and received the identical hit a half-second later, no flag. Willson's now counting fingers on the sideline with Seattle bumped out to the 39. Dumpoff to a completely uncovered Michael for another 11. Brockers swims right over the center and buries Michael for -3. Good GRIEF the run D has been good today. Michael gets those 3 back on a screen pass, barely off before Long could bear down on Wilson. But then, guess who, BALDWIN for 13. 3rd and 10 and the Rams had NO ONE WITHIN TEN YARDS OF HIM AT THE SNAP. Seattle returns the favor by foolishly trying to block Hayes with a TE. Hayes steamrolls him and buries a clueless Wilson for sack #2 and a 7-yard loss. TO#2 for Seattle with 2:42 to the half. Hayes flushes Wilson again, but, oh hey, Lockett is back for a 16-yard catch on the sideline. Anybody at the network mind CLUING ME IN ON THAT? Seattle again taking advantage of Mo Alexander laying a mile off any given receiver. Michael launches over the pile for a 1st down at the Ram 28 at the 2:00 warning. Drop by Helfet, would have gained 8. Fred Jackson breaks an Ayers tackle in the backfield and gains 7. I think that just doubled their rushing yardage. 3rd-3, guess who's WIDE OPEN out of the slot because the Rams are FIVE yards off everybody. Baldwin. TruJo whiffs a tackle, but Long clubs the ball loose inside the 5. Naturally, Seattle falls on that. So, let me make sure I have this straight. We'll stick a guy in Calvin Johnson's grill for most of a game, but we can't station anyone within FIVE YARDS of Doug Baldwin on 3rd-and-3. TruJo breaks up an end zone pass for Jermaine Kearse with 0:27 to go. And he breaks up a pass to Baldwin at the 3. 3rd-and-goal from the 8 (it was spotted there because the fumble was forward). The Rams are a mile off Baldwin again, but Donald gets an arm around Wilson to mess up the throw down to the 1. Seattle settles for a FG to send us to halftime. This was a VERY long paragraph for a FG, but I don't mind. Rams 16, Seahawks 3

HALFTIME ADJUSTMENTS
Run defense has obviously been brilliant for the Rams in the first half, and pass rush has been very good. Seattle's clearly suffering from the injuries they're battling all over their offense right now. That's why it's driving me nuts that Gregg Williams is covering Doug Baldwin like he has Ebola. Baldwin's all they have right now! Let's press him! My fear is, as I'm expecting Seattle to abandon the run after halftime, that we're going to get a replay of the 4th quarter against Tampa. Stay aggressive, dammit, Williams.


I remember back when the Rams had this running back named Todd Gurley. Remember him? He was pretty darn good. Even made a Pro Bowl once, as I recall. Should Rob Boras actually remember Gurley IS ACTUALLY ON THE RAMS ACTIVE ROSTER TODAY, I wouldn't mind seeing him get the ball a time or 12 in the 2nd half. This is when Gurley shines anyway, so just make sure to get him the doggone ball. And quit kicking the ball to Lockett, for Frank Gansz' sake. I don't know what the heck anyone is thinking on special teams today.

This is a shockingly winnable game for the Rams. Seattle looks as unfocused as Tampa did Thursday night and is really undermanned. Finish them. Where the hell was this against Chicago again? Minnesota? BALTIMORE? Augh.

THIRD QUARTER
LOL, I'm hitting the second half an hour behind. Lockett's back, so Zuerlein's kick is of course crappy, fielded at the 5 and returned to the 33. What the HELL! Quick slant to Baldwin for 7. No one within 10 yards. Michael carries Hayes for 5 and a first down. Edge pressure forces Wilson up to scramble for 8. He slides as the Rams get away with a hit as late as Seattle got flagged for in the 1st. Oh, Wilson is selling it like this is a Premier League game or something, but he did get a late hit. The Rams are in the neutral zone on 2nd-2, but the LT appears to have false-started prior to that. I think that's the right call. 2nd-7. Ayers blitzes in clean to tip an attempted flare to Helfet. After Laurinaitis flushes Wilson into an incomplete throw on a blitz, Donald hits him late for PENALTY #3. And, auuugh. Michael goes left for 4 down to the Ram 33. Seattle has switched things up here with quicker handoffs and more I-formation, and Michael gets a HUGE hole down to the 18. Sigh. Let's GO, Gregg Williams. Donald whiffed in the backfield, Long got buried at end, and Laurinaitis couldn't get off his block after Ayers sacrificed himself taking out a lead blocker. Ha, take it back; clipping on Seattle. Yeah, that was a pretty dirty block on Donald and a big reason he missed the tackle. 2nd-21 now all the way back at the Ram 48. Donald nearly sacks Wilson, forcing a dumpoff to Brown, but he's out of bounds. 3rd-21. Find Baldwin, people. Sims and company flush Wilson again, forcing a dumpoff and a holding penalty the Rams accept, I guess to avoid a Hauschka bomb. That would have been a 55-yard try; I guess better safe than sorry. 3rd-31. For God's sake, they leave Baldwin wide god damn open again, TruJo blows a tackle, and he nearly gets the whole damn gain back. They gave up 28 yards on 3rd-and-31. Seattle will go for it on the 4th-and-short the idiot Rams HANDED THEM. And the sleeping Rams give up FOURTEEN to Helfet on a slant. Alexander was never within TEN yards of him, then got picked off by a slant. Seriously, put Cody Davis out there if we're that afraid to have Mo cover anybody. 1st down at the 18. This is, as I feared at halftime, a replay of the 4th quarter against Tampa. Brown to the 15. On 2nd down, Hayes and Sims bury Wilson back at the 25 for sack #3. Hayes is just rocking Gilliam with his punch; Sims put so many fakes on Alvin Bailey at LT, ALL of which he bought, that it looked like he was teasing a kitten with a laser pointer. That looked like a really bad Senior Bowl mirror drill.

So what do the Rams do? GIVE UP A TD PASS TO FREAKING BALDWIN, who got behind three guys. Rams 16, Seahawks 10 HE IS ALL THEY HAVE! COVER HIM! IDIOTS! He's just running the classic go route Seattle ALWAYS RUNS OUT OF THE SLOT IN THIS AREA OF THE FIELD. Instead, the Rams give up a completely unnecessary TD with crap soft zone coverage, with Alexander getting called out on the broadcast for botching his assignment. As far as I'm concerned, Gregg Williams botched that drive worse than Alexander did. Freaking press freaking Baldwin. Instead, now it's 16-10, and here comes that missed extra point to bite us in the ass now.

Seattle had the ball over 6:30 there, so even three points in response would be big for the Rams. A 3-and-out would be bigger for Seattle and I fear much more likely. Right on cue, Cunningham can only make the 18 with a short kick. Harkey can't clear a path and Gurley only gets 1. K.J. Wright nearly picks off a short middle pass for Kendricks. Say goodbye to your uncle Mo, Rams. Keenum dumps off to BENNY from a collapsing pocket on 3rd-and-9, and darned if the Little Engine That Could doesn't chug through Wagner for the first down! End-around to Austin - nice call - who beats Bennett around the corner, gets a decleater from Havenstein and gains 8. Gurley gets 3 and another 1st behind strong blocks from Wichmann and Harkey. Rams now at their 40. I'll call this a stretch handoff to Gurley, who gets 4 off another Havenstein block. Doctor Who lets us know Fairley and Barron are done for the day, with Westbrooks and TruJo still being checked. Good grief. Luke Willson is done for Seattle, and Britt has gone to the Rams locker room. Screen to Gurley, who pulls a low pass off his hip pad and wheels up the sideline for 7. Nifty play. Wagner meets Gurley immediately in the hole to hold him to 1. Wagner follows that by knocking a ball out of Lance Kendricks' worthless hands. Austin unsurprisingly gets no separation at all from Sherman on a long pass he catches out of bounds. Well, if they can at least pin Seattle deep, this drive, which took over 5:00, was still a pretty good answer. Hekker does get a fair catch at the 10.

Joyner, 7 yards off Baldwin, beaten for 11. Hayes and Donald nearly got Wilson again. Brown left for 4; Brockers overpursued, Bates missed tackle, Long manhandled. Brown runs right into Ayers, who holds him to 2. The 3rd-4 pass looks like a catch to me, with Jenkins ripping the ball out of Lockett's hands after his knee is down, but the officials are calling it incomplete, ruling Lockett never had possession. Carroll's challenge here makes a ton of sense to me. Mike Pereira thinks Lockett did not get both feet down to complete a football move. I think. Big that the Rams forced the punt there, and a short one, fair-caught by Austin at the 38.

Looks like another play-change by Keenum, a quick screen to Austin for 4. Gurley runs smack into Ahtyba Rubin, who shed Wichmann. 3rd-and-5 to start the 4th quarter.

FOURTH QUARTER
Well, what I feared here is walking up to the tee box. Rams play them strong for three quarters and then get run over. Seattle's M.O. the past couple of Decembers. Keenum opens the 4th with a big play, though. He steps up behind solid protection from Barnes and Reynolds and hits BENNY out of the backfield for 9 and a 1st down. Plus points to Rob Boras for using the backs as receivers today. Keenum next tries to deal deep for Britt, but it's underthrown and he's blanketed by Jeremy Lane. Gurley goes through a hole made by Barnes and a dumb Seattle overshift and runs through Wright's arm tackle for 9.

And on 3rd-and-1, of course, let's hand it off to our bell-cow RB.... CUNNINGHAM? Who brutally fumbles the ball 10 yards downfield, and it's recovered by Earl Thomas. Cunningham wasn't even hit, just coughed it up like an idiot.... wait, TIM BARNES recovered it? Hey, he got in there with a diving play before Thomas gained possession. And Seattle can't challenge it! Ha, Rams at the SEA35. Quick out for 6. As in Brian. That's followed by a play to make you yell oh, then oh no, then ha! Gurley bounces left off blocks by Barnes and Reynolds, and about 15 yards downfield, hits the greatest football hurdle move of all time to leap over Thomas. I mean, put that permanently in every NFL highlight package ever right now. OH! He looks like he hurdled five feet in the air! Only problem: he fumbles on the landing when Shead sticks him! Oh No! But who keeps following the play downfield, over 25 yards, and recovers the loose ball at the 2? TIM BARNES! HA!

When the Rams give Tim Barnes his game ball tonight, they have to make sure to drop it so he can fall on that, too. He has absolutely saved the Rams' asses in this sequence and may be the difference in winning this game.

Ach, what a time for only PENALTY #4, holding on Reynolds. Move the Rams back to the 12. Gurley promptly gets most of the penalty back, again running behind blocks by Barnes and Reynolds. Kenny Britt also did some good work outside. With JARED COOK stumping Avril off the edge, Gurley bounces in from the 2 for a TD that has the home crowd booing their team that has won back-to-back NFC Championships and is on its way back to the playoffs. Incredibly, Rams 23, Seahawks 10 Though, playing much like they are today, Seattle's not going to last very long this postseason.

Have the Rams answered that Seattle TD drive well or what? A 5:00 drive and a 5:00 TD drive. Kickoff's right to Lockett AGAIN, but Cody Davis and Chase Reynolds trip him up at the 23. Quick slant to Jackson gets 8. Still 10:00 to play. Quick out to Kearse for 9 as the Rams continue to play very soft. And now they leave Kearse WIDE OPEN down the far sideline, but McLeod BLASTS him to force an incomplete. Clean hit, form tackle, I don't know what the hell Seattle's booing about. Ayers jumps, though, PENALTY #5 to give Seattle 2nd-5. Hot rush by Long flushes Wilson into a bad throw for Jackson. Jackson belts his way down to the Ram 42, though, juking Ayers and stiffarming Sims. Williams got caught pants-down blitzing there. Jackson's WIDE OPEN underneath again but drops a slant. On a lob to Jackson, Alexander spares his life by not jacking him up and trips him up for 8 instead. It won't matter after Seattle center Lewis comically fires a ground-ball snap between Wilson's legs (didn't he play baseball?) that the Seahawks eventually corral for a 16-yard loss. Pretty amazing that Seattle's been on the 5-game run they've been on; they do not remotely have a professional-quality offensive line right now. They miss Okung more than I thought they would, and they definitely miss Beast Mode and Thomas Rawls. I don't see how this team is even going to win in Washington in two weeks, let alone if they get a tougher playoff draw like Green Bay.

7:17 left, Rams at their 6 with a chance to step on some necks now. On cue, Gurley left for 7 off a driving block by Wichmann. Cutback for 4 and a first down. Gurley drives for 1, getting no running room. Feed me more. No, Keenum underthrows a quick out for Marquez that's nearly a pick-six for McRae. KEEP THE CLOCK RUNNING! Seattle blitzes a screen and gets away with it, burying Benny for -5. How come it never works when the Rams blitz a screen? Seattle stops the clock at 4:58 as the Rams send in Hekker. They have one timeout left.

With what looks like a pretty good rain coming down, Hekker shanks a bad 36-yard punt to midfield. I might give him a weather-related pass on that one, but Seattle's set up nicely. Rams cover everyone on 1st down to force a throwaway. Hayes continues his ANIMAL day by sacking Wilson, the team's fourth. I believe that gives Will two full sacks and two half-sacks. He burned the RT around the edge, Donald pushed the pocket, Wilson wanted to run but Sims cut him off and when he wheeled away, it was right into Hayes. So the Rams immediately give up 20 to Freaking Helfet and a freaking first down. COME ON! Another completion to Kearse at the 28, but luckily, another completion to him at the 3 comes back because of a holding call on Sweezy drawn by a Donald spin move. 1st-20 now at the Ram 38. Dumpoff to Baldwin at the 31. 2nd-13, I believe on a designed draw play, Wilson scrambles down to the 10. The ball comes out. But Wilson's ruled down by contact. Except, thanks to a rare correct challenge by Fisher, we actually see Sims forced the ball loose before Wilson was down. I'm not sure who recovered it (probably Tim Barnes), but it's the Rams ball! And, ballgame!

Seattle burns their final TO at 2:33 after a handoff. Gurley churns out to the 14, which will leave 3rd-4 at the 2:00 warning. The Rams are on the verge of a historic win but all I can keep thinking of is where the hell was this level of play last month. With Wichmann whiffing on Bennett, though, Gurley gets buried for -3 to send Hekker back out.

THE PUNT IS RIGHT TO LOCKETT and returned 15 to the Ram 35. For God's sake, do we have a monkey coaching special teams today or something?  1:07 to play. Shovel pass to Jackson for 10 after Hayes nearly sacked Wilson again. But an illegal shift the next play costs them 5 yards and a 10-second runoff, down to 0:38. Wilson's pressured into a high and wild pass for Jackson, the only receiver he's been able to find for several minutes. GAAH, I had to talk; first down to Helfet at the 18.

Oh, for Christ's sake. Hayes and Donald flush Wilson again, and while he scrambles around, Kearse gets away from Jenkins in the end zone for a TD. 17 seconds left, and despite Barber's blithe dismissals on TV, here's that looming missed extra point. Rams 23, Seahawks 17

Here comes the onside kick. It comes in hot, the Rams let it go out of bounds, and THAT is the ballgame. The Rams break a ten-year losing streak in Seattle and a 62-game streak of Seattle leading at some point of a game.

Holy crap, the Rams have a shot at 8-8!

Final: Rams 23, Seahawks 17

-$-