Since the Rams moved in 1995, the Seahawks are 6-4 against them on their own field, including winning five of the past six in the Edward Jones Dome.
But even though there hasn’t been much of a home-field advantage for St. Louis against Seattle, with the Rams winning two of their past three – and with just three wins themselves – the Sea-hawks aren’t taking them for granted.
The Seahawks still remember that most folks picked the Rams to win the NFC West before this season started because St. Louis had the best quarterback returning in Sam Bradford.
But the second-year pro out of Oklahoma has struggled this season, missing two games because of a high ankle sprain. Bradford’s thrown for 1,587 yards in seven games, with four touchdowns and four interceptions for a modest, 72.6 passer rating.
Bradford threw 17 touchdowns in his first 11 career starts, but has just five touchdown passes in his past 12 starts.
Bradford also has had to adapt to a new offensive coordinator and a new system with the hiring of Josh McDaniels. He replaced Pat Shurmur, who was hired by Cleveland as head coach.
“I feel like we have gotten better, but it just didn’t pay off and it’s frustrating when it doesn’t happen like that,” Bradford said. “Our slow start has definitely been something that we’ve had to overcome, but I feel like we have gotten better. In the past three weeks, we’ve played better football and as the year winds down, hopefully we’ll just continue to get better.”
Even with his struggles this season, Seattle coach Pete Carroll sees Bradford as one of the better quarterbacks in the league.
“I think we’re playing an elite quarterback on the rise,” Carroll said. “We saw him last year and we thought he did a fantastic job as a rookie. We have great respect for his talent.”
St. Louis coach Steve Spagnuolo also talked about his team’s struggles this season. With high expectations heading into this season after a 7-9 finish last season, the Rams sit at 2-7.
Much of the Rams’ struggles can be chalked up to injuries. St. Louis has 10 players on the season-ending injured reserve list, tied for the third-most in the league. They’ve went through eight different cornerbacks, including projected starters Ron Bartell and Bradley Fletcher, who are both on the injured reserve list.
“We didn’t get off to a very good start,” Spagnuolo said. “We lost some tough ones. And we’ve been battling the injury bug. We do not use that as an excuse. Every team is battling injuries, but it’s been hard for us to find a groove or get any kind of continuity with kind of the interchangeable parts that we’ve been going through for really 10 weeks.
“I can only recall one Tuesday morning, or really Monday morning, when we weren’t talking about shuffling personnel or changing the (53-man roster). I think it was after the New Orleans game.”
With all of the Rams’ struggles, the one constant has been the play of running back Steven Jackson. He has 707 rushing yards this season, good for ninth in the league, and he’s averaging 5.1 yards per carry with four touchdowns.
But the Seahawks have held Jackson in check for the most part. Jackson has 29, 100-yard rushing performances in his career, but none against the Seahawks in 13 meetings.
“Jack (Steven Jackson) means everything to our offense,” Bradford said. “When Jack gets rolling, it just makes everything a lot easier for us. When he gets the ball rolling and we’re having success running the ball, it opens up a lot of things in our pass game, in our play-action game, and I think our offense just kind of feeds off of Jack.”
Eric D. Williams: 253-597-8437 eric.williams@thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/seahawks
SEAHAWKS GAMEDAY
SEATTLE (3-6) AT ST. LOUIS (2-7)
1:05 p.m., Edward Jones Dome
TV: Ch. 13. Radio: 710-AM, 97.3-FM.
The series: These two teams meet for the 26th time during the regular season. The Seahawks lead the series, 15-10, with a 6-4 mark at the Edward Jones Dome. Seattle has won 11 of the past 12 meetings against St. Louis. The teams split last season, with Seattle losing in St. Louis, 20-3, and the Seahawks taking the regular-season finale, 16-6, to win the NFC West division title.
What to watch: The Seahawks will start a different right side of the line with rookies John Moffitt and James Carpenter both out for the season with knee injuries. Paul McQuistan will start at right guard, and Breno Giacomini will start at right tackle. But Seattle offensive line coach Tom Cable said Seattle will continue to run the ball. The Seahawks has averaged 140.5 yards a contest on the ground the past two games. And coming into this afternoon’s contest, the Rams are giving up a league-leading 150.6 yards a contest on the ground. … The Rams will be without their starting left and right tackles on the offensive line. Rodger Saffold was placed on the season-ending, injured reserve list with a torn pectoral muscle. Mark LeVoir will start at left tackle. Right tackle Jason Smith is sidelined with concussions, so Adam Goldberg will start for him. … Receivers Sidney Rice and Doug Baldwin, safety Kam Chancellor and linebacker David Vobora are all probable after suffering head injuries. Quarterback Tarvaris Jackson (pectoral) and tight end Cameron Morrah (toe/knee) also are probable. Safety Atari Bigby and defensive tackle Anthony Hargrove are questionable with hamstring injuries.
The pick: Seahawks, 24-17.
PRIME NUMBERS
SEATTLE
No. Name (position) Ht./Wt.Year
18 Sidney Rice (WR) 6-4/202fifth
Seattle’s big-play receiver should have his way with the Rams’ inexperienced corners.
57 David Hawthorne (LB) 6-0/246fourth
Hawthorne, tied for the team lead in tackles with 61, will have to be a sure tackler against Rams running back Steven Jackson.
68 Breno Giacomini (OT) 6-7/318fourth
Getting just his second start this season, the Louisville product will have his hands full with Rams DE Chris Long.
91 Chris Clemons (DE) 6-3/254eighth
Pass-rushing specialist should create some pressure against the Rams makeshift offensive line.
St. Louis
39 Steven Jackson (RB) 6-2/240eighth
The former Oregon State star has yet to run for 100 yards against the Seahawks.
55 James Laurinaitis (LB) 6-2/250third
The Ohio State product is the team’s leading tackler with 71. He also has two sacks and an interception.
91 Chris Long (DE)6-3/270fourth
Long leads St. Louis with eight sacks, bringing consistent pressure off the edge.
83 Brandon Lloyd (WR) 6-0/188ninth
The acrobatic receiver has given Sam Bradford a reliable target since coming over from Denver via trade.
Eric D. Williams, staff writer
