Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime. The Los Angeles Rams (11-3) will travel to the Seattle Seahawks (11-3) to determine sole possession of first place in the NFC West. The Rams currently have the tiebreaker over the Seahawks as they won the Week 11 matchup 21-19, in large part because of four Sam Darnold interceptions. The Rams defensive front forced plenty of pressure throughout the game but Seattle’s defense gave LA fits at varying moments. A run-stuffing duo of Leonard Williams and Byron
Murphy have negated teams’ rushing attacks and made them one-dimensional. Who will win Week 16? It all starts in the trenches. Let’s take a look at each roster headed into Thursday Night…
QBs: #9 is the MVP of the NFL. Funny, how they are trying to create a narrative that Josh Allen is now in the mix. Did we forget that Josh Allen put up a dud against the (5-9) Falcons? Anyways. Stafford continues to play lights out football. He is clutch when it matters. Seattle will be a tough test for him, especially if the weather is unfavorable. But, I expect him to put a final stamp on an MVP season.
Sam Darnold has fallen in the eyes of PFF since his Week 11 dud against Los Angeles. His grade now sits at 82.5 (7th / 42 QBs). The gameplan this time will likely limit the number of deep and “long-developing” passing attempts early. This will minimize the turnover margin allowing Seattle’s defense to carry the load instead of playing from behind.
RBs: The Rams rushing attack has really come alive. Blake Corum in particular has provided a lot of explosiveness in their rushing attack. Seattle bottled him up last time. But it will be very intriguing to know if Sean McVay can get Corum with some open space because when he does…look out. He leads all running backs in EPA/rush.
*Kyren Williams has gone over 1000 yards rushing and double digit touchdowns for the third season in a row*
Kenneth Walker is a top 5 RB according to PFF even though he is 19th in the NFL in rushing yards. He’s been an inconsistent explosive runner but also finds himself getting stuffed at the LOS often.
WRs: Puka Nacua continues to impress week after week. The volume despite the limited snap count on offense is ridiculous. Nacua is WR1 in the NFL and I don’t say that to take anything away from Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
All eyes during this short week will be about the availability of Davante Adams. He reaggravated his hamstring in the Week 15 win versus the Detroit Lions. The Rams have not ruled him out but it would seem likely that he is used sparingly or ruled out altogether. It’s not a crushing blow since the Rams operate with 13 personnel quite a bit. However with 11 and 12 personnel packages, it makes things interesting. Tutu Atwell, Xavier Smith, and Jordan Whittington will be called upon to pick up the snaps. More importantly, the redzone is where the Rams will have to get creative without their touchdown machine. This could be a good time for Terrance Ferguson to emerge in the tight end room…
Again, Jaxon Smith-Njigba is a phenomenal receiver. He is pacing the field with 1541 yards (174 more than Puka). It’s the drop off from Smith-Njigba to Cooper Kupp and Rashid Shaheed, and Tory Horton that is alarming. None of those players are averaging more than 40 yards/game.
TEs: Colby Parkinson’s recent production is making a lot of TST users to retrack their comments about cutting him this past offseason / early in the 2025 season. The yards might not be there but the 6 touchdowns have been breath of fresh air for that tight end room needing a spark. The room altogether has 12 of Stafford’s 37 passing TDs.
AJ Barner will require a lot of attention Thursday Night. In their last meeting, Barner collected 10 receptions (11 targets) for 70 yards. Nate Landman and Omar Speights will need to lock down the middle of the field because that will likely be Darnold’s early target area going into this one.
OL: LA’s really adopted a bully ball of their own. Jackson-Avila-Shelton-Dotson-McClendon are moving guys in the run game. Speaking of McClendon. This is a key change for the Rams in Week 16. Rob Havenstein was the starting right tackle in Week 11 and received a 42.6 overall grade with a 19.9 pass blocking grade. McClendon will now get the start in Week 16 and has been significantly better in pass protection. He only allowed 1 pressure last week to Aidan Hutchison.
Cross-Zabel-Sundell-Bradford-Lucas make up the Seattle offensive line. The interior is the weak spot, particularly Anthony Bradford, who is a huge liability in pass protection. X has made a montage of his attempts at playing the right guard position.
DL: Poona Ford gets his former team again. Ford and the rest of the interior held Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery to just 3.5 yards/carry. Gibbs in particular only averaged 2.9 yards/carry. I expect Ford, Turner, Davis, and Fiske (if he plays due to ankle injury) to have their way with Seattle’s interior again.
Byron Murphy and Leonard Williams form a strong anchor in Seattle’s interior. They can rush the passer and stop the run just like Ford, Turner, and Fiske. I mentioned before, that McVay may want to get creative in using Tutu Atwell in jet sweeps to neutralize Williams and Murphy firing off the ball. Another method will be using TE screens. Either way, this is the marquee matchup for this game. Can Avila-Shelton-Dotson win more often than not against Murphy and Williams? I think so.
EDGE: Before getting to Jared Verse and Byron Young, one name I want to identify is Desjuan Johnson. The Rams have converted the defensive lineman into an edge rusher, just like they did with Michael Hoecht. Johnson has impressed me with his limited snaps and tape. He is a 2023 7th rounder from Toledo and has produced a 75.3 PFF grade when called upon. Josiah Stewart, the 2025 3rd round rookie has a 74.4 grade. The Rams have more than just Verse and Young. The group is four deep…
Verse and Young have been quieter as of late. Verse’s sophomore production has dipped a little bit, particularly in run defense. I wonder if there is a minor injury somewhere. Young collected 9 sacks in his first seven games. In the last seven, he only has 2 sacks.
Uchenna Nwosu and Demarcus Lawrence will rush the passer. Nwosu had some pressures in the last meeting but that was against Havenstein. McClendon will draw this assignment. McClendon should have a size advantage and combat any speed moves from him.
LBs: Not a lot of difference here as Nate Landman and Omar Speights continue to patrol the second level. Ernest Jones and Drake Thomas will do the same for Seattle. Jones has 5 interceptions which means Stafford will need to be careful on those in-breaking routes and avoiding any batted passes at the line.
DBs: Emmanuel Forbes, Josh Wallace, and Cobie Durant got worked a little bit in the first half by Amon Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams. The only reason it got better in the 2nd half was because of the defensive line’s pressure. It’s worth noting that the two veterans, Darious Williams (backup) and Akhello Witherspoon (inactive) have fallen in the depth chart behind the young guys. Williams does provide a lot of postseason experience. Quentin Lake is eligible to come off IR but is not yet ready to return to performance.
This is Seattle’s biggest advantage over Los Angeles. Devon Witherspoon is the #1 corner in football. Nick Emmanwori, Josh Jobe, Coby Bryant, and Julian Love are all playing great football as well.
*Side note: Derion Kendrick was playing for the Seahawks in this one but will now be playing for the Rams. He may not dress but you have to wonder if he can give some insight to the Rams on what Seattle was doing to slow down their passing attack.
ST: Harrison Mevis will likely get his first taste of kicking in the elements as he did not have any field goal attempts at Carolina. Even though McVay will want to be aggressive, he may need to consider taking the points more often because Seattle’s defense will be stingy.
Jason Meyers and Michael Dickson form one of the best special teams tandem in football. The majority of Myers misses have come from beyond 50 yards.
Coaching: This should be another great face off between Sean McVay and Mike Macdonald. Macdonald have success slowing down the 13 personnel packages in Week 11 so it will be key for McVay to have a counter punch ready. Again, the running game for Los Angeles is paramount. If rain is in the forecast, it could be about who has better traction… as they say… low man wins!
What matchup do you like most for Los Angeles?
What matchup do you like most for Seattle?
