SEATTLE – The Rams' comeback win in Seattle featured some of the best line play of the season and perpetuated trends that the team has been building on all year. It was an up-and-down performance, but the Rams came up clutch in overtime en route to a 26-20 divisional win against the Seahawks.
The Rams' pass rush lived in the backfield, pressuring Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith on over half of his dropbacks. Meanwhile, Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford feasted on play-action passes and sealed the game with three high-leverage completions on the game-winning drive.
Here are five interesting stats from the 26-20 overtime victory over the Seahawks:
The Rams generated season highs in pressure rate (59.1%) and sack rate (15.9%) despite blitzing at their lowest rate of the season (9.1%), via Next Gen Stats
The Rams generated the fourth-highest pressure rate in any game this season and only blitzed on 9.1% of passing snaps. No other team in the NFL has achieved even a 40% pressure rate while blitzing at under a 10% clip. That's how elite this performance was from the defensive front.
The Rams' 26 total pressures were the most in any game this year, and everyone contributed. All four primary pass rushers recorded at least five pressures from defensive ends Braden Fiske (six) and Kobie Turner (nine) to outside linebackers Jared Verse (six) and Byron Young (five). It was, statistically, the best performance from any defensive line this season.
Stafford threw 19 play-action passes (a season-high) for 212 yards and 2 touchdowns, meaning that accounted for 43% of his attempts but 71% of his yards
Talk about an efficient play-action passing attack. Stafford went 15 of 19 for 212 play-action passing yards and +13.1 expected points added (EPA measures performance over expectation) both of which are the second-most for a quarterback this season. The Rams clearly saw something in the Seahawks' defense that the play-action passing game could exploit, and they did just that all game long.
All three of Stafford's overtime completions were off play-action fakes. It was an elite display from one of the league's most accurate passers.
Kam Kinchens' 103-yard pick-six was the most impactful defensive play of the season, and third-most impactful overall, based on win probability added (52.4%), via NFLverse data
Kinchens' pick-six wasn't just an impact play. It was the most impactful defensive play of the season. When he broke the end zone to give the Rams their first lead since the second quarter, the Rams' win probability jumped from just over 19% to 71.6%, meaning it increased the Rams' chances of winning by 52.4%. The game immediately got flipped on its head.
Kinchens traveled 128.3 yards for the touchdown, the most distance traveled for a ball-carrier this season, according to Next Gen Stats. Despite having a diminished role in the weeks leading up to this game, Kinchens "kept grinding" and took advantage of his opportunities on Sunday.
Fiske's four quick pressures (under 2.5 seconds) are tied for the most for a rookie this season with Verse in Week 4, via Next Gen Stats
Disruptive is an understatement of what Fiske was on Sunday in Seattle. He was an absolute game-wrecker. Fiske finished with six total pressures and a career-high two sacks as he continuously broke into the backfield, forcing Smith to run backwards with nowhere to step up in the pocket. It was a career day for the rookie out of Florida State.
Fiske is coming into his own more and more every week and is one of the primary reasons this line has succeeded without future Hall of Fame defensive end Aaron Donald. As Verse tweeted out after the game, Fiske is "a bad man" and that was on full display against the Seahawks.
Stafford had a 153.1 passer rating when targeting Demarcus Robinson, his highest of the season for a single-game receiver, via Pro Football Focus
After wide receiver Puka Nacua was ejected in the first half, Robinson stepped up and succeeded against one of the toughest corners in the league. He caught a one-yard touchdown in the first half after dusting cornerback Riq Woolen on a whip route and then capped off an elite performance with a one-handed game-winner in overtime, also going against Woolen. He finished with six catches for 94 yards and two scores.
Robinson has never caught more than four touchdowns in a season prior to this year. He now has four in the past two games and five on the year already. He is the fifth Rams player in the Super Bowl era to record consecutive games with multiple touchdown receptions.
