"Chuck Knocks" is back for another season, but for the first time in five years our Seahawk Opponent Training Camp Previews will live on our website. Fear not, The Feltsulator is coming with us to the website. Game by game, Jackson Felts will simulate the entire 2020 season (not sure he can take the fans out of the stands, so sorry about the lack of authenticity). I'll handle the rest...
WEEK 10: LOS ANGELES RAMS
THE INTERESTING SCALE: A-
Curiosity is just an elevated form of interest, right? And there might be no more curious a team than the Rams. LA's march to the Super Bowl in 2018-19 was supposed to be the beginning of a dynasty: a 24-year old quarterback, a 24-year old superstar RB, a 33-year old offensive whiz kid as head coach, the league's best defensive player and an owner building Football Disney World to house the new Greatest Show on Turf. Instead, the Rams fell four games in the standings, missed the playoffs entirely, averaged 8 fewer points per game, ran for 800 fewer yards, and allowed more than 43 points in three different blowout losses.
The team then cut their superstar RB, replaced their defensive coordinator and spent a portion of their lengthy offseason wondering if Jared Goff is truly a franchise quarterback or just another young dope who doesn't know where the sun sets. Unraveling these mysteries makes the Rams Hard Knocks worthy. Being on the Seahawks schedule made them Chuck Knocks worthy.
THE NEW FACE AT RAMS CAMP: KEVIN O'CONNELL
Why would Sean McVay need help with offense? Isn't this the same Sean McVay that turned the Rams into a laser light show his first year on the job? Sure, the offensive production dropped greatly from 2018 to 19, but don't young offensive masterminds have tricks to fix such things? McVay didn't even have an offensive coordinator last season. But now he does.
Kevin O'Connell has been brought over from the same organization GM Les Snead fished McVay from, and new guy's background is as a quarterback guru, which more suggests than McVay believes Goff needs a fix that he, himself, can't solve, AND the new guy happens to be similarly young. The Rams head coach, offensive coordinator and new defensive coordinator are now ALL under the age of 38.
STAR OF RAMS CAMP: JALEN RAMSEY
Last year was a strange year for the Rams. It might have been stranger for Jalen Ramsey. Once considered the linchpin for a pending glorious run of Jacksonville football,Ramsey wanted more money and he wanted out of North Florida. Trading for a player of Ramsey's caliber in the middle of the season tends to suggest a team believes they have a Super Bowl run in them. But even with Ramsey, the Rams swung wildly at the postseason and whiffed.
The verbose and, let's just say, confident Ramsey now gets a full season in the LA defense. And there's no reason why he shouldn't recapture his status as one of the game's elite defenders.
FANTASY PICK: CAM AKERS
Cam Akers' feet are so fast, they might rename the RB footwork drills at the NFL combine in his honor. The rookie enrolled at Florida State with the fanfare of a seasoned rock star. 5-star? Hell, he was a 6-star talent and was expected to run wild from day one with the Seminoles. Akers ended up being a good college football player. Yep, just good. Which means Akers either shrunk as a gameday player once the tacklers got bigger and faster (and that would NOT bode well for his pro career) OR it means Florida State failed to extract the proper amount of production from a remarkable talent. He's going to get the first crack at starting for the Rams. At replacing Todd Gurley! At all those carries and catches the Rams want to build their offense around.
OUTLOOK: 8-8
Don't know what to make of the Rams. They should be better than 8-8. But is something broken? Or was something revealed? The NFC West is going to be outstanding this year, so there won't be opportunities to massage away your problems. McVay needs answers and cures for why his "dynasty" crumbled last season. Otherwise, it's going to keep on a crumblin'.
SEAHAWKS AT RAMS: WHAT WILL BE SAYING MONDAY MORNING?
"How worried should we be? That's a third loss in four games. We went from 5-1 and sitting pretty to 5-4 and questioning the existence of God. I realize that rock bottom feels a lot worse than this, but the Hawks have obviously hit the low point of this season. And the worst part is, I don't even think the Rams played all that well... Pete wants these games to come down to the fourth quarter. I felt the Hawks had plenty of chances to jump up big and failed. You know I hate settling for field goals. Settling for missed field goals is a hell of a lot worse. The O-line couldn't open up a hole for Carson all night. And for the one-thousandth game in a row they couldn't stop Aaron Donald... It was just an ugly game. The defense did well to bottle up Akers, and Goff was no better than adequate, but there were so many missed opportunities for turnovers... game-changing turnovers. And in the end, the Rams got their one big play--a fumbled punt for all that's holy! Jeff Fisher used to beat the Hawks with special teams play. Last night, the Hawks lost because of bad special teams. 24-20. Ugh. Have to get it right next week. Have to."
Boy, I've got our boys on the slide, but it won't last. Or will it? The Feltsulator typically bears much better news. Check out the results...
"After stampeding the Bills in Buffalo, the 6-2 Feltsulator Seahawks have their sights set on the city of angels where the decliningRamsare trying to keep fans interested. After a boring first quarter that only saw a Jason Myers field goal, the second quarter was full of excitement. Jared Goff hit Cooper Kupp on a 35 yard touchdown, sandwiched between two more Myers field goals. Seattle then extended their lead on a short Russell Wilson touchdown pass to Greg Olsen.
(video 1 here) ... https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Z_qKW4oDhNqJvh2yxe_D_pZJSw75K5zu/view?usp=drivesdk
On the final play of the half, a Hail Mary from Goff, somehow, someway, Kupp came down with the ball in the endzone, cutting the Hawks lead to 16-14 at the break. Los Angeles opened the third quarter with another touchdown, but quickly after, Russell Wilson led a long drive capped off by a four yard touchdown run by Carlos Hyde, who entered the game in the first half due to an injury to Chris Carson. The two point conversion was good, leaving Seattle with a three point lead. After the Rams tied the game at 24, Seattle immediately drove back down the field with pinpoint passing from Wilson. Another Hyde touchdown run with four minutes remaining gave the Seahawks a 31-24 lead. As Goff then drove the Rams into Seattle territory, he was picked off by Bobby Wagner, who sealed the victory, moving the Feltsulator Seahawks to 7-2 on the season.
Stats:
Russell Wilson: 21 of 28 for 235 yards and 1 TD
Jared Goff: 21 of 33 for 296 yards, 2 TD and 2 INT
Carlos Hyde: 28 rushes for 87 yards and 2 TD
Malcolm Brown: 11 rushes for 43 yards
DK Metcalf: 5 catches for 56 yards
Greg Olsen: 5 catches for 39 yards and 1 TD
Cooper Kupp: 5 catches for 120 yards and 2 TD
BONUS SECOND FELTSULATOR GAME!!!
Well, since the Cardinals preview already happened earlier this week, you know what time it is, bonus Feltsulator time! Coming off that win in Los Angeles, the 7-2 Feltsulator Seahawks return home to face the Arizona Cardinals on Thursday Night Football. You also know what this means... Color rush! In their action greens and Arizona in their all-black jerseys, the teams swapped scoring drives to start the game, a Cardinals field goal then 19 yard touchdown strike from Wilson to Olsen. Arizona hit two more field goals and Myers hit one before Kyler Murray found Christian Kirk on a 12 yard score late in the half to give the Cardinals a 16-10 lead. Then in the first drive of the second half, Wilson found Phillip Dorsett in the back of the endzone to retake the lead, after the extra point.
The Cardinals answered back with another Murray touchdown pass, and the scoring just continued. Sandwiched by two Arizona field goals, Russell Wilson hit Tyler Lockett of a 34 yard strike. With just three minutes remaining, down six, Russell Wilson took over. The Seahawks MVP candidate quarterback ran three times for 38 yards, then hit Dorsett again for the go-ahead score.
Kyler Murray moved the ball to midfield, but with 45 seconds left, was picked off by Bobby Wagner, who for the second straight game, sealed the Feltsulator Seahawks victory. Seattle moved to 8-2 with the heart-pounding 31-30 comeback win.
Stats:
Russell Wilson: 23 of 32 for 291 yards and 4 TD
Kyler Murray: 22 of 36 for 237 yards, 2 TD and 1 INT
Kenyan Drake: 27 rushes for 103 yards
Chris Carson: 19 rushes for 92 yards
Phillip Dorsett: 8 catches for 94 yards and 2 TD
Greg Olsen: 7 catches for 90 yards and 1 TD
Christian Kirk: 7 catches for 92 yards and 1 TD"