Crucial division game for Rams in Seattle

Dec 14, 2017 - 1:22 AM THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- In dropping a game they seemingly had control of Sunday to the Philadelphia Eagles, the Los Angeles Rams certainly made life more difficult for themselves relative to the playoffs.

What could have been a two-game lead over the Seattle Seahawks, who the Rams visit this week, remains a one-game advantage with three games remaining.

What could have been a three-way tie at the top of the NFC playoff picture with the Eagles and Vikings -- with the chance to earn a bye in the first round and a guaranteed home postseason game within reach - remains a third seed, for now, a home game in the first round.

More pertinently, it means the Rams have to win out to guarantee a division title, if not a playoff berth.

All of that would have been mitigated by simply holding on against the Eagles on Sunday.

But now their road is a tad bit dicey.

Beginning on Sunday in the always tough environment in Seattle against a desperate Seahawks team.

And the importance of closing out winnable games with better composure and more attention to small details - something the Rams fell short of against the Eagles.

"We'll learn from our mistakes, including me, starting with me," said head coach Sean McVay. "This week provides a great chance for us to respond quickly, go play a great divisional opponent in the Seattle Seahawks and try to see if we can find a way to gather ourselves together to learn from the mistakes and move forward accordingly.

"What this team has done week-in and week-out is we've responded the right way. I trust our guys will do that."

The Rams have to if they want to avoid a two-game losing streak and possession of first place in the division.

One key is the quick pivot the Rams make from the disappointment of losing to the Eagles to the importance of zeroing in on the Seahawks.

"Got a short memory. Our whole team's got a short memory," said quarterback Jared Goff. "I think we understand as good as any team in the league that we can't let a team beat us twice. As big as this game was and as many implications as there were, they played a great game. We played pretty well up until the end.

"Ultimately, next week, we got to come back and try to do that same thing and play a really good game and finish it off. So, we know we can't dwell on this at all."

SERIES HISTORY: 39th regular-season meeting. Seahawks lead, 23-15. The two clubs met in Week 5 with the Seahawks holding on for a 16-10 win that left the Rams kicking themselves. Among the key factors, rookie WR Cooper Kupp let the potential game-winning touchdown pass slip through his fingers in the end zone.

--Cornerback Trumaine Johnson left Sunday's game against the Eagles for what was originally explained as an evaluation for a concussion. By league rule that would have meant Johnson being placed in concussion protocol and, as a result, casting doubt on his availability for Sunday's game against the Seahawks.

As it turns out, Johnson actually left the game with what is now being described as a stinger to the neck and shoulder area.

"Yeah, with Trumaine it was a little bit of a misunderstanding there -- he didn't come back in because of a stinger, it wasn't because of the concussion. He was a stinger, so he's not in the protocol, he actually checked out on all that," head coach Sean McVay said.

"That was just a little bit of a misunderstanding, so that's actually positive news on Trumaine, where it was a stinger that was the reason that he wasn't able to come back into that game, so that's positive where he's not in the protocol and everything like that."

Bottom line, Johnson's availability for Sunday now looks much more promising.

--Running back Todd Gurley is clearly a key cog in the Rams' offensive success, and the team's winning record as a result. In fact, the Rams are 7-0 when Gurley gets at least 20 touches and 2-4 when he doesn't.

Which brings us to the 16 touches Gurley got against the Eagles on Sunday, and the very real question of whether the Rams blundered by not feeding him the ball more.

A couple of things to consider before jumping to the easy conclusion the Rams merely need to give him his 20 touches every game and the wins will magically follow.

First, the Rams only ran 45 plays to the Eagles' 85, which made play management and dispersal a major issue. Secondly, when the Rams fell behind early it forced them away from the run and more to the pass.

In other words, sometimes situations dictate usage.

"I think when you look at the success that Todd was able to have, certainly you'd like to get more plays off is what it starts with. But we always try to have a run/pass balance, especially in those normal down and distances," head coach Sean McVay said. "What ends up happening too is when you try to run some of your play-actions and different things -- those are plays that we've had a lot of success with -- I credit Philadelphia, they made some plays where they forced some coverages and now you're in a second-and-10. Then the decision is, where you're getting totally different defensive looks in those situations - do you throw the football or not? One of the things that we always try to do, you always do want to try to maintain that balance, but we're always going to make decisions.

"Certainly, I'm going to be the same way as a play-caller, what we feel are the best plays to move the football. That's the most important thing, No. 1. Certainly, when you only have really those 45 plays, every single one is magnified. But when Todd's running the football like he is, that was a big point of emphasis coming out of the half - try to get him going. That's why you see that first drive where you try to get it to him in a variety of ways with the screen or the two runs coming out. Anytime we're running the football like that, I've got to do a better job of making sure that he gets enough touches to get into the flow, especially when we were getting some good movement. But it is a delicate balance and then I think everything is a little bit more magnified. At the end of the day, however you want to cut it, I've got to get him going, give him more opportunities with the way he was running it and have a better feel for the flow of the game. That was something that I didn't think I did very well (Sunday)."

NOTES: QB Jared Goff (3,383) needs 129 passing yards to tie former QB Sam Bradford (3,512) for the 10th-highest single-season passing yard output in franchise history. Bradford also has the ninth-best passing season in franchise history with 3,702 yards passing in 2012. ... K Greg Zuerlein (148) needs 12 points to tie former RB Marshall Faulk (160 in 2000) for the second-best single-season scoring output and 15 points to tie former K Jeff Wilkins (163 in 2003) for the highest-scoring season in franchise history. Zuerlein (148) is 11 field-goal conversions away from passing former K Mike Lansford (158) for the second-most field goals made in franchise history. Wilkins owns the career-mark for field goals made with 265 in his time with the franchise. Zuerlein (36) is three field goals away from tying Wilkins (39) for most field goals made in a single season. Zuerlein needs one 50-plus yard field goal to tie his own franchise record of seven 50-plus made field goals in a season, which he set in 2012. ... OLB Robert Quinn ranks fourth in franchise history with 60.5 career sacks, and he is 2.5 sacks from passing former DE Kevin Carter (62.5) for third place. Former DE Leonard Little holds the franchise record for career sacks with 87.5. ... WR Robert Woods participated in a walk-through Wednesday and said he is good to go for Sunday's game against the Seahawks. Woods has missed the last three games with a shoulder injury.