Ram Digest

Rams Hanging Tough, Trail Seahawks At Half

The Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks shortened the number of possessions in the first half, running 40 plays in the first three drives.

Casey Smith

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Both offenses came out firing early as the Seattle Seahawks lead over the Los Angeles Rams to 13-7 at Lumen Field Sunday.

Seattle quarterback Geno Smith found wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba for a 10-yard game, set up a touchdown pass to DK Metcalf, capping off the Seahawks' second 12-play drive of the game to take a 10-7 lead. On Seattle's opening drive, Smith hit Metcalf for 28 yards which led to a 36-yard field goal from kicker Jason Myers, who was 2-for-3 in the first half.

Smith was 13-of-18 for 103 yards and a touchdown.

Seattle and Los Angeles traded field goal troubles to end the first half.

Brett Maher's first field goal attempt as a Ram was blocked by Jarran Reed, but the Seahawks couldn't capitalize with under two minutes to go in the half as Jason Myers doinked a 39-yard field goal off the upright.

Maher missed a 64-yard field goal attempt as time expired in the first half.

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford didn't play in any preseason games and was making up for lost time on the Rams' first drive of the game. He linked up with wide receiver Puka Nacua and tight end Tyler Higbee twice and Van Jefferson once.

Los Angeles picked up five third-down conversions on the opening drive, including separate 10- and 12-yard pickups on third-and-10 and third-and-4, respectively.

Kyren Williams picked up nine yards up the middle on third-and-4, but, more importantly, finished off the drive with a 1-yard plunge on third-and-goal to put the Rams up 7-3. Los Angeles' 16-play opening drive is the longest since at least 2000 to result in a touchdown.

Stafford was 11-for-18 for 134 yards in the first half, hitting the rookie Nacua a team-high five times for 71 yards.

Back-to-back facemask and delay-of-game penalties derailed Los Angeles' second drive of the game, which started with 9:16 to go in the second quarter, before it even started. Three plays later, 

Both teams combined to run eight drives in the opening 30 minutes of the game — nearly 21 of which came on the first three.

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Casey Smith
CASEY SMITH

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