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LMU93
The Rams' defense has a tougher test on Saturday. But does the offense? You can easily argue Arizona's defense is better than Seattle's.
The way Wolford settled down and improved, showed poise, etc. during the ARZ game I feel good if they need to start him. I just don't see how fracturing, having surgery on and getting screws put into your thumb on December 28th allows you to practice and then play on January 9th.
Seattle is the tougher defense of the 2. It has shown marked improvement during the season and in recent games has stepped up.
In terms of who starts, that's medical and a football judgment call, and we have no choice but to trust McVay when it comes to that--which I am fine with, personally.
On the Seattle D:
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www.footballoutsiders.com]
What better time for the Seahawks defense to look like they have hit their stride. With a division-clinch in sight, the Seahawks re-hashed some old tactics to hold the Los Angeles Rams' offense without a touchdown in a 20-9 win. Seattle finished the game with a defensive DVOA of -35.4%, their best performance of the season, and locked down the NFC West title.
The Seahawks defense has been gaining steam of late, so perhaps a dominant performance like this was only a matter of time. By DVOA, their last four games each rank among their top six defensive outings this year. The bar was low, of course, but it still means something that the Seahawks defense is ramping up a smidgen.
Seattle's secret weapon in this game against the Rams was linebacker K.J. Wright, whom they threw on the line of scrimmage as a walked-up SAM. The Seahawks have done this in varying capacity over the past however many years, but it has been some time since Wright took a majority of his base snaps from this alignment. Against the Rams, specifically, getting Wright on the line of scrimmage helped Seattle align in odd fronts while still playing from their base 4-3 or nickel 4-2-5 personnel. The Rams' wide zone offense notoriously struggles with odd-front defenses that load up players along the line of scrimmage.
To get away with putting a linebacker on the edge like Seattle did, that linebacker has to be a menace against the run. He must be able to set the edge, hold up against double teams, and fight to push plays towards rallying tacklers just like a standard defensive end would do. Wright got bullied once or twice on double teams, but for the most part, he was a stud in the run game against the Rams in a number of different ways.
