Seahawks have perfect rebound situation vs. struggling Rams

RENTON — Richard Sherman calls this a “poopfest” from a “hypocritical” NFL.

But having to play Thursday following a Sunday game is actually another “p” word for the Seattle Seahawks this week.

Perfect.

“I’m, personally, happy that we are playing Thursday, because we get to throw that game we had last week away faster. We don’t have to wait until Sunday,” Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner said on the eve of the Seahawks (8-4-1) hosting the Los Angeles Rams (4-9) Thursday night at CenturyLink Field.

Oh, yeah, last week. That’s what makes Thursday unprecedented for Wagner and every Seahawks teammate except safety Kam Chancellor and punter Jon Ryan.

Seattle got a true butt-kicking last weekend, 38-10 at Green Bay. For the first time in 96 games, the Seahawks are coming off a loss by more than 10 points. It’s the first time in more than six years the Seahawks are rebounding from a defeat as large as the one was to the Packers. Only Chancellor and Ryan were on the team when Seattle lost 41-7 to the New York Giants on Nov. 7, 2010.

So, yes, if there was ever a week a team needed a short turnaround between games, it’s this week. And these Seahawks — especially quarterback Russell Wilson.

If Wilson and Seattle turns it around in short order, the Seahawks will win the NFC West for the third time in four seasons. Seattle needs only one win over the final three regular-season games, or one loss by Arizona (5-7-1), to win the division.

Wilson threw a career-high five interceptions at Green Bay, two of which went off receivers’ hands. No Seahawk had thrown that many since Jon Kitna in 1999.

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll thinks Wilson is uniquely equipped emotionally to handle what happened to him and the team against the Packers.

“Without question,” Carroll said Wednesday. “He has had the demeanor that it’s the next play from years ago when we got him here. I think he’s mastered that skill and I think it’s a hugely valuable skill for a guy playing quarterback in this league. He just has a great mechanism that he can go to the next and go to the next.

“It’s been important for him this week — but it’s been important for him always. Never noticed him to linger in moments in the past. Never. He’s good at this.”

Yet Wilson’s play-caller, offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell, revealed he had to cheer up his QB during his five-interception day in Green Bay.

“In that last game I was building him up,” Bevell said Tuesday. “He still, like I said, he’s got such a great outlook on life, outlook on his abilities, outlook on his team’s abilities, so very seldom is he down. There’s five interceptions or whatever happened in that game, so I just kept talking to him about coming back. That’s gone and we just have to keep moving on.”

Wilson had two interceptions in his first 11 games. He has eight in his last three.

The former college and minor-league second baseman went basketball and baseball this week to describe what happened against the Packers. He overthrew Doug Baldwin and Jimmy Graham on each of the first two drives at Green Bay, when each was open deep for what could have been early touchdowns. The Seahawks ended up not scoring a touchdown until garbage time late in a 38-10 rout.

“We missed. We went to the free-throw line and didn’t make our free throws that night,” Wilson said. “We went to the plate and sometimes you have a few strike outs and you may have a pop fly, but hopefully the next night you come back out and you go 4 for 4. That’s just one of those things.

“We moved on quickly. We had to move on.”

It’s been a convenient theme this short week: we’ve already moved past the malfunctioning in Green Bay, because we had to, to get ready for the Rams.

But if there was ever an opponent against which to rebound, Los Angeles is it.

Think the Seahawks have problems this week? The Rams fired their coach of five seasons, Jeff Fisher, on Monday to start the season’s shortest game week. They gave promoted special-teams coach John Fassel a whole two days to ready himself and his spinning players for the Seahawks.

“I was pretty emotional, mostly because I had just the utmost respect and love for coach Fisher. So initially it was just a bummer, that a guy that I really respect and admire just lost his job,” Fassel said Tuesday. “Then having to switch over quickly and figure out how to do this on the fly. It’s been emotional, which is a good thing, I think.”

Fassel has completed three Ironman triathlons. He may need to draw upon those experiences in grit and adversity for what he’s about to lead.

The Rams will start a rookie quarterback, Jared Goff, inside the roaring cauldron of CenturyLink Field. Goff is 0-4 in his first NFL starts.

They are last in the NFL in total offense (286 yards per game), last in points (14.9), 30th in rushing (81 yards per game) and 29th in passing (205.1). The Rams are last in the NFC and 30th in the NFL in turnover margin, at minus-11.

They lost three fumbles and Goff threw two interceptions last weekend. That is why Atlanta blew them out of the Los Angeles Coliseum. The Falcons led 42-0 before winning 42-14.

Other than that, all is starry and sunny for Los Angeles.

“They’re the ‘12th Man,’ and they love being talked about,” Goff said of Seahawks fans. “They’re a good fan base. And I expect them to be loud Thursday.”

So does Wagner. He was asked if the Seahawks need to do anything differently to make life even rougher for Goff Thursday.

“Nah,” Wagner said. “We’ve just got to what we do. I think that’s going to be hard enough.

“Coming into C-Link, I don’t think — in my opinion — I don’t think he’s played in front of a crowd like that. So it’s really going to test his communication. It’s really going to test how he talks to his line. And we are going to have stuff, too.

“We are going to try to make it as hard as we can for him.”

It’s already hard enough for Goff and the Rams.

Goff has completed 55 percent of his passes with four touchdowns, five interceptions and a low passer rating of 65.8 in his four starts since Fisher finally decided to start his No. 1-overall draft pick instead of Case Keenum. The Rams have lost all four of his starts and are averaging 13.8 points per game with Goff.

Todd Gurley was the NFL’s rookie of the year in 2015 with 1,106 yards and 10 touchdowns. He has 740 yards and five scores through 13 games. Kenny Britt is the Rams’ leading receiver with 63 catches and five touchdowns. But the Rams have made Tavon Austin a more featured wide receiver against Seattle. Austin has run fly sweeps and reverses against the Seahawks in the past. He has 16 rushes in six career games against the Seahawks. That’s a higher average of runs per game than he has against any other team.

If the Rams can score more than 14 points, their defense remains formidable. Aaron Donald is the fastest, most disruptive defensive tackle in the league, and he’s controlled the line of scrimmage and games in the last three meetings with the Seahawks. The Rams have won all three.

Donald has 27 sacks in less than three full NFL seasons.

“He has extraordinary quickness; he’s faster than all the defensive linemen that play in that spot. He’s a 4.6 guy. That’s one,” Carroll said of the reasons Donald gives the Seahawks so much trouble. “He has tremendous instincts; he has instincts like Michael Bennett does. They can feel a play coming and undercut a block and jump across a block and in just really destructive fashion for the offense. He’s been a great playmaker for them and he does it with quickness, but without the instincts that he has he wouldn’t be able to be so effective.

“He’s really special.”

That’s the adjective Carroll used a couple months ago describing the chemistry and potential of these Seahawks. He said they had a chance to be the best team he’s had yet since arriving to lead Seattle in 2010.

Now, after two losses in three weeks by a combined 52-15, does the coach still believe?

“Yeah, I think this team in the next couple years here — whether it’s now — I feel like we have the best group of leaders. They’ve matured to this point where we have a chance to really find it,” Carroll said. “It’s so tenuous, each season as it comes along, it depends what happens. We’ll see.

“I’m not giving up on this team right now. I think we have a lot of great football ahead of us. We need some maturing process to continue. We need to handle the big close to the season and see how that works. We’ll see what happens.”