Three takeaways from the Seahawks’ 24-3 victory over the Rams

Here’s three takeaways from the Seattle Seahawks’ 24-3 victory over the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday night at CenturyLink Field:

1) The panic over Russell Wilson is over.

Seattle biggest concern going into the game concerned its quarterback. Wilson had the worst outing of his NFL career in last Sunday’s 38-10 loss to the Green Bay Packers, in which he threw five interceptions and lost a game by more than 10 points for the first time in his five years in the league. Wilson not only had the interceptions, he missed his share of open receivers as his accuracy was way off. It wouldn’t have been such a big deal except that Wilson had an equally bad outing two weeks earlier in Seattle’s 14-5 loss to Tampa Bay. Was something wrong with Seattle’s quarterback?

Wilson answered that question Thursday, and the answer was, “No.” Wilson was back to his efficient self against the Rams, going 19-for-26 for 227 yards and three touchdowns. The one interception he threw was bad, but it was also inconsequential as it was his last pass of the game. Wilson improved his passer rating by 78.4 points from 43.7 against Green Bay to 122.1 against Los Angeles. It took a while for Wilson to get there as he still seemed to be ironing out the wrinkles in the first half, but he was his usual self in the second half, particularly when he hit Tyler Lockett in stride for a 57-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter.

The net result was that the Seahawks were able to clinch the NFC West title with two games to spare. It was Seattle’s third division title in the past four years and assured the Seahawks a trip to the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season.

2) Seattle’s pass rush has returned.

The Seahawks’ pass rush did a vanishing act the previous three weeks. Seattle had one of the league’s most fearsome pass rushes through the first 10 games of the season, recording 31 sacks. Defensive end Cliff Avril was on track for a career year, and fellow defensive end Michael Bennett was ready to return from knee surgery to add another weapon in the pass rush. But then it disappeared. In the previous three games Seattle managed just one sack total. This despite Bennett returning to the fold two weeks ago.

But the pass rush was back to its lethal best Thursday as the Seahawks sacked Rams quarterback Jared Goff four times. Everyone got into the act. Avril, who was sackless in his previous three games, had 1.5 sacks and now has a career high 11.5 as he bids for his first Pro Bowl. Bennett had his first sack since returning from injury — though he negated it by thrusting one too many times during his celebration. Frank Clark also had 1.5 sacks. And Goff was hit eight times total.

Add in eight tackles for loss and it was quite the night for Seattle’s defensive front. No, the Rams’ offense may not have been a big test as it came into the game ranked last in the NFL in both yards and points, but it’s still impressive holding any team to 183 yards.

3) Run the ball at the 1-yard line!

The ghost of Super Bowl XLIX reared its head again in the third quarter.

Seattle, leading 10-3, had second-and-goal from the Rams’ 2-yard line. The Seahawks had an incomplete pass on which defensive holding was called, then had another pass that was nearly picked off by Los Angeles’ Bryce Hager. After a dive by fullback Marcel Reece was stuffed, the Seahawks finally got their touchdown when Doug Baldwin faked cornerback Troy Hill out of his socks to haul in an easy 1-yard touchdown on third down.

But that didn’t satisfy Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman, who responded with a shouting match with Seattle’s coaching staff on the sideline. Afterward in the locker room Sherman told the press that he was telling the coaches he didn’t like throwing the ball at the 1-yard line — perhaps in memory of Malcolm Butler’s infamous last-second goal-line interception that saved the New England Patriots’ Super Bowl victory over the Seahawks.

But what was somewhat lost in the spectacle is that Seattle did not have a good game running the ball. Thomas Rawls was held to 34 yards on 21 carries as he was regularly hit in the backfield. It wasn’t that long ago that in games like this, when the Seahawks built a lead against inferior opposition, they could hand the ball off repeatedly to Marshawn Lynch and salt the game away. It sure doesn’t seem Seattle has that ability anymore.