Bobby Wagner, Seahawks Better Prepared Entering Week 16 Rematch vs. Rams
With the NFC West division title up for grabs in Week 16, the Seahawks are currently preparing for their biggest challenge of the season, as they’ll be attempting to correct the mistakes made during their first showdown against the Rams back in Week 10.
Though Seattle lost that contest by just seven points, it was clear Los Angeles controlled the game through all four quarters. Along with losing the time of possession battle, the offense committed a trio of turnovers (two interceptions and one fumble) and allowed six sacks, while the defense surrendered over 300 passing yards along with over 100 rushing yards.
As bad as that outcome was earlier this season, neither side of the football was playing at full strength back then for the Seahawks, as both the offense and defense were missing several key players due to injury. But with the club becoming a lot healthier down this final stretch, linebacker Bobby Wagner feels much more confident about his team’s chances of defeating the Rams this time around.
“We’re coming off playing our best ball, I definitely feel like we’re hitting our stride,” Wagner explained. “I definitely feel like [when] we played them last time we were still getting guys back, guys hadn’t been on the field all together. So having everybody out and really just being able to be together, and play our best ball right now going into the game it’s always going to give you confidence.”
Along with having players like Shaquill Griffin, Benson Mayowa, Quinton Dunbar, and Bryan Mone out of the lineup, the starters on defense also barely had any time to work together from a chemistry standpoint before their Week 10 showdown at SoFi Stadium. Now five games later, most of those players have returned to action and midseason acquisition Carlos Dunlap is playing some of the best ball of his career as well.
On the offensive side, the Seahawks were without running backs Chris Carson and Carlos Hyde as well as starting center Ethan Pocic in Week 10. Considering all three of them have since returned and Rashaad Penny is also back on the field, Wagner believes a healthier roster should undoubtedly help the team improve their performance on both sides of the ball on Sunday.
“We feel really good,” Wagner mentioned. “We not only have a lot of guys back, [but] we’ve been able to gel together on the field for quite some time. I think on the offensive side, we have our running backs back, we have a lot of our guys back on that end too.”
“So to have Chris [Carson] and those guys back to complement what Russell [Wilson] does, it’s going to be really good for us.”
Over 14 games this season, Wagner has started in each of those contests, producing 126 total tackles, 74 solo tackles, 19 quarterback pressures, 15 quarterback hurries, 14 quarterback hits, eight pass breakups, five tackles for loss, 3.0 sacks, and a 22.4 percent pressure rate. Additionally, the seven-time Pro Bowler has also allowed 47 completions, a 67.1 percent completion percentage, 446 yards, 248 yards after the catch, a pair of touchdowns, along with a 94.1 passer rating in pass coverage.
In comparison to the rest of the league, the 30-year old currently owns the second-most pass breakups, the second-highest pressure rate, the fourth-most solo tackles, tied for the 10th-most tackles for loss, tied for the 12th-most sacks, tied for the 14th-most quarterback hits, tied for the 16th-most quarterback hurries, and the 19th-most quarterback pressures among all qualified linebackers, according to Sports-Info-Solutions.com.
Game planning against the Rams, it’ll be crucial for the Seahawks to slow down their high-powered offense and also apply a ton of pressure on quarterback Jared Goff. In particular, Wagner explained how their offense relies heavily on bootleg plays and how the defense will need to be aware of when those certain calls are made during the game.
“I definitely feel like they’re really good at the boots, the stretch boots, and the cut boots,” Wagner discussed. “They have all different types of varieties. They really match their run game up well with their boots. So a lot of times you really have to study the plays because they have a complementary boot to every single run that they have.”
