Seahawks vs. Rams: Slowing Down Aaron Donald Highlights Key Matchups to Watch
Kicking off the regular season with a key NFC West contest, Geno Smith and the Seattle Seahawks will aim to open a new year in the win column against Aaron Donald and the upset-minded Los Angeles Rams at Lumen Field on Sunday.
Just two years ago, the Rams captured the Lombardi Trophy with a Super Bowl win over the Bengals, while the Seahawks floundered to a fourth-place finish with a 7-10 record. But those fortunes took a near-180 degree turn in 2022, with injuries leading to a dreadful 5-win campaign for the defending champions and Smith guiding his team to an unexpected playoff berth stepping into Russell Wilson's stead under center.
With both teams looking to get off to a quick start, which matchups will ultimately decide who captures a Week 1 victory?
*All data provided by Pro Football Focus unless otherwise noted.
--Seahawks guards Damien Lewis, Phil Haynes and center Evan Brown versus Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald: After not having to worry about the future Hall of Famer in either contest last season due to an ankle injury, the Seahawks new-look interior offensive line will be tasked with trying to neutralize Donald, who has dominated them for a decade. In 17 career regular season and playoff games against Seattle, he has racked up 17 sacks and 44 quarterback hits, likely still giving Russell Wilson nightmares in Denver. Keeping him away from Geno Smith as much as possible will be imperative to landing a Week 1 victory, as he has the talent to destroy offensive game plans on his own.
Aaron Donald has dominated against everyone in a Hall of Fame career, but he's been an especially prickly thorn in the side of the Seahawks, living in the backfield for a decade.
Statistically, Lewis hasn't given up a sack in four of his previous five games against the Rams with Donald in the lineup, but he did struggle mightily against him in a playoff loss in 2020, yielding four pressures and a sack to the generational superstar. Meanwhile, Haynes will face Donald for the first time in his career, creating a not-so-ideal first matchup to kick off his tenure as a full-time starter at right guard. If there's a silver lining, Brown had an outstanding performance in his lone start working against Donald, allowing no pressures on 37 snaps for the Lions during the 2021 season.
--Seahawks linebackers Bobby Wagner and Jordyn Brooks versus Rams running back Cam Akers: Without star receiver Cooper Kupp available, the Rams likely will lean more on their ground game on Sunday, feeding Akers early and often against a Seahawks defense that ranked 30th in the NFL defending the run a year ago. In two of his past three games against Seattle, the former second-round pick out of Florida State has surpassed 100 rushing yards, including in last year's season finale. He also scored two rushing touchdowns in the first matchup last season.
To keep Akers in check, the Seahawks will be counting on Wagner, who re-signed after spending a year with the Rams back in March, and a healthy Brooks to play downhill and meet the back in the backfield and at the line of scrimmage. The two veteran linebackers will also be worth watching in coverage when tasked to match up with running backs, as Akers has broken free on a couple of long receptions in his career playing at Lumen Field. This chess match will be an important one to monitor as the game progresses, especially if the Rams find ground success early.
--Seahawks receivers DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba versus Rams cornerbacks Ahkello Witherspoon, Derion Kendrick, and Cobie Durant: Even with Jalen Ramsey now in Miami and no longer covering DK Metcalf in what had become a must-see sparring match twice a year, there's still some familiarity to this matchup. Witherspoon spent a brief cup of tea with the Seahawks before being traded to the Steelers during training camp in 2021 and previously played for the 49ers, including allowing no receptions on three targets against Metcalf in the season finale in 2020. Given that experience, the tall, lengthy corner will likely see a ton of snaps against the star receiver on the outside.
Metcalf and Lockett had a strong outing in Los Angeles last November even with Jalen Ramsey covering them, combining for over 200 receiving yards and two scores.
© Jayne Kamin-Oncea, USA TODAY
Across from Witherspoon, Kendrick had a difficult start against the Seahawks in Week 13 at SoFi Stadium, giving up five receptions on five targets for 104 yards and a touchdown to Lockett. Inside, Durant gave up three receptions that netted first downs in the season finale from the slot, including a pair of first down catches by Cade Johnson. The second-year corner will be challenged significantly more by the arrival of Smith-Njigba as well as big-bodied slot option Jake Bobo and Cody Thompson, making this a matchup where the home team could have a major advantage against a young, inexperienced secondary if Smith has time to throw.
--Seahawks defensive tackles Dre'Mont Jones and Jarran Reed versus Rams guards Steve Avila, Tremayne Anchrum Jr. and center Brian Allen: Key pieces of a defensive line reshuffle during the offseason, the Seahawks will get their first chance to see Jones, Reed, and Mario Edwards play extensive game snaps together with hopes the trio will anchor a much-improved run stopping defense. For their first test, they will be battling with a largely inexperienced Rams offensive line that struggled mightily last season as well. The unit features a second-round pick in Avila who will start right away as a rookie and a healthy Allen, who missed a big chunk of last season due to injury. Anchrum, a former seventh-round pick out of Clemson, will start with just five regular season snaps under his belt in three prior seasons.
If that group doesn't sound overly impressive, Allen was one of the NFL's better centers a few years ago when the Rams made their Super Bowl run and Avila starred at TCU during the team's national title push a year ago. Still, with Jones being one of the most prolific interior pass rushers in the league over the past three seasons and Reed looking to be rejuvenated back in the Pacific Northwest, the Seahawks will be counting on those two to do plenty of damage collapsing the pocket on Matthew Stafford as well as holding up at the point of attack against the run in a matchup that looks advantageous on paper.
--Seahawks tight ends Will Dissly, Colby Parkinson, and Noah Fant versus Rams linebackers Ernest Jones and Christian Rozeboom: Though Los Angeles near the bottom of the league allowing just 65 receptions and 698 receiving yards to tight ends last year, the team allowed eight touchdowns to the position, tied for seventh-most in the NFL. Along with Metcalf and Lockett each going for over 100 yards and scoring a touchdown in their first matchup last year, Fant also caught a touchdown and Smith completed seven out of eight passes to Seattle's tight ends for 76 yards. In the season finale, Fant tied for the team lead with four receptions and Parkinson caught a 32-yard reception to set up a game-tying Jason Myers field goal.
The trio of Parkinson, Dissly, and Fant contributed 76 receiving yards in Seattle's Week 13 road win over Los Angeles last season, making a major impact in the passing game.
Looking at the Rams linebacker corps without Wagner, Jones allowed quarterbacks to complete 85 percent of their passes against him for 443 yards in 2022, struggling at times to match up with tight ends. As for Rozeboom, the former undrafted signee out of South Dakota State has logged just eight snaps in NFL regular season games without a single coverage snap and didn't see much action dropping in coverage during the preseason either, making him a unknown wild card. With the Seahawks having all three of their talented tight ends back from last season and a star-studded receiving corps to take attention off them, this could be a game where they factor into the passing game quite a bit.
--Seahawks safeties Quandre Diggs and Julian Love versus Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford: Close friends off the field after playing several seasons together in Detroit, Diggs got the better of Stafford in their first two games against each other in 2021, registering an interception in both contests during losing efforts by the Seahawks. In the first matchup, the veteran quarterback tried to throw the ball away out of the back of the end zone after bailing to his right, only for the ball-hawking Diggs to somehow leap up for the pick. Then in Week 15, he jumped a pass to Kupp near the goal line for another pick to turn the Rams away with no points.
After not getting to face one another last year due to Stafford's injuries, Diggs will have a new running mate at the safety position with plenty of ball skills of his own in Love, who presents more coverage flexibility than Jamal Adams with his prior cornerback experience both at the boundary and in the slot. Without Kupp available as his main target, Stafford will pick and choose when to go deep to Van Jefferson and Tutu Atwell, two receivers capable of stretching the field vertically. Both of Seattle's safeties will have to have their heads on a swivel ready to make plays on the football when the strong armed gunslinger decides to take those shots on Sunday.
