3 Keys to victory for Rams vs. Seahawks

The St. Louis Rams take on the Seattle Seahawks this Sunday and the game couldn’t have such a different meaning for either team. The Seahawks are looking to extend their season long five-game winning streak and lock up the five-seed in the NFC playoff race. The Rams on the other hand are still trying to claw their way back to the .500 mark this season and will look to play spoiler. There will be a few key areas that St. Louis will need to excel in order to come out victorious on Sunday and it begins with the running game.

More from Rams News

• Broncos mimic LA Rams, go All-In pairing Payton with Russell
• Championship Sunday shows me Rams need secondary help
• Can the LA Rams count on 17 games from QB Matthew Stafford?
• NFL salary cap skyrockets, but will it help LA Rams this offseason?
• With 49ers potential DC opening, did Fangio just balk at Miami hire?

Todd Gurley needs to be involved early and often.

There has been pretty obvious correlation between the success of Rams rookie running back Todd Gurley and the team. In fact, four of the five games Gurley has rushed for more than 100-yards have resulted in a victory for St. Louis. The Rams have also been victorious five times when Gurley receives at least 16 carries. It’s obvious a high volume of carries typically leads to success for the young back.

Dec 17, 2015 St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Rams running back Todd Gurley (30) against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the Edward Jones Dome. The Rams won 31-23. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

Gurley has amassed over 1,000 rushing yards on 210 carries to this point in the season and has been one of the teams most effective weapons. St. Louis will be tasked with controlling the ball and the clock on Sunday in order to keep the red hot Russell Wilson off the field, and a large part of that will hinge on the success or failure of Gurley.

The St. Louis Defense will need an even better performance the second time around.

Looking at the box score of the Rams Week 1 victory one might say they had a solid day. Even though the game went to overtime, St. Louis had more than a handful of big plays that lead to the victory, including a big 4th down stop of Seattle running back Marshawn Lynch to seal the win. St. Louis sacked Wilson six times that afternoon for a loss of more than 30-yards. Stand out defensive tackle Aaron Donald led the way with two sacks of his own and found himself in the Seattle backfield all afternoon. The tandem of Janoris Jenkins and Trumaine Johnson picked off Wilson and limited big-play receivers like Doug Baldwin and Jimmy Graham to 35 and 51-yards respectively.

However, it will take an even more herculean effort the second time around if the Rams would like to taste victory in Seattle. A banged up St. Louis defense will not have the same players they had the first time through. Notable losses include defensive end Robert Quinn and linebacker Alec Ogletree.

Now, the Seahawks are rolling. Since the loss to the Rams the Seahawks are 8-4, including their current five-game winning streak. Baldwin has caught fire with 13 touchdown catches and almost 900 receiving yards, and rookie Tyler Lockett has five touchdown catches in his last six games. To top it all off, Wilson has thrown for 19 touchdowns and zero interceptions in his last five games. Needless to say, St. Louis will have their work cut out for them.

Dec 13, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Rams punter Johnny Hekker (6) punts the ball A| during the first half at the Edward Jones Dome. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Special Teams will continue to be a factor in an exciting rivalry.

It seems that whenever these two teams get together there is some special teams trickery involved, usually on behalf of the Rams. We don’t need to go back very far on the timeline to find some serious antics played by St. Louis, but it’s no secret head coach Jeff Fisher is a fan of laying it all on the line. St. Louis has attempted 12 fourth down plays and found success just four times. In 2015, Fisher has called upon punter, and former high school quarterback, Johnny Hekker three times to turn a punting situation into a first down via the pass. Hacker has been successful on just one of those occasions.

Outside of the atypical plays, the Rams will need to control field position with a solid day from Hekker and their special teams squad. Hacker, recently voted to the Pro Bowl, has averaged almost 50-yards per punt. Given the struggles St. Louis has experienced on third down this season (25 percent success rate) Hekker is poised for a long day.