LA Rams ugly win in Week 11 was thing of beauty

The LA Rams (4-6) are not exactly on a roll right now, but any taste of success is sweet enough. The LA Rams trailed the Seattle Seahawks (6-4) by a score of 13 -7 in both games that these two teams have played this season. But the LA Rams managed to sweep the Seahawks in both games this year.

If you combine the second halves of both games, the Rams have outscored the Seattle Seahawks by a margin of 30 points. The Rams outscored the Seahawks 23-0 in their Week 1 victory. In Week 11, the Rams were only good enough to outscore the Seahawks by a 10-3 margin. It was an ugly win, one that was tainted over and over by horrific officiating, ugly plays, and a host of injuries.

But the final score read Seattle Seahawks 16, LA Rams 17. That is a thing of beauty.

Rams offense took its time getting on track

The first half of this game did not offer LA Rams fans much to be optimistic about. While the Rams trailed by just six points, the offense was almost non-existent. If not for penalties called on the Seahawks defense, the Rams would have next to no offense whatsoever. But, just like Week 1, the Rams seemed to get back on track with a late touchdown to end the half.

Unfortunately, the Rams had to gut it out without veteran WR Cooper Kupp, who was injured in the first half.

With no Kupp, the Rams began to find some offense in the second half behind the powerful rushing of RB Royce Freeman. With the Seahawks defense now forced to hesitate to ensure Freeman was contained, the Rams play-action passing began to work as well.

A win is a win

By the final whistle, the Rams trailed the Seahawks in Time of Possession and yards gained. But the Rams ran the football far more effectively, and benefited from the Seahawks 12 penalties for 130 yards. The Rams were only penalized nine times for 92 yards.

While DB Derion Kendrick continued to frustrate Rams fans with bad penalties, he did step up and intercept Seahawks QB Drew Lock to get the Rams offense onto the field, which resulted in the Rams driving 75 yards in 14 plays, taking 5:12 off the game clock, and culminating in what would eventually be the game winning field goal.

With a win under their belts, the Rams hope to get their first pair of consecutive wins against the Arizona Cardinals (2-9) in Week 12. The Seahawks, meanwhile, must now face the San Francisco 49ers (7-3) on Thursday Night Football.

While it was not a pretty win, and the game took a toll on the Rams roster with an injury to WR Cooper Kupp, and Matthew Stafford was shaken up, the Rams did improve to 4-6 and have a chance to improve to 5-6 against the Arizona Cardinals. A journey begins with the first step. Right now, that is exactly what these LA Rams have done, taken their first step.