Which Version of the Seahawks Defense Is Real? Week 15 Against the Rams Raised More Questions Than Answers
Coming into Week 15, the Seattle Seahawks' defense looked like one of the most reliable units in the league. Five straight games holding opponents under 300 total yards.
An average of just 240 yards allowed per game - nearly 90 yards better than the league median. And over the course of the season, only three teams had managed to crack 300 yards against them in 14 outings.
Then came the Los Angeles Rams.
By the end of their overtime thriller, the Rams had racked up a staggering 581 total yards - 501 of those in regulation. For context, the only team to even sniff 400 yards against Seattle before this was Tampa Bay in Week 5. That day, Baker Mayfield aired it out for 370 yards, but the Bucs were shut down on the ground, managing just 56 rushing yards at 2.3 yards per carry.
This was different. This was a complete breakdown - on the ground, through the air, and in the structure of Seattle's defense.
A Tale of Two Games
Just five weeks earlier, this same Rams team - with many of the same weapons - managed only 249 yards against Seattle. And that was with a healthy Kevin Dotson and Davante Adams in the lineup.
In Week 15, Dotson exited early, and Adams was out entirely. Yet the Rams offense moved the ball at will.
So what changed?
Let’s start with the trenches. In the first half, the Rams’ offensive line dominated.
Seattle’s front seven - one of the most physical and disruptive in the league - was neutralized. The Rams ran 17 first-down plays in the first half alone.
That’s a red flag in itself, but it’s what they did with those plays that really exposed Seattle.
On those 17 first-down snaps, the Rams passed just six times - and averaged nearly 20 yards per attempt. Sure, Puka Nacua’s 54-yard bomb helped inflate that number, but even without it, Stafford was dealing. He hit throws of 27 and 19 yards on first downs, keeping the Seahawks off-balance and on their heels.
And when LA wasn’t throwing darts, they were pounding the rock. Twelve first-down runs.
Over five yards per carry. That’s the kind of efficiency that opens up the entire playbook.
When a defense gives up five-plus yards on first down, it’s either getting gashed on the ground or forced to overcommit and risk getting burned deep. The Rams did both.
Kyren Williams and Blake Corum ran with purpose, taking advantage of wide-open lanes and a Seattle front that just couldn’t get off blocks. When the Seahawks tried to blitz and create pressure, Stafford made them pay. The blitzes left holes in the secondary, and the Rams' receivers exploited them - not just with contested catches, but with wide-open looks that pointed to communication breakdowns and missed assignments.
Mental Mistakes and Missed Assignments
There were certainly moments when Seattle’s coverage was tight and the Rams still made plays - Nacua and Konata Mumfield both had impressive grabs in traffic. But too often, LA’s receivers were running into space unchallenged. That’s not a talent issue - that’s a breakdown in execution.
The defense looked disjointed. Confused.
Not the aggressive, well-schemed unit we’ve seen for most of the season under Mike Macdonald. And it wasn’t just one area.
The pass rush wasn’t getting home. The linebackers were late to fill.
The secondary looked out of sync. It was a full-system failure.
But Then… The Switch Flipped
With just under 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter, after a Sam Darnold interception left Seattle trailing by 16, something changed.
Suddenly, the Seahawks defense found its teeth.
The Rams, who had already crossed the 400-yard mark, needed just one more sustained drive to ice the game. Instead, Seattle shut them down.
Three straight possessions, just 14 combined yards. Nine plays.
1.6 yards per snap.
DeMarcus Lawrence took over. Leonard Williams and Byron Murphy, who had struggled to anchor the line earlier, started winning at the point of attack.
The Rams’ run game - which had been a hammer all night - was stuffed. The pass rush came alive, and the coverage finally tightened up.
Nacua stopped finding space. Stafford stopped finding time.
That defensive stand set the stage for Rashid Shaheed’s electric punt return, which flipped the momentum. The next stop gave Seattle a chance to tie it. And after LA scored early in the fourth, the Seahawks defense held them scoreless the rest of regulation - giving their offense and special teams a chance to claw back.
Overtime: Back to the Struggles
But just when it looked like Seattle had figured it out, overtime brought back the same issues that plagued them early. The Rams didn’t dominate the ground game in the extra period - that part had been solved.
But the coverage breakdowns returned. Blown assignments.
Missed rotations. Receivers running free.
It wasn’t the same level of dominance LA showed in the first half, but it was enough to get them into scoring position and ultimately finish the job.
So… Who Are the Seahawks Defensively?
That’s the question Seattle has to answer heading into the final stretch of the season.
Are they the team that held five straight opponents under 300 yards and bullied offenses at the line of scrimmage? Or are they the group that gave up 581 yards to a division rival missing key starters?
The truth is, both versions showed up in Week 15. The dominant, swarming defense that can take over a game - and the disorganized, reactive unit that gets gashed on first down and loses track of receivers.
Mike Macdonald and his staff have some work to do. Because if the Seahawks want to make a postseason run, they’ll need the former version - and they’ll need it for four quarters, not just the final ten minutes.