Changing of the guard: Seahawks' reign over NFC West is done
The Los Angeles Rams' 42-7 beatdown of the Seahawks will simply go down as another win in the standings, but the victory carries greater significance, as it may have marked the end of Seattle's dominance over the NFC West.
With three divisional titles, two Super Bowl trips, and one championship in the past four seasons, there's no question who has been the top dog in the West.
Even during an era in which the NFL landscape is rapidly changing, one of the constants has been this strong Seahawks outfit. But their divisional dominance is now over, and here are four reasons why:
Awful running game
We became accustomed to watching Marshawn Lynch run all over opponents in a Seahawks uniform, but those days are over since Beast Mode left town. Seattle is yet to have a 100-yard rusher this season, with quarterback Russell Wilson leading the team in rushing yards in five of its 13 games. Even more shocking, the Seahawks' leading rusher has failed to gain more than 50 yards on the ground in eight contests. The inability to run the ball with any sort of success has placed an inordinate amount of pressure on Wilson to be brilliant on a weekly basis. While he's answered that call more often than not, he can't do it against the better defensive units in the league.
Struggling offensive line
One of the reasons the Seahawks offense has become one-dimensional is the lack of strong offensive line play. The running game's issues were documented above, but the team has also struggled to protect Wilson on a regular basis, leaving him fleeing for his life on virtually every play. While some of that can be attributed to Wilson's penchant for scrambling at the first sign of danger, it feels as though he's expecting to be hit on every play. The Rams sacked Wilson a whopping seven times on Sunday, never allowing the passing game to get comfortable.
Aging defense
The "Legion of Boom" certainly put the Seahawks on the map, with the dominant defense terrorizing opponents each and every week. But due to an aging core that's been ravaged by injuries, this once terrifying unit is no longer giving its opponents nightmares. Richard Sherman, Cliff Avril, K.J. Wright, Kam Chancellor, and Earl Thomas have all missed time this year due to injuries. All of those players are 28 or older, and when adding 31-year-old Michael Bennett to the list, the glory days of the Seahawks defense seem to be a thing of the past. After Blake Bortles put up a 123.7 passer rating in last week's 30-24 win by the Jaguars, the Rams hung 42 on the scoreboard on the road.
The Rams are legit
With a 34-0 lead at halftime, the Rams essentially stormed the bridge, took the Seahawks as their hostages, and announced they were the captains of the NFC West now. With the 49ers rebuilding, the Cardinals aging at a rapid rate, and the Rams coming off a 4-12 season, 2017 originally looked as though it would be an easy walk to the divisional title for Seattle. Los Angeles has quickly shown that won't be the case, as it has put up gaudy numbers on its way to being the league's most prolific offense. With a dynamic quarterback-running back combo in Jared Goff and Todd Gurley, an innovative young head coach in Sean McVay, and the league's best defensive player in Aaron Donald, the Rams aren't going anywhere anytime soon.
(Photos courtesy: Getty Images)