This past week was a difficult one for the Los Angeles Rams as after a 42-14 loss to the Atlanta Falcons at home on Sunday, head coach Jeff Fisher was fired on Monday morning.
The timing of the firing was questionable as the team had a short week before traveling to face the division rival Seattle Seahawks of Thursday night.
While the Rams had beaten the Seawhawks three straight times, they were not able to come away with a victory Thursday in interim head coach John Fassel’s first game as the Rams fell 24-3 to drop to 4-10 on the season.
Once again it was a rough day for quarterback Jared Goff and the Rams offense, and it began early in the first quarter. Goff put together a nice drive and had his team in the red zone. After an incomplete pass on 3rd-and-1 from the 7-yard line. Fassell elected to go for it on fourth down, but a pitch to running back Todd Gurley fell short of the first down line and the Seahawks took over.
13 plays later Seawhawks quarterback Russell Wilson found tight end Luke Wilson for an 8-yard touchdown to give Seattle a 7-0 lead early in the second quarter.
After a three and out for Los Angeles, Fassel, who was the teams special teams coordinator before being promoted to interim head coach, rolled the dice and called a fake punt on fourth down in his own territory. Punt Johnny Hekker, who was a quarterback in high school, had a wide open receiver for a first down but the pass fell short and Seattle took over in Rams territory.
That led to a field goal to extend the lead to 10-0. The Rams were able to get on the board late in the first half with a field goal of their own to cut the deficit to 10-3 at halftime.
The second half was all Seattle though as Wilson added two more touchdown passes, one to Doug Baldwin and on a 57-yard bomb to Tyler Lockett, to help earn the 24-3 victory.
To add insult to injury, the Seahawks and head coach Pete Carroll also called a fake punt with five minutes remaining in the game in the Seahawks own territory and converted on the play.
Additionally, Goff left the game in the fourth quarter with a possible concussion after a big hit by Richard Sherman. Before leaving with the injury he had 135 yards on 13-of-25 passing and did not turn the ball over.
Backup Case Keenum completed 5-of-9 passes for 32 yards after replacing Goff.
The Rams have two games remaining in a season they would very much like to forget. Next Saturday they host the San Francisco 49ers, who have not won a game since beating Los Angeles in Week 1, at 1:25 p.m. Pacific time.
