The St. Louis Rams have gotten off to a rocky start this year due in large part to injuries to key players. At 1-4 and living in the rugged NFC West, it’s not going to get much easier, especially this week against the reigning Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks, who boast arguably the most talented secondary in the NFL. It’s not hard to see why Rams QB Austin Davis is the x-factor this week.
Davis wasn’t supposed to be a factor at all this season. He started the year buried on the depth chart as a second year undrafted free agent out of Southern Miss. Yet thanks to injuries, Davis has now started the last four games for the Rams. Surprising to just about everyone except Davis, is that he’s actually played pretty solid. Through five games, three of which were tight losses, Davis has completed just under 64% of his passes for 1,365 yards with a 7/4 TD to INT ratio. The offense as a whole hasn’t been too bad as they’re 7th in the league in passing yards per game and 19th in rushing.
But the Seahawks are a different animal. This secondary is leaps and bounds better than what he’s faced in weeks past. CB Richard Sherman and safeties Kam Chancellor and Earl Thomas are considered amongst the best at their position in the league. The front seven know how to get up field, put pressure on the QB and force him into mistakes. It’s simply an aggressive defense loaded with talent. Not fun for any QB, much less a second year man making his fifth career start.
Davis will need to throw the ball for the Rams to have success offensively. The ground game isn’t strong enough, particularly against this front seven, to rely upon to win the game. Turnovers will be crucial in this game because the Seahawks have a long, grinding offense that chews up clock, so missed opportunities and field position will be critical. The Rams can absolutely win this home game. Davis will need some nice and easy routes early on, get some momentum and confidence and hope the ground game can get established early on so the Seahawks will be forced to play an honest defense.
Rick Stavig is an NFL Draft Columnist for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @rickstavig or add him to your network on Google+.
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