Seahawks All-22 film review: How Seattle came back against the Rams

The Seattle Seahawks’ win over the Los ANgeles Rams felt like two very different football games stitched together by halftime adjustments. The first half was sloppy, reactive, and at times frustrating on both sides of the ball. The second half, however, showed a team that corrected structural issues, leaned into schematic advantages, and played with far better clarity of purpose. The All-22 makes that contrast even sharper.

Let’s break it down.

The Bad

The defense in the first half: problems with run fits and a nonexistent pass rush

The opening half was arguably the defense’s worst run-defense tape in weeks. The issues weren’t about effort or missed tackles as much as structure and spacing.

The Rams repeatedly stressed Seattle’s interior fits using a mix of wide zone, duo, and insert concepts, forcing linebackers to declare early. Seattle’s front was often aligned in looks that put too much stress on second-level defenders to be perfect. Defensive tackles were getting reached or displaced just enough to muddy the reads, and linebackers were arriving late or off-balance.

The Seahawks have a structure with two safeties deep downfield and play a lot of nickel coverage. Even against teams with strong running games, the team remains committed to this formation.

This makes defending the run a challenge because you have fewer defenders than gaps to defend. One way to compensate for this numerical inferiority is for the players to defend two gaps or one and a half gaps. Macdonald uses the second approach more often.

Defending in this way means the defender has a primary gap to be responsible for and a secondary gap to also pay attention to. The Seahawks’ defensive line has an aggressive mentality, which also takes its toll.

In the first half, the players abandoned their primary gaps prematurely, giving space for cutbacks. Since the Rams play with heavy formations, with three tight ends, and winning at the first level, they were in a good position to block the second level.

Compounding the issue was the lack of pass rush. Early on, Seattle relied heavily on four-man rushes with static looks, rarely threatening the Rams’ protection rules. Matthew Stafford was able to get the ball out on rhythm, especially off play action — a direct result of the defense failing to slow the run. When you can’t dent the pocket and you’re losing on early downs, you’re playing exactly the game the Rams want.

What changed?

In the second half, Seattle simplified the picture. The defensive line played with better gap discipline, staying square instead of chasing plays laterally. Linebackers were allowed to trigger more decisively, and Seattle mixed in simulated pressures and late rotations, forcing Stafford to hold the ball just a fraction longer. The pass rush didn’t suddenly become dominant, but it became functional, which was enough once early-down efficiency improved.

Sam Darnold: the rough stretches still exist

The bad reps came largely from timing and eye discipline. On several early-down throws, Darnold either locked onto his first read or was late coming off it, allowing underneath defenders to close windows. Against a Rams defense that thrives on disguised coverages and post-snap rotation, those hesitations matter.

Darnold can be multiple quarterbacks in the same game. This can be good, for example, he can recover from a bad play, a turnover. But, this also makes it difficult for him to be consistent throughout the entire game.

His first interception was a poor post-snap read. Cooper Kupp’s motion suggests that the cover would be man-to-man. The double-slant concept would work against this cover since Kupp would open up space for JSN’s route. However, post-snap the Rams are in a zone, Darnold doesn’t realize this and the interception happens.

Another bad post-snap processing snap. The Rams call a fake pressure play. In this type of play, the defense presses with only 4 men, but in a different way. A player who isn’t on the defensive line goes after the quarterback, while a defensive lineman drops back to cover a short zone. In this case, Kobie Turner and Byron Young drop back into coverage. Darnold doesn’t notice and is intercepted under pressure.

An example of Darnold struggling to overcome the Rams’ defensive cover. The LA team is in quarters coverage, but in an unusual formation. Because of this, Kam Kinchens has to read receiver #2, who in this case is Cooper Kupp. Since the WR runs a vertical route, he becomes the responsibility of the safety (Kam Kinchens), who is at a completely unfavorable angle. Darnold fails to perceive this, escapes the pressure, and tries to run with the ball. Notice also that he hesitates to run instead of running in a straight line, where he could gain more yards.

Another problem has been how he handles pressure, even when he’s performing well. This play was right after Poona Ford’s sack. It was a simple checkdown pass; the pressure hadn’t effectively built up yet, but on the first threat, he messes up his mechanics and the pass isn’t completed.

This type of decision resulted in a game with four interceptions in the first meeting between the teams. He has a free rusher and no one open. Instead of accepting the sack, he forces a pass that, with the hit, becomes short and is almost intercepted.

The Good

Sam Darnold: composure, toughness, and situational growth

Now for the other side of the Darnold experience.

What stands out on tape is how he did not let the early struggles snowball. In the second half, his footwork was cleaner, his eyes were more patient, and he trusted route development far more consistently. Darnold was especially effective attacking the middle of the field, where the Rams’ coverage rules became stressed once Seattle established better balance.

He also deserves credit for his pocket toughness. The Rams did start to get closer in the second half, but Darnold stood tall, delivered throws with bodies around him, and avoided the backbreaking mistake. This wasn’t a perfect performance, but it was a winning quarterback performance, particularly in how he handled high-leverage downs late.

Darnold is under pressure even with the play action, as Anthony Bradford loses the duel. The QB escapes the pressure, keeps his eyes on the backfield and manages a great pass to JSN.

Excellent execution on the most important play of the game. Does the QB who executes this play look like he was intercepted twice, held the ball at times, and missed some simple passes?

No.

Darnold tends to get stuck on his first read. Kubiak lays three routes on one side of the field to help Darnold read the play. None of these routes are open, and the QB makes a quick progression to his fourth option, Eric Saubert. The Saubert and Barner are running the Mesh concept, which consists of two overlapping drags. It’s a good way to beat man coverage, but here the Rams are in zone coverage. When this happens, players are taught not to complete these routes, but to stop when they find a soft spot, which is exactly what happens.

Klint Kubiak’s second-half creativity

If the All-22 has a star of this game, it’s Klint Kubiak.

The first half was fairly vanilla, and the Rams were comfortable matching Seattle’s tendencies. That changed dramatically after halftime. Kubiak leaned into constraint plays — using earlier looks against the defense — and the results were immediate.

We saw:

• Play-action off wide zone looks, stressing linebackers horizontally;
• Screens and misdirection, punishing overpursuit;
• Formational variation that forced the Rams to declare coverage earlier

The beauty of Kubiak’s approach was that nothing felt random. Each call built off what came before. Once the Rams started flying downhill to stop the run, Seattle countered with layered route concepts and quick-hitting throws that attacked vacated space.

This wasn’t just creativity for creativity’s sake — it was sequencing, and it showed a clear understanding of how the Rams wanted to defend Seattle.

We have Darnold back at his best, moving to the left and throwing to the right. Kubiak has an excellent play call here. He takes advantage of two key points in the Rams’ defense. The first is that he used this play-action call with a flood of routes coming from the opposite side and attacking different levels of the defense. Keep that in mind.

The other point is that the Rams doubled JSN with the safety on many occasions. Notice that safety #26 has his eyes on the receiver, losing focus on AJ Barner. Add to that the fact that they expected Barner’s route to go toward the sideline. However, the TE makes an incredible cut that leaves the safety on the ground and the fantastic TD happens.

Another highlight for Kubiak was how he managed to adjust JSN. The WR didn’t have any receptions in the first half of the game. Kubiak found different ways to use him. In this play, he puts the WR in the backfield, protecting him from the press and allowing space to run an option route, leaving him open and getting a first down on his first reception of the game.

Final Thoughts

This game won’t be remembered as a clean or dominant performance, but the All-22 tells a more encouraging story than the first half might suggest. The Seahawks identified their problems — soft run fits, predictable rush plans, and an offense stuck between aggression and restraint — and corrected them in real time. That matters.

The defense didn’t magically fix everything, but it stabilized enough to let the offense breathe. Darnold showed both his limitations and his growth. And Kubiak once again demonstrated that when given a feel for the flow of the game, he can tilt the chessboard back in Seattle’s favor.

Against a Rams team that is exceptionally good at forcing opponents to play left-handed, the Seahawks adjusted, survived, and ultimately won — and that’s often the clearest marker of a team still trending in the right direction.