Seahawks Inactives: Lockett to play vs Rams, Neal out for 3rd straight game

The good news is the Seahawks will have star receiver Tyler Lockett and starting left guard Damien Lewis in uniform when they take on the Los Angeles Rams in Week 18. The bad news is Seattle will be without two key contributors due to injury.

Both Lockett (calf) and Lewis (ankle) are active Sunday after being listed as questionable to play, but starting strong safety Ryan Neal (knee) is set to miss his third straight game. With Neal out, Johnathan Abram likely gets the start at strong safety once again.

Haynes, who left last week’s game with an ankle injury, will miss his second game of the season due to injury. Haynes hasn’t been a regular starter for the Seahawks but he has played more than half of their offensive snaps as he regularly rotates with Gabe Jackson at right guard.

Rounding out the Seahawks’ inactives list against the Rams are receiver Penny Hart, cornerback Artie Burns, linebacker Vi Jones, defensive tackle Isaiah Mack and linebacker Joshua Onujiogu. Those five are all healthy scratches.

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For the Rams, star defensive lineman Aaron Donald, a three-time Defensive Player of the Year, is inactive once again due to an ankle injury. Also inactive are receiver Ben Skowronek, center Brian Allen, quarterback John Wolford, linebacker Travin Howard and defensive back Shaun Jolly.

Sunday is a big day for the Seahawks as they need to beat the Rams and get some help in order to make the playoffs.

If Seattle beats LA, the Hawks would then need the Detroit Lions to beat or tie the Green Bay Packers on Sunday Night Football to make the postseason. That would cause both the Seahawks and Lions to end the year at 9-8, but since Seattle won the head-to-head matchup earlier this year, the Seahawks would win the tiebreaker for the NFC’s seventh and final postseason berth.

If both Seattle and Green Bay win, the Packers would earn the NFC’s final wild card spot due to having a better conference record. That would be largely due to the Seahawks losing all four of their games to the NFC South.

If the Seahawks lose, the winner of Green Bay-Detroit will make the playoffs.

Listen to the 1:25 p.m. game between the Hawks and Rams on Seattle Sports 710 AM and KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM, the flagship stations of the Seahawks Radio Network. The game is also available to be streamed on the Seattle Sports and Seahawks apps by listeners located within 100 miles of Seattle.

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