What We Learned: Seahawks taught tough lessons in loss to Rams

You win some, and you learn some. For the Seahawks, there were definitely some lessons learned.

Moore: Seahawks’ pass-rush issues still a concern despite 10-3 record

The Seahawks five-game win streak was snapped in a 28-12 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday Night Football.

Here’s three things the Seahawks’ first loss in six games taught us:

1) The Seahawks offense is still capable of putting up an absolute brick.

It has been a while since we’ve seen the Seahawks offense sputter throughout an entire game. In fact, that was the first time since the season-opener in 2017 that Seattle’s offense finished a game without ever reaching the end zone.

That was reminiscent of the end of the 2016 season when the Seahawks offense was so utterly incapable of running the ball that it managed only five points in a November loss to Tampa Bay and then just 10 points two weeks later in a blowout loss at Green Bay.

What made Sunday’s loss so puzzling is that Seattle actually moved the ball OK. On 11 first-down plays in the first half, Seattle gained an average of 5 yards. That didn’t stop drives from sputtering out, though, in a loss that is fairly concerning.

2) The Seahawks pass rush isn’t entirely fixed.

It was sure tempting to think so, wasn’t it?

First, Jadeveon Clowney became a singularly disruptive pass-rushing presence in that Monday night victory over San Francisco. And then – six days later – Seattle hounded Carson Wentz in a game where Clowney was inactive.

On Sunday in Los Angeles, when Seattle’s defense wasn’t capable of getting to the perimeter to stop the Rams ground game, they didn’t make Jared Goff move much at all, either. It added up to a really bad first half for a Seattle defense, who seem to match up particularly poorly with that Rams offense.

3) Pass protection has emerged as the biggest concern for this Seahawks team

Not that it has ever been a strength for Seattle per se, but it has become especially problematic recently.

Through the first nine games of the season, Seattle was allowing an average of 2.4 sacks and had not allowed Russell Wilson to be sacked more than four times in any one game. Over the past four games, Seattle is allowing an average of 4.5 sacks and Wilson has been sacked five or more times in three of those four games.

Yes, Wilson holds the ball longer than most quarterbacks, but that doesn’t explain the Seahawks continuing inability to pick up Rams pass rushers who were looping from the edge and getting a free run at Wilson up the middle.

Follow 710 ESPN Seattle’s Danny O’Neil on Twitter.

More Seahawks coverage

• Pete Carroll Show: Loss hurts, but Seahawks have positives to look at
• O’Neil: Seahawks’ loss in LA a double-digit reminder of their biggest warts
• Groz’s Just A Minute: Seahawks have missed having a healthy Tyler Lockett
• Rost: Seahawks have been impressive, but loss to Rams was anything but
• Paul Gallant’s Hawksplaining: Was Sunday a dud or did LA expose Hawks?
• Pete Carroll says Rashaad Penny has ‘significant’ ACL sprain

Follow @dannyoneil