Mike Macdonald previews Seahawks’ Week 9 battle vs Rams

The Seattle Seahawks have a chance to end their up-and-down first half of the season on a high note.

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With the a bye week upcoming, the Seahawks host the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday in a Week 9 tilt between NFC West rivals.

The Seahawks are looking to bounce back from a 31-10 home loss to the Buffalo Bills – their worst loss at home since a 42-7 drubbing at the hands of the Rams in 2017 – and improve to 5-4 before the week off. Head coach Mike Macdonald said earlier this week the team is approaching its game against the Rams like it’s Week 1.

“It’s a fresh start. It feels like you’re 0-0 and we are 4-4. There is some baggage that kind of goes with each story that has brought each team to where they are, especially in our division because it’s so tight, but let’s go back to kind of our core, (what) we’re about,” Macdonald said of the approach during Friday morning’s Mike Macdonald Preview on KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM. “Let’s double down on all the things we’ve been saying that we want to be and let’s go let the chips fall where they may and let’s rock n’ roll. But I think you have to stay optimistic and stay the course on the things that you’ve been trying to achieve throughout this whole time and stand on the foundation that we’ve been able to build throughout the offseason and training camp.”

For the Seahawks, it means simplifying their game plan and focusing on the core values of what they’re trying to accomplish.

“That’s the thought throughout and that’s what we’re gonna do, and I expect our guys to go out there with a lot of energy and a lot of confidence in what we’ve been doing because we’re gonna be doing stuff that we’ve been banking so many reps at,” Macdonald said. “So we should be able to go play fast and play confident and get back to our style of football.”

They’ll be trying to do it against a Los Angeles squad that is trying to win its third straight game and even its record following a 1-4 start. The Rams currently sit one-half game behind Seattle, San Francisco and Arizona in the jumbled NFC West.

Los Angeles is starting to get healthy after injuries to the top two options for quarterback Matthew Stafford contributed to the slow start. Standout wide receivers Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua each returned and combined for 157 yards and one touchdown on 12 receptions in last week’s win over the Minnesota Vikings.

“We got our work cut out for us, but this is a team that’s in our division. We’re gonna have a lot of great battles with these guys,” Macdonald said.

Nacua’s status for Sunday’s game is unclear after he left Thursday’s practice with an injury to the same knee that kept him out of five games earlier this season. However, the Rams believe the injury is not serious.

With Kupp and Nacua both missing time early on, the Rams relied heavily on second-year running back Kyren Williams, and he delivered in their absences. Williams is 12th in the league with 533 rushing yards, second with eight rushing touchdowns and has rushed for at least 76 yards in the team’s past five games. He’s also scored at least one touchdown in 10 straight games dating back to Week 14 of last season.

“This guy is a really good player,” Macdonald said. “He understands how to run their run schemes. He runs tough … it seems like he’s always falling forward, so that’s gonna be a point emphasis to try to limit the yards after contact.”

Slowing down Williams figures to be a major key for a Seahawks squad that has struggled to stop the run all season. Seattle ranks 29th in the NFL while surrendering 148.4 yards per game, including allowing 155 rushing yards or more the past four games.

“This is the NFL and, especially in our division, you got to be able to stop the run,” Macdonald said. “And I thought we’ve had a great week of practice, so I’m excited about our mentality (and) the growth that we’ve shown on the practice field. Now it’s about taking it to Sunday, especially at home, and try to get these guys in some second- and third-and-long situations.”

Of course, that is easier said than done against offensive guru and Rams head coach Sean McVay.

“Great coordinators attack your rules and how you’re built and have ways to identify things rather than just running random plays. It’s a systematic approach. So these guys, they definitely know who they are,” Macdonald said. “… It’s not battleship football, where you’re just kind of picking and choosing random plays that you want. They’re thinking of them as like targeted strikes with a really sound, well-designed run game where everybody’s on the same page and you have to kind of be able to defend both, and he’s got the guy behind center that can kind of pull the whole operation off. So they make for a very formidable opponent and we’re excited about it. We’re excited about this challenge.”

Listen to Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald’s conversation Seahawks Radio Network play-by-play voice Steve Raible at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. The Mike Macdonald Preview Show airs Friday mornings at 8:15 a.m. on 97.3 FM KIRO Newsradio.

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