SEATTLE • For the Rams, CenturyLink Field has become the place where seasons — and dreams — go to die. Small dreams maybe, but dreams nonetheless.
• In 2010, the 7-8 Rams lost a winner-take-all game for the NFC West title to the Seahawks, 16-6, on the final game of the regular season.
• In 2012, the 7-7-1 Rams had a chance to finish with a winning record for the first time since 2003 but lost 20-13 to the Seahawks, in their regular-season finale.
• And then came Sunday. No suspense this time. With a chance to have their first .500 season since 2007, the Rams were dominated by the Seahawks 27-9 to end the 2013 campaign.
Happy New Year. Auld Lang Syne. Maybe next year.
A ‘pick six’ thrown by quarterback Kellen Clemens on the Rams’ first possession gave Seattle an early 7-0 lead, and it was an uphill struggle the rest of the way before 68,264 assorted crazies at Century Link.
With the Seahawks stuffing the box with everyone but the 12th Man, running back Zac Stacy fell 27 yards shy of 1,000 yards. He finished his impressive rookie season with 972 yards after being held to 15 yards on 15 carries.
It was tough luck as well for defensive end Robert Quinn. He registered his 19th sack of the season, but Robert Mathis of Indianapolis had two sacks earlier in the day to finish with 19½ to win the NFL sack title for the year. (Keep in mind, Mathis had one sack added to his total last week via league review — and that proved to be the difference.)
In a game that meant the difference between a No. 1 overall playoff seed and a No. 5 seed, Seattle’s top-ranked defense came to play. When the teams met at the Edward Jones Dome on Oct. 28, the Seahawks managed only 135 yards offense — the lowest total allowed by the Rams’ defense since the move to St. Louis in 1995.
The Seahawks flipped the script Sunday, limiting the Rams to 158 yards offense — the seventh-worst showing for the Rams since the move.
“We played a real good football team today, and didn’t play well,” coach Jeff Fisher said. “We didn’t do the things that we’ve been doing in the past, for example, running the football.”
The Rams defense played well enough to win, but got no takeaways. In their seven victories this season, the Rams were plus-17 in takeaway-giveaway differential. In their nine losses, they were minus-9.
“And then the penalty thing got out of hand,” Fisher said.
Boy, did it. The Rams finished with 12 penalties for 87 yards, and at one point in the second half it looked like they might finish with more penalty yards than yards on offense. All told the Rams were flagged an astounding 21 times. Nine of the penalties weren’t assessed because they were either offsetting penalties or came on plays where the Rams were flagged multiple times.
“It became apparent that they were going to throw (a flag) at any little thing, and that’s basically what happened,” Fisher said. “But, I’m not concerned about that. We’ll fix that. I can fix that in a team meeting.”
REPORT CARD: FISHER FLUNKS FINALE
Nothing could fix what happened to Kendall Langford. The Rams’ defensive tackle was ejected by referee Jeff Triplette for inadvertently knocking the hat off of back judge Steve Freeman late in the third quarter.
Langford wasn’t even on the field on the play that preceded his penalty. He was trying to defend linebacker Alec Ogletree, who had been flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct — apparently for taunting — after stopping Seattle running back Robert Turbin for no gain.
“I was saying, ‘He can talk. He can talk, right?’ “ Langford said.
Langford then pointed back to Ogletree and the Rams’ huddle, and in the process knocked Freeman’s hat off. Langford didn’t see Freeman behind him, but was still ejected.
“There was no intent. There was no anything,” Langford said. “I didn’t know I got a flag for that, let alone kicked out of the game. I thought it was a bad call. I don’t agree with it. And after seeing it over and over, I still don’t agree with it.”
And just when you thought you’d seen everything, linebacker James Laurinaitis — normally a beacon of sportsmanship — was flagged for taunting.
Taunting. James Laurinaitis. Doesn’t sound right.
“It was me,” Laurinaitis said. “I wouldn’t describe it as that. (Breno) Giacomini tried to clean up ‘Tree’ (Ogletree) after the play. I just expressed my feelings towards him to kind of keep it clean and the ref threw a flag at me for taunting.”
Giacomini is the Seahawks’ right tackle.
“Pretty surprising,” Laurinaitis continued. “I’ve never had a taunting penalty at any level. I’m not much of a taunter. But I’ll defend my teammates. I’m not gonna let guys come and peel off on guys after the whistle. We’ve got to learn to keep the other penalties out. But I’m not sure that when people are verbalizing things that there should be flags thrown.
“One was thrown on ‘Tree’ later where he was just saying stuff to the official. They’re throwing flags now for people talking to the official.”
Then he paused and added, “It’s different.”
BERNIE: RAMS ONLY ACT LIKE THEY'RE TOUGH
Laurinaitis said Seattle is a team “that notoriously picks people off in the pile late. That’s just who they are. They play through the whistle hard. They’re not the only team that does that, and usually a lot of times the refs will either let the game go one way or another. By the second half of the game, you’re sick of it.”
Things couldn’t have started worse for the Rams. Clemens’ third pass of the game was intercepted by Seattle linebacker Malcolm Smith and returned 37 yards for a touchdown.
Clemens’ first option was covered, and as he threw back over the middle it looked like the ball sailed on him. “It was a little high and a little hot,” Clemens said. “I was kind of getting hit as I threw it. The safe place to miss is low. ... That one is on me.”
Seattle tacked on two field goals before the half and was up 27-3 by the time the Rams scored their only TD with 4:13 to play.
