{"id":698950,"date":"2026-01-23T13:21:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T13:21:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/698950\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T13:21:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T13:21:19","slug":"rams-defense-looking-forward-to-flashing-receiver-skills-vs-sam-darnold-seahawks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/698950\/","title":{"rendered":"Rams defense looking forward to flashing ‘receiver skills’ vs. Sam Darnold, Seahawks\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Los Angeles Rams plan to keep giving Sam Darnold<\/a> fits.<\/p>\n

Chris Shula’s defense has rattled the Seattle Seahawks quarterback. Dating back to last season with the Minnesota Vikings, Darnold has thrown 7 interceptions and turned the ball over 8 times against the Rams, the most by any quarterback against a single opponent. He’s also been sacked 16 times in that span, tied for most.<\/p>\n

Darnold led the NFL with 20 giveaways in 2025, with 14 INTs and six lost fumbles. Six of those 14 interceptions came against L.A. Safety Kamren Kinchens<\/a> snagged two of the four Rams’ INTs in their Week 11 meeting.<\/p>\n

“Usually, you hope a guy doesn’t make the same mistake twice,” Kinchens said of Darnold via the L.A. Times<\/a>. “In my case, I’m hoping he makes the same mistake twice, because that’s more picks for me.”<\/p>\n

Four of the second-year safety’s six career INTs have come against Seattle. He was asked if the Seahawks are his favorite team to face.<\/p>\n

“Yes,” Kinchens said, “Because they like to test the secondary. They have good receivers and Sam Darnold wants to throw the ball down the field and push it down the field.<\/p>\n

“That’s a lot of opportunities, and I love when I get to show people my receiver skills.”<\/p>\n

The Rams know that to get a chance at those picks, they must pressure Darnold.<\/p>\n

“No rush,” corner Cobie Durant<\/a> said. “No picks.”<\/p>\n

Darnold, who is dealing with an oblique injury, has been excellent in his first season in Seattle, but pressure can force issues.<\/p>\n

Of Darnold’s 20 giveaways, 11 came under pressure in 2025 (tied for most with Joe Flacco). Six of the QB’s interceptions came under pressure, tied for fourth-most. Per Next Gen Stats, Darnold was pressured on just 29.4 percent of dropbacks, sixth-lowest in the league, but 7.2 percent of those dropbacks under pressure resulted in a giveaway, tops in 2025.<\/p>\n

The Rams pressured opponents on 38.0 percent of dropbacks (5th highest). In Week 11, they pressured Darnold on 28.9 percent of his dropbacks, with a 33.3 percent rate in Week 16. Per NGS, Darnold had a 26.7 passer rating under pressure against the Rams in 2025, with 5.4 yards per attempt, zero TDs and three INTs. Not under pressure, those numbers leaped to 7.7 YPA, 2 TDs, 3 INTs and an 83.2 passer rating.<\/p>\n

The Rams acutely used stunts and pressure schemes to rattle Darnold. In the third meeting, Shula knows Seattle will be ready for what he throws at the QB.<\/p>\n

“I don’t think either of us are going to be tricking each other,” the DC said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles Rams plan to keep giving Sam Darnold fits. Chris Shula’s defense has rattled the Seattle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":698951,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2079],"tags":[1227,11728,7,21659,1014,58,2444,2611,88,6,609,424],"class_list":{"0":"post-698950","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-rams","8":"tag-around-the-nfl","9":"tag-cobie-durant","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-kamren-kinchens","12":"tag-los-angeles","13":"tag-los-angeles-rams","14":"tag-losangeles","15":"tag-losangelesrams","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-nfl","18":"tag-no-minute","19":"tag-rams"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115944625586933534","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=698950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698950\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/698951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=698950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=698950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=698950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}