The Seahawks still have seven games left on the schedule, and will face the Rams again in Seattle next month, so this loss, however difficult to stomach in the moment, is far from being a season-altering defeat. The key for the Seahawks, however, is to learn from their mistakes that cost them this game so they can perform better when they see the Rams in Week 16 and even possibly for a third time in the postseason if both teams continue on their current trajectories.
"We're going to be seeing a lot of these guys," Macdonald said. "We're going to see him twice a year, possibly three (times), and to me it's, who evolves best from game to game, who learns from it, who grows the most is going get the advantage every time we play. Every time we play it's an absolute know-down, drag-out fight."
"Obviously we're disappointed, but it's very clear to me that we have a great team. We're going to learn to win games like that, and we're going to learn from week like this. We're young, you've got a young head coach, I'm learning how to prepare our team from week-to-week, so we're all learning, we're all growing. I actually think that's a competitive advantage for us as we start to grow. We are willing to grow and evolve, given any circumstances, but we have to keep doing that. You've got to keep attacking that type of process and keep learning, and that's the way we'll get better so we can put ourselves in position to win games like this."
A big reason the Seahawks feel good about their future, despite a tough loss, is how complete they are a team. Despite a rough outing Sunday, there's no denying that Seattle's offense has been outstanding this season, and even on a four-turnover day, they still scored 19-points with one touchdown erased by a holding penalty, and another denied by a great diving pass breakup that denied Rashid Shaheed his first touchdown as a Seahawk. On defense, the Seahawks were able to cool off Matt Stafford, who has been the league's hottest quarterback for the past month, and hold the Rams to a season-low 12 first downs and 249 total yards, their second lowest output of the season.
"I think we're a good team," said linebacker Ernest Jones IV. "We turned the ball over four times, and we lost by two points. We had a touchdown taken back, and Shaheed is a hand away from scoring another touchdown. We're a good team, we just didn't execute and capitalize, and we had mistakes and they didn't. They played a clean game and they got the win. But as a team, I think we're in good shape. We're still in a good spot, one loss doesn't define us. We've got a lot of football left."