Le Journal

Divisional rival games are weird. In part, divisional rival games are fun because they are weird. It turns out playing twice a year gives teams so much information on each other that nearly anything can happen on any given night. When the Seattle Seahawks play the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, it will be the 56th time the two teams have faced off in regular season. It’s 28-27 Seattle, for curious folks. But these Seahawks have never faced these Rams with the three particular advantages they now possess. It’s a layer of newness to a rivalry that’s been brought back to the forge of sports-hate since the two have become powerhouses once again. DeMarcus Lawrence What a ridiculous free agent signing. At 33 years old, and nine games in, I’m ready to propose DeMarcus Lawrence as the best edge player Seattle has had in eight years, when Frank Clark was traded. Hear me on this – he’s not the best pure pass rusher in that span, but he is by far the best all-around defensive player on the end. The Seahawks defense grew worse and worse over the end of Pete Carroll’s tenure until 2023, when it became legendarily bad. In 2024 it was better. Much so. In 2025 though, they took a very respectable defensive line and added Lawrence. Now it’s dangerous. Lawrence is having his best season in six years, with maybe only 2022 as the exception. He’s already his totals from four of the last five seasons in: QB hits, Pressures, Tackles for Loss, Fumble Recoveries, and his 4 sacks better than three of the past four seasons. After nine games. This is new for Seattle because they’ve not truly been able to threaten the Rams offensive tackle play in a number of years. Boye Mafe and the other defensive ends are good players, but the newness that Lawrence brings is elite power, and his game is so well-rounded that he’s in the backfield regardless of what type of play it is. This is the theme for these advantages, and is crucial for Lawrence’s game against Los Angeles. Whatever Sean McVay wants to run in Lawrence’s direction, he won’t create a mismatch. Lawrence can still stop inside runs at top-of-NFL level. But he’s also scary rushing the passer. He does not easily get beat to the outside. He recognizes…everything really – double teams, routes, and screens. Watching this @Seahawks tape and Demarcus Lawrence and Boye Mafe Jump off the tape. -Lawrence disrupting routes while getting into his rush and blowing up plays in the run game. So many things that may go unnoticed like him aborting the rush to contain would be swing screens… pic.twitter.com/Hk1SRMpYAV— Richard Sherman (@RSherman_25) September 9, 2025 McVay’s advantage over defenses typically resides in his ability to deceive and utilize enough versatility to create mismatches. Lawrence is not often deceived or at a disadvantage; his fundamentals are too strong. Also, offensive tackle is one of L.A’s biggest weaknesses. The Rams tackles have struggled in pass pro all year. Stafford and McVay have done a good job of hiding it, but it’s arguably their biggest weakness on offense. https://t.co/esPAeyjVL3— Brian Nemhauser (@hawkblogger) November 11, 2025 Cooper Kupp For a couple reasons. The first is in the roster itself. In addition to tackle, cornerback is another weak spot for the Rams. With Jaxon Smith-Njigba now drawing either double coverage or a big play, Kupp should have a weaker cast attempting to cover him. I’m more intrigued by a different wrinkle, however. This is the first time Mike Macdonald has had a significant contributor from one of his rivals. And Cooper Kupp is not just anybody. People have said for years that Kupp is one of the smartest athletes they’ve ever been around; that someday he’ll be a coach (if he wants to) wherever he wants. And he comes straight to Seattle with McVay still designing the offense. Every training camp this conversation comes up, and on that day it’s meaningless noise. No, Marquez Valdez-Scantling is not going to go to the San Francisco 49ers and doom the Seahawks.…

Friday, Nov. 14, at 8:00 p.m. PT on ESPN2 Arden Cravalho is a Gonzaga University graduate from the Bay Area… Follow him on X @a_cravalho

Adam Miller makes his return to Tempe to take on Arizona State (2-0) on Friday night, having played under coach Bobby Hurley from 2023-25. One has to think Miller has been giving out some insider knowledge about Hurley’s operation during the preparation for this non-conference matchup. “It’s gonna be weird seeing him in a different jersey. He gave the program everything he had, never cheated us of anything. Always rooting for him.” – Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley on Adam Miller On the other hand, Arizona State senior guard Moe Odum knows a thing or two about the No. 19 Gonzaga program (3-0). He was with Pacific from 2022-24 and Pepperdine in 2024-25. Last season with the Waves, Odum scored 24 points and dished out eight assists in a 89-82 December loss to the Zags. He was the biggest storyline at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas during the West Coast Conference tournament after leading Pepperdine to the semifinals. Odum currently leads the Sun Devils in assists with seven per game. When speaking with the media leading up to this matchup, Hurley said his Suns Devils’ group didn’t keep its foot on the gas in their last outing against Utah Tech, which resulted in an 81-66 victory. They will have little to no room for error against Gonzaga. “We didn’t show a lot of maturity being up (by 23) … If we do that for like 90 seconds against Gonzaga, we’re gonna have very little chance to win.” – Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley on Gonzaga matchup Player to Watch For: Arizona State Sun Devils freshman center Massamba Diop The first-year prospect is a unicorn at 7-1 tall, 7-3 wingspan, and 10-inch hands. Massamba Diop has shown some incredible flashes through his first two collegiate games. He’s averaging 16.0 points on 65 percent shooting from the field, 5.5 rebounds, 1.5 blocks, and 1.5 steals. The young talent can stretch out the floor, having hit his first two three-point attempts in his career. Sizing up against Gonzaga’s Graham Ike, the pair should make for an exciting back-and-forth affair on all dimensions of the court. Hard to cook up someone with that level of gracefullness and ball skills at the size that Diop has. He’s a name to monitor for the 2026 NBA Draft this upcoming summer. Keys to the Game: Continue to make defensive effort the top priority Tyon Grant-Foster has opened up a new level to the Gonzaga defense by forcing opponents into taking bad or tough looks out on the perimeter. Plus, Jalen Warley’s motor never seems to run out as he currently leads the team with 2.3 steals per game. He’s been a Swiss army knife with his ability to do whatever is asked of him on the floor by coach Mark Few. Can never forget about Emmanuel Innocenti out on the wing, who continues to turn defense into offense on the other end. As a team, the Zags are ranked No. 21 in the country for field goal percentage defense at 33.7 percent and tied for No. 27 in scoring defense at 58.0 per game. Dominate in the frontcourt with Graham Ike, Braden Huff Don’t let up with the intention to score inside the paint in the half-court offense through one of the top duos in the nation. Graham Ike and Braden Huff’s ability to handle the ball, the way they operate with each other in the low post, and crash the offensive glass off misses will be a handful for the Arizona State bigs to deal with. The pair combines for 31.0 points and 17.0 rebounds per game so far. Control the pace, share the ball Gonzaga is at its best when playing up-tempo and speeding up their offensive possessions, making sure they have more effective looks than their opponent. Currently, the Zags are showing a care-free attitude toward who is actually scoring the ball. This group just wants to find the best possible shot and is sharing the wealth, having dished out 20.0 assists per game through the first three games of the season (tied for No. 34 in the NCAA) and 9.3 turnovers per game (tied for the No. 33-least in the NCAA). Betting Odds: According to FanDuel Sportsbook, Gonzaga is the…

The Seattle Seahawks’ Thursday injury report for their Week 11 mega clash with the Los Angeles Rams is lengthy, but not as daunting as it seems. For some good news, cornerback Josh Jobe appears to be on his way to returning to the field after missing last week’s win over the Arizona Cardinals with a concussion. He was a full participant in practice, which should be as good a sign as any that he’ll be all systems go for Sunday. The bad news is wide receiver Tory Horton may end up sitting out a second consecutive game with a shin injury. He was downgraded from a limited participant to a non-participant, which may be enough caution to think he’s not likely to play versus the Rams. Concerning news is rookie left guard Grey Zabel popping up on the injury report as limited with a heel injury over the past two days. Seattle has been blessed to have the same starting lineup every game this season, but that will not happen this week due to center Jalen Sundell’s expected multi-week absence. Ernest Jones IV is still a big mystery after a second straight limited practice. He was limited twice last week before not practicing on Friday before the Arizona Cardinals game. The remaining positives are A.J. Barner, Jake Bobo, Christian Haynes, Cooper Kupp, Cody White, and Leonard Williams all practicing in full for a second straight day. I doubt any of them (likewise Coby Bryant and Jaxon Smith-Njigba) will have a game designation come Friday afternoon. Here’s the full injury report for the Seahawks: