SPORTS
Saturday, November 10, 2018
East Oregonian
Page 3B
Rams eager to rebound from 1st Buffs could get star
receiver back for
loss, sweep Seahawks series
Saturday vs. Cougars
By GREG BEACHAM
AP Sports Writer
LOS ANGELES —
Although the Los Ange-
les Rams hadn’t lost a game
until last week, their spectac-
ular season has featured sev-
eral close calls.
Not many were closer than
their 33-31 victory just five
weeks ago in Seattle, where
the Seahawks racked up 190
yards rushing, intercepted
two passes by Jared Goff and
came agonizingly close to a
huge NFC West win.
With the second-place
Seahawks (4-4) visiting the
Coliseum on Sunday for
the rematch, the Rams (8-1)
have a chance to essentially
end the division race with
seven weeks to go. The Rams
aren’t looking that far ahead,
but Aaron Donald hopes Los
Angeles will learn from that
narrow win in Seattle — and
a 45-35 loss at New Orleans
last week.
“We’re in a good place,
and we’re locked in,” said the
Rams’ superstar defensive
tackle, second in the NFL
with 10 sacks. “We play these
guys twice a year, so we’ve
got respect for them. We’ve
just got to get after them.”
The Rams have never lost
back-to-back
regular-sea-
son games in their 1½ sea-
sons under Sean McVay, but
they’ve thrived primarily on
the strength of an offense
that has been able to out-
score nearly every opponent,
including the Seahawks. NFL
scoring leader Todd Gurley
rushed for three TDs in Seat-
tle, and the Rams kept the
ball out of Russell Wilson’s
hands in the final 3:38 by
running out the clock.
The Seahawks also are
coming off a loss after the
Chargers won in Seattle last
week, but the Seahawks
know they can beat the Rams
because they did it last sea-
took on more urgency
when Buffaloes receiv-
ers Jay MacIntyre (con-
BOULDER, Colo. — cussion) and K.D. Nixon
Star sophomore Laviska (hip) got hurt last week at
Shenault Jr. indicated on Arizona.
So, Shenault’s social
Instagram that he’d be
back on the field Saturday media post was an encour-
when slumping Colorado aging sign as the Buffs
hosts No. 10 Washington prepared for the Cou-
gars (8-1, 5-1, No. 8 CFP)
State.
His return would pro- who are the Pac-12’s last
vide a big boost for the remaining hope for a Col-
lege Foot-
banged-up
PAC-12 FOOTBALL
ball Playoff
B u ff a l o e s
berth.
(5-4, 2-4),
Coach
who were
MacIntyre
once the last
doesn’t
remaining
want
to
unbeaten
m a k e
team in the
Wash. St. e x c u s e s ,
Pac-12 but Colorado
Cougars
b
u
t
now face Buffaloes
(8-1, 5-1) a c k n o w l -
the
pos- (5-4, 2-4 )
sibility of
e d g e s
Saturday, 12:30 p.m., at
missing
Shenault’s
Folsom Field, Boulder
out on a
injury
TV: ESPN
bowl berth
was
a
that was in their grasp backbreaker.
“I think when you take
two weeks ago before
they blew a 28-point sec- a Heisman Trophy can-
ond-half lead to lowly Ore- didate out of the picture,
gon State.
it’s a big deal,” MacIntyre
“The return of 2Live ..” said. “If you had taken
Shenault posted Sunday Rashaan Salaam off the
night.
’94 team, I don’t know
Buffaloes coach Mike they might still have been
MacIntyre was more cau- really good, they had a lot
tious, saying Shenault of great players. But you
“did a little bit” in his take a Heisman Trophy can-
return to practice Monday didate out at the time he left,
but labeling him “still day he was leading the country
in every category kind of
to day.”
“Hopefully we’ll get like (Washington State QB
him back sometime before Gardner Minshew).
“If you take Minshew
the year is over,” Mac-
Intyre said.
out, it might change Wash-
The Buffs were 5-0 ington State. We haven’t
when Shenault got hurt at had our best football player
USC, and Colorado lost on the field since halfway
that game and the next through the USC game, so
three without the super- he only played five and a
star receiver who had six half games.”
TD receptions and five
Another subplot in the
TD runs before getting 12th meeting between the
Cougars and Buffaloes:
injured.
Magic Minshew: Min-
Shenault
was
a
Heisman hopeful as he shew is the nation’s lead-
piled up 780 yards on 60 ing passer with 3,517
receptions and 87 yards on yards, 27 TDs and seven
15 rushes, and his return interceptions.
By ARNIE STAPLETON
AP Sports Writer
AP Photo/Scott Eklund, File
In this Oct. 7 file photo, Los Angeles Rams running back Todd Gurley celebrates
after scoring a touchdown during the second half of an NFL football game against
the Seattle Seahawks in Seattle. With the second-place Seahawks (4-4) visiting the
Coliseum on Sunday for the rematch, the Rams (8-1) have a chance to essentially
end the division race with seven weeks to go.
NFL
Seattle
Seahawks
(4-4)
L.A.
Rams
(8-1)
Sunday, 1:25 p.m., at L.A.
Memorial Coliseum,
Los Angeles, TV: CBS
son at the Coliseum.
Even if the division race
might already be out of hand,
they’ve got a chance to begin
their playoff rally with a
statement victory.
“We can’t allow them to
score as many points as they
put up,” Seattle linebacker
Bobby Wagner said. “We feel
like we did a really good job
against the run for the most
part. We have to find a way
to do that, make them one-di-
mensional, make sure Todd
doesn’t get into the end zone
as many times as he did.”
More things to watch in
this NFC West showdown:
Tough check
Donald has sacked Wilson
eight times in their careers,
more than any other quar-
terback. But Donald and the
Rams didn’t manage to sack
Drew Brees last week, and
they still have something to
prove to the Seahawks — par-
ticularly to guard D.J. Fluker,
who wasn’t impressed by the
toughness of the Los Angeles
defense in the clubs’ previous
meeting.
The Seattle offensive line-
man said the Rams “want to
be pass rushers,” but hadn’t
“seen a team go out there
and actually take it to them.”
Donald had no interest in
starting a public discussion
this week: “We’re just going
to go out there and play a
game and let our play speak
for us.”
Gurley goes
Gurley has scored a touch-
down in a franchise-record
12 straight games, and his
868 yards rushing are the
NFL’s most by a whopping
162 yards over Pittsburgh’s
James Connor.
Gurley’s 16 TDs this sea-
son are the most in the league
and the second-most in NFL
history through nine games,
trailing only Jim Brown’s 17
in 1958. That’s the challenge
facing Seattle’s run defense,
which is giving up 4.8 yards
per attempt — tied for fourth-
worst in the league — but has
been effective in stretches.
“We can’t allow them to score as many points as they put up”
— Bobby Wagner, Seattle linebacker
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