Head coach Mike Macdonald is optimistic that Seattle Seahawks rookie left guard Grey Zabel avoided a season-ending injury during Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Rams.

Stacy Rost: A Seattle Seahawks problem cost them against Rams

Zabel, Seattle’s first-round pick in the 2025 draft, exited Sunday’s loss in the final minutes of the fourth quarter with a knee injury and did not return. The North Dakota State product was injured on a Kenneth Walker III touchdown run with 2:23 left in the game when left tackle Charles Cross was pushed into Zabel’s left knee.

Zabel was tended to on the ground by trainers before they helped him limp off the field. Second-year pro Christian Haynes played left guard in place of Zabel on the Seahawks’ final drive.

Seattle’s head coach addressed Zabel’s status during The Mike Macdonald Show on Seattle Sports with Brock and Salk on Monday.

“I’ll say it’s optimistic right now,” Macdonald said. “So initial news is really positive, but let’s get out of the fog here before I start making any declarations.”

Macdonald said his optimism was based off of initial testing done on Zabel. The rookie offensive lineman was scheduled for imaging on his knee Monday morning.

The Seahawks picked the 23-year-old Zabel at No. 18 overall in April out of North Dakota State. The 6-foot-6, 316-pound lineman had played nearly every snap at left guard this season before the injury.

Zabel ranks 68th out of 79 guards with a 49.3 grade, according to Pro Football Focus. That grade does not include Sunday’s performance. He had allowed zero sacks on 267 pass-blocking snaps entering the matchup with Los Angeles.

The Seahawks are already playing without starting center Jalen Sundell, who was a college teammate of Zabel. Sundell was placed on injured reserve Saturday with a knee injury.

Listen to The Mike Macdonald Show at 9:30 a.m. on the day after every Seahawks game. Hear Brock and Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app. 

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Despite four interceptions by Sam Darnold, the Seattle Seahawks somehow still had a chance to pull off a last-second victory in Sunday afternoon’s NFC West showdown against the Los Angeles Rams.

Instant reaction | Box Score

However, Jason Myers’ 61-yard field goal on the final play sailed wide right and the Seahawks suffered a 21-19 road loss to their division rival as the Rams took Round 1 between these two Super Bowl contenders.

The loss dropped Seattle to 7-3 and allowed the Rams to move into sole possession of first place atop the NFC West at 8-2.

Here’s a look at what stood out from the game.

Darnold’s interceptions prove costly

In a clash of two evenly matched teams, turnovers had the potential to be a differentiating factor. The Seahawks, despite all their success on offense this season, entered the week tied for the second-most turnovers in the league. The Rams’ defense, meanwhile, was tied for the fifth-most takeaways.

And sure enough, it ended up being the story of the game.

Darnold, who entered with just six interceptions this season, was picked off four times by the Rams’ defense. As a result, the Rams began four of their possessions in Seattle territory, and they converted two of those short fields into touchdowns.

For most of this season, the Seahawks were good enough to overcome their high turnover rate. But they essentially handed the Rams 14 points on Sunday, which they simply couldn’t afford to do against one of the league’s elite teams.

A gutsy defensive performance

It’s a major testament to their defense that the Seahawks still had a chance to win this game in the closing moments.

Seattle completely suffocated Los Angeles’ high-scoring offense for most of the afternoon, holding Sean McVay’s crew to just 249 total yards, which was the Rams’ second-lowest mark of the season. Matthew Stafford completed just 15 of 28 passes for a season-low 130 yards, while averaging a season-low 4.6 yards per pass attempt.

And for the final two-thirds of the game, the Rams simply couldn’t move the ball at all. The Seahawks limited the Rams to just 105 total yards and five first downs over their final eight drives, none of which spanned more than 25 yards.

Again, the Rams scored 14 of their 21 points on a pair of drives that started at the Seattle 3 and the Seattle 25. The fact that the Seahawks lost the turnover battle 4-1 and still nearly won should be at least somewhat encouraging.

Settling for field goals

Darnold’s interceptions were by far the biggest problem for Seattle’s offense. But they weren’t the only problem.

The Seahawks drove inside the Rams’ 15-yard line three times over the first two and a half quarters. But all three times, they settled for field goals.

Seattle’s first red-zone drive stalled at the 12-yard line after a pair of incompletions. Seattle’s second red-zone drive – a 15-play, 89-yard march at the end of the first half – stalled at the 3-yard line after Darnold was forced into a third-down throwaway.

And in the third quarter, the Seahawks drove into the red zone again but settled for another field goal. That came after back-to-back plays where Kenneth Walker III had a TD run called back by a holding penalty and Darnold missed a potential go-ahead TD pass by underthrowing an open Rashid Shaheed down the sideline.

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SEATTLE (AP) — Philipp Grubauer stopped all 19 shots he faced in relief of injured Matt Murray, and the Seattle Kraken got two goals from Jaden Schwartz to help beat the San Jose Sharks 4-1 on Saturday night.

Seattle Kraken 4, San Jose Sharks 1: Box score

Adam Larsson and Eeli Tolvanen scored 38 seconds apart late in the second period to give the Kraken a 3-1 lead. Jamie Oleksiak and Chandler Stephenson each had two assists for Seattle, which lost 6-1 to the Sharks in the same building 10 days earlier — its worst defeat of the season.

Alexander Wennberg scored for the Sharks, and Alex Nedeljkovic made 19 saves. San Jose has dropped two straight after winning four in a row.

Murray exited with a lower-body injury with 18 seconds left in the first after allowing a goal. Grubauer, who made 23 saves Thursday in a 5-3 victory over Winnipeg, came off the bench and earned his third straight win.

Seattle is already without goalie Joey Daccord, on injured reserve with an upper-body injury.

Larsson scored his first of the season from the top of the right circle to put Seattle in front with 3:55 left in the second. Tolvanen made it 3-1 on a slap shot from the right circle, his second consecutive game with a goal.

Schwartz added his seventh on an empty-netter with 3:29 remaining in the third.

Schwartz opened the scoring at 8:14 of the first, deflecting in Stephenson’s feed. Wennberg tied it with a power-play goal, tipping in Macklin Celebrini’s 17th assist with 18 seconds to play in the period.

Up next

Sharks: Host the Utah Mammoth on Tuesday night.

Kraken: Visit the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night.

Last time: Seattle Kraken use 3rd-period rally to beat Jets 5-3