Carroll on Rams' rout: 'We haven't seen that before'

The rising of the Rams. A changing of the guard. A Seahawks team in decline.

All of it seemed possible during a Sunday wipeout that saw Los Angeles blow up Seattle 42-7 before a stunned, hushed gathering at CenturyLink Field.

The clear-cut hammering all but handed the NFC West to the Rams, who sit two games atop Seattle with a pair of tilts left on the slate.

"We've not seen us play like that and seen that kind of result," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said, per the team's official website. "So it's on all of us to hold ourselves accountable. We didn't do that right, from any aspect of it."

Carroll is correct, as Russell Wilson and the offense were detonated by Defensive Player of the Year candidate Aaron Donald, while Seattle's banged-up, fading defense was ripped to pieces by a Rams ground game that piled up 244 yards, including 152 from Todd Gurley, who was yanked from the contest in the third quarter.

"We'll try to get this thing over with as soon as we can and see if we can leave this kind of experience behind us," Carroll said. "You've been with me for a long time, and we haven't seen that before. We're going to crank it up and get going again."

With games remaining against the Titans and 49ers, it's hard to imagine the well-coached Rams losing out. Seattle, meanwhile, faces the Cowboys and Cardinals and needs to win both -- and get plenty of help -- for a shot at the playoffs in a crowded NFC.

They aren't dead -- not yet -- but the Seahawks team we saw Sunday doesn't feel like a match for January.