Following a tough loss to the Dallas Cowboys last Sunday, the Seattle Seahawks hit the road this week eager to get back on the winning track.

The Seahawks (3-2) head to Seattle this week for a divisional show with the struggling Rams (1-4) and safety Earl Thomas noted that since last week’s loss, he and his teammates have been eager to get back on the field and prove themselves.

“When you take a loss like that and you know you have a chance to kind of win the game, you definitely want to play again,” ET III said. “I think everybody is focused. I think sometimes adverse situations kind of bring you closer as a group, makes you understand what you need to be better at. Because sometimes when you win you don’t look at the little details like you need to.”

Chris Givens, Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas

Over the course of the week, the Hawks have spent plenty of time looking at what they did wrong against Dallas. Then they went out on the practice field and worked on those mistakes in a few very positive practice sessions for the team.

Always optimistic, Earl noted that Seattle has taken loss in stride and he has used it as an opportunity to get better while trying to encourage his teammates to do the same.

“I was excited to get to practice after that tough loss just to show that I see the big picture and that it’s not over,” ET III said. “I’m excited to learn about what I need to get better at. Sometimes, those times when you lose, you’re closer to the final product than you think… I’d rather be aggressive and go down. If somebody beats me if I’m being aggressive, I can learn from that and I have no regrets afterward.”

While Dallas was a somewhat unfamiliar foe to the Seahawks, in St. Louis they meet a Rams team they have a long history with. In fact, Seattle currently boasts a three-game winning streak over St. Louis.

The last time the two sides faced off in St. Louis was a thrilling Monday Night Football contest last October 28th, in which ET III led Seattle with 10 tackles during the hard fought defensive affair.

The Seahawks held a 14-6 lead going into the fourth quarter, but after hitting a field goal on their first drive of the quarter, the Rams had a chance to potentially win the game when they received the ball with 5:42 remaining. St. Louis marched all the way to the Seattle 1-yard line, but Earl and the Hawks came up with a fantastic goal-line stand to secure the 14-9 win.

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The two squads also met in the last week of the 2013 regular season  at CenturyLink Field. After dropping their first home game in nearly two years to the Arizona Cardinals a week prior, the Seahawks dominated that game from start to finish, and won 27-9 to clinch the NFC’s top playoff spot.

On Sunday, the Hawks will again encounter the Rams coming off a hard to swallow home loss. Additionally, St. Louis enters the game off a shortened week after battling another NFC West opponent, the San Francisco 49ers, last Monday night.

Led by fill-in quarterback Austin Davis, the Rams jumped out to a 14-0 first quarter lead in that contest, but could not hold on and fell 34-17. The loss was emblematic of the season thus far for the Rams, who also jumped out to a 21-0 lead over Dallas in Week 3 only to lose 34-31. St. Louis also played a hotly contested game against the 5-1 Philadelphia Eagles in Week 5, but lost that one as well.

Though they’ve been able to stay in games through the first several weeks of the season, the Rams have struggled to move the ball and rank 29th in the league in total offense.

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One cause of St. Louis’ offensive struggles has been the absence of franchise quarterback Sam Bradford, who tore his ACL in a preseason contest against the Cleveland Browns. Davis, a second year player out of Southern Mississippi, has been uneven in his stead.

On the ground, the Rams do not boast a running back as accomplished as Dallas’ DeMarco Murray, but Earl noted that St. Louis’ lead back Zac Stacy plays a similar hard-hitting style. No. 29 believes the key to stopping backs like Murray and Stacy is being patient, something that the Seattle defense has struggled with due to its aggressive nature.

He also stressed that the key to a strong defensive performance lies in his unit’s ability to trust each other in every situation.

“In this scheme, everything is tied on a string,” Earl said. “In the games when we struggled it always looks like everybody is trying to make everybody else right. But that’s when that trust comes in. Even us in the secondary, in goalline situations, sometimes we are not trusting each other. And that’s why touchdowns are happening. If we are not tied on a string, if it doesn’t look like a triangle as far as I’m kind of the cornerstone and you’ve got Sherm and whoever we trot out on the other side, we all have to be tied on a string. If not we are struggling.”

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Seattle will be shorthanded on both offense and defense Sunday as tight end Zach Miller, center Max Unger and middle linebacker Bobby Wagner have all been ruled out for Sunday’s contest due to injury.

In addition, cornerback Byron Maxwell suffered a strained calf in the second quarter of last Sunday’s contest that kept him sidelined for the rest of the game. Coach Pete Carroll said that he was pleased with Maxwell’s recovery, but is taking things on a day-to-day basis and Maxwell is questionable  at best for Sunday.

However, the Legion of Boom also received positive news on the injury front this week.

Cornerback Tharold Simon returned to practice for the first time this week since he had minor knee surgery in the offseason. Simon missed the entire 2013 campaign due to a foot injury and should see action in an NFL game for the first time on this week. Asked about Simon, Earl gave a glowing review of the second year player out of LSU.

“He has a chance to be really, really, really good,” Earl said about Simon. “He has a chance to come in and start. I think in my eyes he’s that type of player. He’s very long. He understands football and he fits right in with Sherm… He’s a bigger Brandon Browner.”

Simon and other young players will be a key role in Seattle’s defense as they looking to get back on track this week, but No. 29 said that he has full faith in every member of the Seahawks roster thanks to the team’s extensive preparation.

“We trust everybody that we trot out there,” ET III said. “We prepare so well and that’s what we bank on. We bank on every rep that we do in practice and we feel that we have the confidence and we have the right to be confident based on the way we prepare for games. We’re not gonna miss a beat. We’ll be okay.”

According to Earl, the most important thing for every member of the Seahawks is to come out on Sunday with the right mindset.

“If you don’t come out there with the right mentality, then you can get your butt whupped,” No. 29 said. “I think a lot of guys on this team, maybe we took homefield advantage for granted, that when we play at home we will get this dub. I always think we’re gonna win whether we’re on the road or here.”

Kickoff from St. Louis is set for 10 a.m. PDT and the game can be viewed on FOX.