During his weekly radio appearance on 710 ESPN in Seattle in the wake of the Seahawks close win at the Coliseum on Sunday, Pete Carroll said out loud what we’ve all been thinking might be the case since Week 1: the 2017 Los Angeles Rams are the real deal.

While Rams fans might not love the idea that Carroll is a worthwhile source for meaningful praise, as a Super Bowl winner and the head coach of their greatest rivals in the division, his assessment of how they’ve created a winning formula is spot on.

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“That’s the best Rams team we’ve played in a long time, so to get a win on the road is always good,” Carroll told Brock Huard and Mike Salk. And while he can see just how much the Rams have improved over last season, he was quick to remind everyone that their defense and special teams have been pretty good for a while now.

Via Brock and Salk on 710 ESPN Seattle:

“They’ve always been good defensively because they have really good guys up front,” said Carroll. “They’re terrific up front and that’s where it starts. Their special teams has always been great… But now their offense has really got some firepower to it. And Sean’s brought that to them. Up until our game, they’ve been roaring, so I think it’s that combination that makes them better.”

Carroll also noted that the Rams have done well in the draft, and picked up a lot of great guys in free agency this year that really fit their system.

The Seahawks have been the consensus best team in the NFC West for a long time now, and the Rams very much haven’t. But they have always given Seattle a run for their money when they’ve met in the regular season, so it’s not like the Seahawks have had it easy against Los Angeles in the recent past.

The Rams may have lost in Week 5, but it still feels like they managed to put the Seahawks on notice – and Carroll’s admission that they are better than they’ve been in a long time only heightens the anticipation for their Week 15 rematch.