NFC Conference Championship Preview
We’ve got a little division rivalry heading into the NFC Championship game between two teams that are exceptionally talented. These are two teams that are extremely balanced in their advantages/disadvantages, but perhaps the question is Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold’s health as he is a limited participant at practice and questionable with an oblique injury (a tear or strain in the muscles near the abdomen.)
Let’s look at both teams.
Los Angeles Rams
The Rams offense is among the best in the league. Matthew Stafford has thrown for 4,707 passing yards, 46 touchdowns and just eight interceptions. Kyren Williams has rushed for 1,252 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns and Puka Nacua is having an MVP type of year with 1,715 receiving yards and 10 receiving touchdowns. However, the Rams have barely made it through the playoffs with two close contests against the Panthers and the Bears, with the Bears game going into overtime (almost double overtime.) In that contest against the Bears, the Rams offense did not have any turnovers. Stafford had a borderline perfect game and Williams scored two rushing touchdowns with 87 rushing yards. Stafford was able to spread the ball around but they just did not seem to score a lot against the Bears defense.
However, on the defensive side of the ball Cobie Durant was a ballhawk with two interceptions and Kam Curl also had an interception. So, it was largely a defensive contest, but when we look at the Panthers game, it tells a different story. In this game, Stafford lit up the Panthers defense with 304 yards and three touchdowns. However, it was the running game that seemed to struggle. That said, the Rams are excellent tacklers and displayed that against the Bears. Like I said, it was largely a defensive game, but it was a tight contest, so perhaps to get a clear picture of how the NFC Championship will look, we need to look at the Seahawks.
Seattle Seahawks
Darnold throughout the year has thrown for a noticeable 14 interceptions and only 25 passing touchdowns compared to Stafford, but he does have 4,048 yards. Kenneth Walker III has 1,027 rushing yards and five touchdowns and Jaxon Smith-Njigba has 119 receptions for 1,793 yards and 10 touchdowns just edging out Nacua. Perhaps the most impressive thing is how the Seahawks completely dominated against the 49ers. There is almost not much to say as the Seahawks kept Brock Purdy to just 140 passing yards and an interception, Christian McCaffrey to 35 yards (although he was injured), and recovered two fumbles.
There were questions about Darnold’s health in this game and although he had moderate stats of 124 yards and a touchdown, the Seahawks got by okay if he isn’t 100% under Walker who had 116 rushing yards and three touchdowns. Plus, the Seahawks also got points from a kick return for a touchdown from Rashid Shaheed who returned the ball 95 yards for a score. Plus, Jason Myers put up two field goals. This 41-6 win was dominant all around.
The defense of the Seahawks squashed a 49ers team that was admittedly not 100% with the absences of several key players.
So, to bring it full circle who comes out on top in this game? The Rams have won but it’s been close and the Seahawks dominated a non-100% 49ers team. In reality, this game is pretty 50/50. Currently, the Seahawks are favored by ESPN Analytics, and I think I agree. Although the Rams are an impressive team their close wins make it seem like there are some issues that will prevent them against the Seahawks especially because the only glaring thing the Seahawks have is whether Darnold is healthy. Since Darnold played fine against the 49ers, I don’t see why he wouldn’t be fine against the Rams. Plus, Darnold barely factored in the game against the 49ers (no offense, Darnold), so if Drew Lock needs to come in, that would not be the end of the world scenario like a lot fear for the Denver Broncos.
Prediction: The Seahawks win in a close contest that could go to overtime. Both games against the Rams this season were close and the count is 1-1. The Seahawks are at home and the last time they were, they won against the Rams 38-37 in overtime. I think it will be very similar in this game.
Photo Attribution: Mike Morris used with the Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license via Flickr and Wikimedia Commons. The photo still is the copyright of Mike Morris and no changes were made to the photograph.