Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams are no strangers to the Seattle Seahawks. They played each other twice in the regular season, splitting the series before the Seahawks took the NFC West and the No. 1 seed in the conference playoffs.
But now that they’re both meeting in the postseason, the stakes are a bit higher. A spot in the Super Bowl is on the line, and it’ll pit the No. 1 passing offense versus the NFL’s No. 1 defense.
That type of matchup is very unique for the postseason. According to NFL senior researcher Dante Koplowitz-Fleming, this is the first time since 2014 that the No. 1 passer faced the No. 1 defense in the playoffs. That game: Super Bowl XLVIII between Peyton Manning’s Denver Broncos and the Russell Wilson-Pete Carroll-led Seahawks.
Things didn’t go well for the No. 1 offense in that one, as the Seahawks rocked the Broncos in a 43-8 blowout Super Bowl win.
There are obvious differences between this game and that Super Bowl, though.
For one, this is the NFC championship game, although the stage is still just as big. Secondly, the Rams and Seahawks are, as we mentioned before, very familiar with each other. Rams head coach Sean McVay is 12-7 against the Seahawks in his career, but 2-2 against Mike MacDonald’s version of the team. McVay’s squad has also put up impressive numbers against the Seahawks, following his 21-point and 37-point performances against Seattle this season.
Things have changed somewhat since the last matchup between the two sides. The Seahawks haven’t allowed more than 10 points in their past three games and have given up just one touchdown. While the Rams have still scored a lot of points, they’ve looked less exciting than they did during the high-scoring regular season.
Either way, it’ll be a sensational showdown to watch.
