Cooper Kupp has seen championship football from two different angles, and he says the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks arrived at the top in very different ways.
Speaking on the Pat McAfee Show, Kupp laid out the contrast plainly.
“We did things a certain way in LA,” Kupp said on the Pat McAfee Show. “Sean has, you know, his alchemy is science. We’re scientifically building what we know works, what we know is going to win games.
“You get to Seattle and it’s like, ‘Hey, there’s a piece of this. We’re just going to play harder than you.
We’re going to outcompete you. We’re just going to play more physical than you.'"
That difference in approach helps explain why the matchup between the two teams has carried so much weight. Both reached the NFC Championship last season after splitting the season series, and Seattle got the better of the Rams before going on to beat the New England Patriots two weeks later.
Kupp’s perspective also reinforces a simple truth: there isn’t one approved blueprint for winning. Teams lean into what their coaches build, then try to execute it better than everyone else. For Seattle, that formula has centered on physical play and a defense that set the tone.
The "Dark Side" finished No. 1 in the league in points allowed last season, a major reason the Seahawks moved from being good to being a true Super Bowl contender.
That identity has given Seattle the belief that it can keep winning by outworking opponents. Their win in Super Bowl LX should only strengthen that confidence.
Still, the Seahawks are not walking into another title run on autopilot. They lost key players in free agency, including Coby Bryant, Riq Woolen, Kenneth Walker III and Boye Mafe.
The core ideas that carried them to a Super Bowl remain in place, but some of the details will have to change from 2025 as they try to make history.
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