Sunday’s NFC Championship is shaping up to be a classic clash of strengths - Seattle’s top-ranked scoring defense going head-to-head with the NFL’s most explosive scoring offense in the Los Angeles Rams. It’s a matchup that’s already given us two wildly different games this season, and the rubber match promises fireworks.
Let’s rewind.
In Week 11, Seattle’s defense flat-out dictated the terms. Yes, they lost the game 21-19, but make no mistake - the Seahawks’ D showed up.
They held the Rams to just 249 total yards, their second-lowest output of the season, and made life miserable for Matthew Stafford. The MVP frontrunner was held to a season-low 130 passing yards and averaged just 4.6 yards per attempt - his lowest mark in 83 starts with the Rams.
That’s not just a good day for the defense; that’s domination.
Fast forward to Week 16, and the script flipped completely.
Seattle pulled off a wild 38-37 overtime win, but it wasn’t because of their defense - far from it. The Rams torched them for a franchise-record 581 total yards, including a staggering 457 through the air.
Stafford looked like he was playing 7-on-7 out there, connecting on four passes of 40-plus yards. For context, Seattle had only allowed three such completions in their other 17 games combined.
So what changed between those two meetings?
It all starts with pressure - or the lack of it.
Seattle didn’t sack Stafford in either game, but the way they disrupted his timing in Week 11 was key. According to Pro Football Focus, Stafford’s average time to throw in that first matchup was 2.46 seconds - his third-fastest release of the season.
That quick trigger forced him into a conservative game plan: a 5.2-yard average depth of target, and only five throws beyond 10 yards downfield (he completed just two of those for 31 yards). The Seahawks didn’t need sacks; they just needed to hurry him up.
But in the rematch? Stafford had time - and he made Seattle pay for it.
His average time to throw jumped to 2.82 seconds, the fourth-longest of his season. That extra half-second was all he needed to open up the playbook.
His average depth of target ballooned to 9.7 yards, and he went 10-for-20 for 322 yards on throws 10-plus yards downfield. That’s not just effective - that’s surgical.
Former NFL quarterback Brock Huard broke it down on Seattle Sports’ “Brock and Salk,” and he didn’t mince words.
“In the first matchup, he just got rid of the ball and dumped it off a lot,” Huard said. “Other than red-zone touchdowns that were really set up by Seahawks turnovers, Stafford did nothing. Lowest output as a Ram.
“Then you flip it to Week 16 - nearly 600 yards of offense. And for the first three quarters, Seattle couldn’t touch him.
He was throwing no-look passes, zipping it over the middle, manipulating defenders like Drake Thomas and Ernest Jones IV. Shot after shot after shot.”
The message is clear: if you don’t affect Stafford, he’ll affect you - and not in a good way.
Heading into Sunday, Seattle knows exactly what it needs to do. They don’t need to rack up sacks, but they do need to make Stafford uncomfortable.
Disrupt his rhythm. Force the quick throws.
Take away the deep ball. Because when Stafford has time, he’s a surgeon.
But when he’s rushed, that Rams offense loses its edge.
This game is going to come down to whether Seattle can get back to what worked in Week 11 - and whether they can do it for four full quarters. Because if they can’t, Stafford and the Rams have already shown what happens when they’re given the green light.
Buckle up. This one’s going to be a battle.