Rams-Seahawks will come down to QB execution
Jac Collinsworth and Tony Dungy preview the NFC Championship between the Seahawks and Rams , discussing why this game will come down to the execution of Sam Darnold and Matthew Stafford .
Video Transcript
I like it.
All right, we'll get to the Super Bowl pick.
Shortly.
Don't wanna tip those.
Let's get down to the NFC Championship game and preview this one.
This is the five-seed Rams.
Amazing to me they ended up the five seed.
It was really the end of that season where they took some losses.
They took on some water.
They ended up the five seed at the one-seed.
Seahawks.
Opening thought on this game, Coach?
Well, to me, this is a classic and a well-deserved championship game.
That NFC West was the best division in football.
You had three teams seed in the last two weeks, going back and forth.
Uh, San Francisco goes on the road, upsets Philadelphia.
So you, you, you have this battle going on, and now it's two teams that have played each other twice.
They know each other very well.
There's some not friendly blood in between these two teams.
Uh, it's gonna be a game of execution.
They know each other.
There aren't gonna be a lot of surprises.
Who can come out and execute their plan of attack, stay away from the turnovers, and, and roll?
And to me, that's what I'm looking at in this game.
Sam Darnold and, uh, Matthew Stafford, you have to function at a high level football over.
Mm-hmm.
I would say that is for darn sure.
The favorite, you would guess, would it be the home team?
Or who would you guess?
I'm gonna favor Seattle just a little bit.
You've, you're more rested.
Uh, yep.
LA has had the tougher road.
You are at home, but we know the last time these two teams played in Seattle, that the Rams were up 16 points in the 4th quarter and looking like they were cruising.
So, uh, you know, they, they have confidence.
They know they can go up there and win.
Again, to me, it's gonna really come down to how do these quarterbacks perform?
How is Sam Darnold?
He made it through one game with that oblique.
Injury.
Hopefully, that's better.
Um, but if I'm the Rams, I'm not gonna let Kenneth Walker just run.
Run, run.
I'm gonna say, "You know what?
We've gotta make Sam Darnold win this game.
We've gotta put the pressure on their running game.
Make Sam Darnold throw 30 passes in this game."
The favorite is Seattle.
They, they usually give a little benefit to the home team.
That's the case here.
Seattle by two and a half points.
Mm-hmm.
So less than a field goal.
As you mentioned, it's the third meeting, so it's one of those where Seattle won one, the Rams won one.
It's game three tiebreaker now as we get into the postseason.
So, the player to watch in this game, Coach, you can take either sideline, the player to watch would be who?
Uh, I've... You know, we talked about the quarterbacks and not turning the ball over.
But I, again, will come back to the running backs.
And, uh, Kenneth Walker now has the yeoman duty.
Good... Because of Charbonnet getting hurt, so he's got to hold the fort and run.
And he's gotta be their short-yardage back as well.
If he has a good day, that's really gonna help Seattle out.
On the other side, um, I would look at those front guys on defense and who can really create some pressure.
Uh, I want to get after Sam Darnold.
So that, to me, says Jared Verse.
Can you have that big game?
Can you be around him, move him off his spot?
Can you get him thinking about you and not his downfield reads?
Fair enough.
I mean, Seattle has been one of those year, even going back to...
When we had them on Sunday Night Football, Was it Washington?
I know Washington had a tough year.
Yes, in Washington.
Yeah.
Destroyed them!
And they've done that throughout the course of this year.
Even going back to last week.
Now, I don't think that they'll be able to do that against the Rams, but I do think this will be a tough test for Stafford & Co. on that offense.
Now, they've gotten healthy.
Kyren Williams looked great.
Devante's now back and healthy.
Puka Nacua looked awesome.
Uh, so can they overcome that?
But I would look at a guy like DeMarcus Lawrence.
Who's had this tremendous career, right there next to Leonard Williams.
Can he go get a Super Bowl?
This is really his opportunity.
His team to get a Super Bowl.
We talked with him about this exact thing, And you know he's hungry for it, Coach.
Yeah, and I think those guys are gonna be a factor, because I, I was a little surprised last week.
The Bears did not have a strong run defense, and I thought Sean McVay was gonna come out and run the ball.
But he put it in Matthew Stafford's hands, And I think in these playoffs, he's saying, "I've got the MVP."
I want Matthew to win for us."
So I think they're gonna go out there and throw the ball.
So DeMarcus Lawrence, Leonard Williams, those guys become important.
Can they disrupt Stafford's timing?
Can they force some takeaways?
Oh, yeah, and you know it's gonna be loud.
All right.
The Rams will win if... We'll play the same game here.
What do you think?
Rams will win if Puka Nacua and Davante Adams get going and have some success against that secondary, if they get some big plays in.
Passing game.
Okay, the Seahawks will win if... Seahawks will win if Sam Darnold plays turnover-free.
