How Seattle defends Rams offense is paramount
Mike Florio and Michael Holley debate the main storylines of the NFC Championship game including how the Seattle Seahawks defend Puka Nacua and Davante Adams .
Video Transcript
Fourth NFC title game for you, right?
Fifth.
Fifth?
Yes.
Oh, okay.
Fifth NFC title game.
Mm-hmm.
No Super Bowls.
Yeah.
So, thank you for the reminder.
Baby?
It just feels like almost like a mythical thing.
To me at this point, you know?
Like, you do everything you can to get there, and it's been, it's been so hard and been working so hard at it.
So, um, we're close.
We just gotta finish it off.
Davante Adams wearing that hoodie with the version of the Rams logo that...
I'll just say this: there's something about that logo that once you see it, It can't be unseen.
That's all I'll say about it.
That's not the logo we have on the screen.
I'm gonna... Now, see, now you did it.
Thankfully.
Now you did it.
Now I, uh... Garrett, can we see it again?
Uh, uh, like, now I gotta do it.
No!
I gotta see it.
No, no, no.
I- Let's just keep going.
I don't.
Let's keep going.
No, no, no, no, no!
No, no, no.
Let's keep going.
Let's keep going.
All right.
The, the, the- Just imagine what- strings in the way anyway.
But let's keep going... What Mike Florio is seeing there.
All right.
I... Others agree.
Many are saying.
Okay.
Let's just leave it at that.
All right.
All right.
So the Rams- I think I got it, too.
The Ra...
The Rams are... Joe Camel, uh, says hello.
The Rams are 2 1/2-point underdogs at Seattle in the rubber match to the rivalry.
Uh, and hey, When, when we saw this game back in December, I remember it was one of those nights where I couldn't fall asleep.
It was so exciting with the Zach Charbonnet, who's got a torn ACL and won't be playing, but he picks up casually the ball and 2 points.
That ties the game, and the two-point conversion.
And you saw the Red Sea part as they did the, you know.
The, the, uh, tight end chips and then strays into that front of the end zone.
And no one's there, and it's, uh, ballgame.
I, I...
It's one of those rare moments where I could see it all happening ahead, like.
It was like The Matrix, like ballgame and throws the...
It's, it was great.
Now we get another one.
Hopefully, it lives up to it.
Both games between the two teams this year were exciting and down to the wire.
The Rams won 21-19, 61-yard field goal by the Seahawks, no good, overcoming four interceptions by Sam Darnold.
He had two in the Week 16 Thursday night game, and they did overcome that.
38-37.
So I can't... Well, look, I think we got two great match-ups for Sunday.
I can't wait for Rams-Seahawks.
Yeah, and I, I think Rams-Seahawks... And I, I remember us talking about it after that, that Thursday night game, that, you know, the first game.
Uh, the team, the winning team is up by two, wins by two.
The other, the other game, the winning team wins by a point.
This is, this is what it is.
This is really what the, the match-up is.
It is a classic pick 'em match-up.
And I'm not even sure home field factors into it.
I mean, they...
I just think they're just really two evenly matched teams.
And that game, that Thursday game, was crazy because Mike, there were points in that game, I was like, "Oh," I'm having a hard time staying awake.
This is not a, this is not a good game at all.
And then it just changed.
It just exploded into, uh, one of the most exciting games we've seen all year.
But I think the...
If, if I had to make a call on it, Who do I think the better team is?
I think the Seahawks are a better team.
Because the Rams, in these close games, it really comes down to something small.
And for the Rams, that small thing, they haven't fixed it all year.
Is their special teams.
Their special teams are a problem.
And, hey, you, you talk about the Pa- the Pa- if the Patriots had won that game against the Raiders, they'd be playing against Denver in Foxborough.
Think about the Rams.
If they had fixed their special teams, They beat Philadelphia.
Hell, they probably beat Seattle, and they're playing it in LA instead of...
Uh, in the Pacific Northwest.
So I think it will come down to, you know, something small.
Some flaw of one of these teams is gonna be exposed, and that's probably gonna be the difference in a one.
Two or three-point game.
And the Rams will be playing at home and using the silent count in their own stadium again.
So, uh, I...
They're impervious to having to go on the road.
They're on the road all the time.
Their home games don't feel like home games.
Now, I think it's improved somewhat for them.
Better representation of Rams fans there.
But they know how to play in that environment, and here's the key for me.
And you're right about special teams.
It was the Rashid Shaheed punt return that got Chase Blackburn, the special teams coordinator, fired by the Rams two days opened the door to the 16-point comeback that resulted in the overtime victory.
But the Rams had 581 yards of total offense in that game.
And they did it without Davante Adams.
And he's back!
And he's chasing his first Super Bowl berth, and he's gonna go all out and give everything.
He has.
Chris Simms made a great point talking about covering Puka Nacua and Davante Adams.
Seahawks used zone against Nacua, the last time around, and Matthew Stafford ate their lunch with the zone defense.
The Bears used man and held Puka Nacua and Davante Adams in check.
As you're ever going to.
Didn't shut him down, but it was like 56 receiving yards for Puka, two catches for 24.
But both were significant for Davante Adams.
But that, that strategy of how they're gonna defend those two guys is gonna be so critical game turns out.
And it's not gonna be obvious while we're watching the game.
I'm assuming that Tom Brady will try to take us, you know, behind the curtain, and tell us how the coverages are working.
And maybe we can stop and notice.
And, you know, you don't get the same look as you do when you watch the f-...
The all 22, uh, because they focus more on where the ball is.
But that's gonna be a key to this one.
Is Davante Adams is back.
And what will the Seahawks do differently in trying to slow down an offense that they had no answer for the last time around, even though they won?
Well, uh, maybe the guy the Baltimore Ravens wanted as their first choice.
Mike McDonald, maybe they wanted him.
He was there.
Uh, before Jesse Minter was hired.
You know, He was on Harbaugh's staff.
Maybe Mike McDonald has figured this out, too, because the Seahawks are, the Seahawks are an interesting team.
I don't know, they may be the only team in football where you look at it and say, Okay, if they need to zone you up, they can zone you up.
But if that's not working, they can go man-on you, too."
They can do both!
Like, I, I, I really like what they're doing.
I like their scheme a lot.
Uh, one thing they don't have, and they may be the only team in the playoffs that doesn't have This... Well, uh, I, I think the Seahawks and the Patriots don't have an elite pass rusher.
Like, you know, one of these... You know, you don't have the Will Anderson, you don't have Benito, you don't have one of those guys.
A Myles Garrett type.
So the Patriots don't have that guy, and the Seahawks don't have that guy.
But what they do is they're just good across the board.
So if, if they look at that first game Hey, the zone is not working.
We need to play more man.
They have the ability to do it.
And a lot of teams in football, they're stuck.
They're either a man team or a zone team.
And they can't go back and forth equally, but the Seahawks can.
The Seahawks have not sacked Matthew Stafford since 2023.
Seven hits on him in two games this year, to your point.
Now, they do have DeMarcus Lawrence.
That's a great stat.
The former Cowboy.
That's a great stat.
But, uh, Michael Shawn Dugger of The Athletic posted that yesterday.
Um, and I just found it real quickly, 'cause I, I had remembered seeing it.
So that was multitasking at its finest.
But, uh, That, that... Yeah, that's significant, 'cause Matthew Stafford, we've seen him banged up in the postseason this year with the finger that happened in Carolina.
Although, I mean, he's gonna play no matter What.
I don't care what they do to him.
But still, the less you hit the guy, the less he's gotta play through.
The less he's gotta deal with as he carves up your defense.
So, it's gonna be...
It's gonna be fun, and I pick the Rams in that one.
I, I went with all four underdogs last week and got burned by each one of them.
Thanks for nothing.
I went with... And I didn't even think about it this week.
I just went with who I thought was gonna win, and I ended up going with both underdogs.
So, is the external pressure getting to you at all in your picks?
Are you trying to catch Chris Simms, and so like, "Wait a minute," I gotta catch you, so maybe I'll take some chances.
I'll, I'll take some shots down the field?
No, because he's too far ahead of me in the straight-up competition.
I'm holding onto a lead against the spread and with our best bets, which we are just caca at.
Uh, at the core, I really don't care about the picks.
It's fun to talk about the games with him and have a little bit of a competition, but at the end of the day, Like, I can't remember who won last year.
I can't remember who won the year before.
We're gonna get to the end of the season, we turn the page.
And we forget about it, and we move on.
So it's just a fun way, on a Thursday morning, to go through all the games and.
And, you know, just talk football.
I, I really...
The pick part of it... Now, I m- I guess I'd feel differently if I was ahead in straight up, but it's, you know, Look, before we take a break, You know how I feel about gambling, and I can't wait to read the new book called "Everybody."
Loses, or Everyone Loses.
Whatever it is, "Loses" is in the title.
And it peels back the curtain on how the thing really works.
It's not the stock market.
The rising tide doesn't lift all boats.
The money comes from you and goes to them.
That's how it all happens.
And I, I... And with all the disclaimers I use, Uh, I, I still- I don't know how comfortable I am picking games.
Because there's still gonna be somebody out there who thinks I'm giving them some sort of magical elixir that they can take and turn a loser into a winner.
Although, if you... And I say this all the time, sometimes tongue-in-cheek, sometimes dead-on balls accurate.
If you listen to me, you got no shot.
Maybe you should do the opposite.
In fact, last week, I considered... Michael, I considered making my picks the opposite, and if I had done that, I would've been four and O. Undefeated.
The Stanzer approach.
Look... Never fails.
Uh, you, what you should say, uh, that you started to do on Wednesday.
You should say, "Listen, don't listen to me on my picks."
but read "Big Shield."
Just read Big Shield, and you can, you can, uh, have a fictional, fictional view of how these things could happen.
In a league that is not necessarily... See, I'm doing your, I'm doing your promo for you.
A league that's not necessarily the NFL.
I got it.
I got Big Shields right there.
Somehow it ended up.
There you go.
On the floor the other day.
Somebody threw, Somebody threw it on the floor the other day.
