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This is a guest article by Curtis Allen…

Nothing is given.  Everything is earned.

The Seahawks are on the precipice of a fourth trip to the Super Bowl after a remarkably successful season.  In their way stand the Rams, every bit their equal in so many ways.

In a season absent the dominance of traditional NFL superpowers Kansas City and Philadelphia, and with very good second class teams like Baltimore and Detroit taking steps back, Seattle and Los Angeles have put together seasons that are arguably as good as any in recent NFL history. 

This is not an ‘off year’ for the league, with some plucky underdog making a run that will soon become a major motion picture.  Both teams have every right to consider their seasons to this point among the best in franchise history.

And with all due respect to the Broncos and Patriots, this game is as the 2013 NFC Championship Game was:  A battle of the NFL’s two best teams.

Both know the other will not stand aside and let them run their game plans exactly as outlined and waive them into the Super Bowl.  It is going to need to be earned, yard by yard.  Whoever game plans and adjusts the best, and executes and plays with poise the best, will advance.

Since the blockbuster Week Sixteen meeting in Seattle, the Rams have lost in Atlanta in a game controlled mostly by the Falcons, won at home against the Cardinals by pulling away in the fourth quarter and then won both of their playoff games on the road by a field goal each while playing nowhere near their best football.

Meanwhile, the Seahawks went to Carolina and battled to a draw at halftime.  Since then they have been dominant.  They pulled away in the second half to beat the Panthers handily and then whipped their other archrival (San Francisco) in consecutive games.

The Seahawks have the momentum.  They have the workload advantage which is crucial.  And they are playing at home with a crowd hungry for a return to the Super Bowl.

There are any number of statistics you could point to that historically says the Seahawks have the advantage.  Mike Macdonald is perfect in rematches.  It is incredibly hard for any team to win three playoff road games in a row.  Teams from domed stadiums have a terrible record on the road in the conference championship games.  And on and on.

We all know, however, that in a single elimination game with two of the best teams there is no resting on those trends.  You either add to the trend or become the exception.  And it comes down to some critical factors.

Playing With Poise is a Must

If you have read any of my writeups this season, you will know I have been harping on this.  It is too important a factor to not be at the top of the list for this game.

Week 16’s game alone is proof of that.

Cooper Kupp is not stripped in the Red Zone just before halftime and the Seahawks get at least three points (and maybe seven).

Zach Charbonnet does not have the presence of mind to pick up a seemingly dead ball in the end zone on a two-point try and the game is not tied with six minutes to play.

Harrison Mevis does not push a 48-yard Field Goal try wide with two minutes to play and we may or may not have gotten Overtime.

The Rams are so well-coached they not only have poise; they force their opponents to not have it in ways that can bend the outcome of the game in their favor.

The Panthers – perhaps fearing the Rams’ scoring prowess – made the poor decision to go for it on fourth down in the first drive of the game on their side of the field.  They doubled down on that decision by not running the ball with their rugged Running Backs – behind their $100 million duo of guards – but by calling a cute pass play that fails.  Four plays later, the whole sequence becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as the Rams are up 7-0 and the Panthers are playing from behind until the fourth quarter.

The following week, the Bears make a whole litany of mistakes.  Drops by their receivers – who seemed unprepared to play in the cold somehow – constantly kill momentum.  Again, the Bears go for it on fourth down in key spots only to come away with no points.  Caleb Williams threw three interceptions, the third a gaffe that showed zero situational awareness.  Ben Johnson decided not to go for two points late in regulation with every bit of momentum on his side after his Quarterback had completed a touchdown pass that had all the hallmarks of a fait accompli moment that Bears fans would tell their grandkids about a decade later.

Both of the Seahawks’ games against the Rams could have swung the other way with just the flap of a butterfly’s wings.  In both, the loser outgained the winner by over 165 yards!

Let’s talk about that for a moment.

In the two games combined, only one yard of offense and one point separates them.  So, these two games are as physically close to being ties as they can get, right?

Wrong.  The Seahawks had seven turnovers in those two games.  Seven!  The Rams?  One.

A +6 ratio in two games usually leads to two solid wins, if not blowouts.  The fact that the Seahawks turned the ball over that much and were still a hair’s breadth away from winning both games means they fundamentally played better overall football.

But none of that matters if they do not play with poise in this game.

All that said, poise is not some magical ingredient.  You can manufacture it – or even take it completely out of the equation – by your game play.

The best way the Seahawks can do that?

Win the Game in the Trenches

I hate to reduce two fantastic games down to one stat.  We just talked about all the variables in those games.  But there is a truth that cannot be ignored.  It is the elephant in the room.

In Week Eleven, when Stafford had arguably his worst game of the season?  The Seahawks pressured him at a 28.6% pressure rate.

Week Sixteen, when he threw for 457 yards, his highest total of the season?  The Seahawks defense – this incredible, nickname-worthy defense – only recorded a microscopic 9.8% pressure rate.

You get the sense the defense is grateful for another shot at Stafford after that poor showing.  They will need to be far, far better.  Getting their trademark ‘pressure with four’ will be absolutely critical.  Why?

Stafford has never been a high-completion rate guy.  He mixes a bunch of short passes with downfield shots that are deadly.  When he has pressure in his face, he can get out of sorts and make poor decisions.  He also occasionally trusts his world-class arm too much and allows his mechanics to get sloppy under pressure.

In Week Eleven, Stafford was 2-of-8 with no touchdowns on passes longer than ten yards, a meager 25% completion rate.

In Week Sixteen?  10-of-18 for 56% with a touchdown.

The two prior playoff games that were so close?  14-of-44 for 32%, with two touchdowns and an interception.

That is a key factor in why those two games were so close.  Both defenses – not exactly titans of rushing the passer (#31 and #22 overall this year) – were able to make Stafford uncomfortable enough to not be that deadly weapon in the deeper passing game.

The Rams love to creatively get the ball to players like Puka Nacua and Kyren Williams close to the Line of Scrimmage and let them get yards with their feet and their toughness.  It complements the run game well and allows Stafford the room to take deeper shots and not kill the offense if all he can get is 50% of them.

The Seahawks are a sure tackling team though.  When they have guys in their sights, they regularly get them to the ground.  That particular combo of not allowing too many Yards After the Catch on shorties and pressuring Stafford on deeper throws can be extremely effective if timed up right.

How do they accomplish that?  I will let Brian Baldinger explain that.  It is a chess match.  A game of cat and mouse.

And it is a huge reason why the Seahawks hired Mike Macdonald to be their head coach.

On offense, the line must improve in their pass protection.  It will be critical for this game.  Why?

Last week, Sam Darnold’s role was not pivotal.  Special Teams gave them a lead they never relinquished and the running game was working beautifully.  San Francisco had to chase the game and that added some fuel to the fire, with some key turnovers.

The game this week will not likely work that way.  Darnold will have a much bigger role, particularly with Zach Charbonnet out for the season.

And here is a bit of an inconvenient truth:  Last week Darnold was sacked twice and pressured at a rate of 26%.  Seattle’s run blocking was terrific.  The pass blocking was not.

When you consider how banged up San Francisco was — and that the Rams will line up Jared Verse, Kobie Turner, Byron Young and Braden Fiske — you see how critical it will be that line plays much better.

No doubt Klint Kubiak will dial up some creative plays to get the ball out of Sam Darnold’s hands quickly.  There will come a handful of plays where he will need a little bit of time though.  If the Rams decide to stack the box to stop the running game, there will be opportunities to make some deeper throws to Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Rashid Shaheed.

The chess match on this side of the ball should also be very intriguing to watch unfold.

Game Notes

— Special Teams has played a huge part of the two games.  It could once again come down to a punt, a return, or a Field Goal try.  The Rams have been both good and bad in those games.  The Seahawks have been mostly stellar, as they have all season.

— Speaking of the ‘go for it on fourth down’ craze, it should be noted that Mike Macdonald has only gone for it one time in the two games.  It was a fourth and one and they used A.J. Barner to plow forward and get it.  In Week Eleven, regularly making the decision to take the points allowed them to stay in the game despite four Darnold interceptions and they almost won it on an admirable 61-yard try by Myers.

— Macdonald is not ultra-conservative though.  He went for two points in Overtime of Week Sixteen with the game, the division and a potential first round bye on the line.  So, let’s not shove him into back of the refrigerator with the expired yogurt that is the old-school coaching mentality just yet.

— Nick Emmanwori will once again be a key player.  Devon Witherspoon as well.  They allow the Seahawks to play ‘small’ on defense but still be stout against the run as well as Tight End types.  Emmanwori had touchdown-saving tackles at the one-yard line in both games.  In Week Eleven, the Rams scored eventually.  In Week Sixteen, the defense held them to a Field Goal.  Again, it is the little things like that that may decide the game.  Both are extremely effective at showing blitz before the snap but retreating to their assignments with enough speed to keep their positioning.  A bit of ‘who is coming’ misdirection combined with strong games from Jarran Reed, Byron Murphy, Leonard Williams and DeMarcus Lawrence could be the difference in the game.

There isn’t a sport I don’t like. I don’t really watch TV apart from live sport. Whenever I travel I always have a look to see if there’s a game going on nearby.

My main two passions though are the Seahawks and the English men’s national football team (I refuse to use the word ‘soccer’).

As sad as this might sound, my life will be complete if I ever see England win anything. It’s hard to describe how important football is over here. I think this video might help explain it. These are scenes after England won a penalty shoot-out against Colombia in 2018 to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup. It meant they were one of eight teams remaining in the competition. They didn’t actually win anything. And that’s how the country collectively celebrated.

In 2024 I basically didn’t sleep for three days, checking online websites for flights to Germany so I could go and watch England play Spain in the final of the European Championships — hoping to see a bit of history and have an unforgettable life experience. Three days before the game, I somehow secured a flight. I went over, alone, and watched them lose. This was four years after watching them lose the same final to Italy.

When they lost to Italy I epically sulked for two weeks. I only snapped out of it when my daughter, aged four at the time, asked why I was sad.

These are actually the glory days of being an England fan. For the first thirty-odd years of my life England were mostly awful and any thought of winning anything was a preposterous dream.

I’m still not sure how I’ll react if they do eventually win something. It will probably be embarrassing for anyone who’s with me.

I bring this up to say that despite four decades of dedication to sporting fandom, I’ve not really had anything back for the investment. Not that I expect anything, of course. But a slight reward every now and again would be nice.

I’m sure Mariners fans can relate to everything I’ve said and share the sentiment.

The only thing that has truly brought me joy as a fan is the Seahawks Super Bowl win from the 2013 season. I could barely believe a team I supported had actually… won something. It was five years after I started writing Seahawks Draft Blog and felt like a truly special time.

Even England getting dumped out of the 2014 World Cup a few months later after just two group games didn’t matter. The Seahawks were Super Bowl Champions. For the first time ever, something to celebrate.

The sporting gods clearly saw that joy and decided after 12 months to exact some revenge.

Perhaps we all enjoyed ourselves too much? Did we push our smile quota beyond the legal limit?

We all had one year to enjoy beating the Broncos before the most crushing, misery-inducing loss imaginable.

I didn’t sleep after the Patriots loss and that interception because it was about 4am and I had work in an hour. One of my tasks was to read a morning sports bulletin every half-an-hour stating the result of the Super Bowl.

I didn’t go to bed until midnight the following day. After two days of stunned disbelief I forced my poor wife to watch the final drive while she listened, sympathetically, to me breaking everything down through tears.

It was like a grieving process. I didn’t snap out of it for probably about two years, truth be told. I wouldn’t wish it on a fan of any rival, in any sport. It was just so incredibly shitty.

We still have the memory of the first Super Bowl win. Yet every time I see highlights of it, inevitably I remember what happened next. It’s not ruined but some of the gloss has come off, at least for me.

I so badly want this team to be able to get to the Super Bowl this year. I want this new group, which is so incredibly likeable and easy to root for, to get a victory for themselves. They deserve it, for an outstanding effort this season.

I also want us as fans to have some joy again. To have some new memories, legends to celebrate and to be able to have a moment that provides a little bit of closure to what happened 11 years ago.

The Seahawks face the toughest possible opponent on Sunday and there’s a very realistic chance the Rams will win. If they do, they’ll have earned it. Three road wins to make the Super Bowl would be a heck of an achievement. They have a great coach, quarterback and one of the top performing players in the NFL in 2025 at receiver.

If the Seahawks are to overcome this final NFC challenge to reach the Super Bowl, it’ll take a supreme effort. Yet they’ve shown through 18 games that they are worthy of being the conference’s representative in the final game of the season.

If you’re a true sports fan, watching your team win a trophy is a bookmark in your life. You’ll never forget that period of your existence. On the tough days it’ll raise you up. Years later you’ll reflect on how significant those moments were. They’re among the best days of your life.

We don’t get many of those moments. I really want the opportunity to have another. It feels like it’s time.

I am absolutely desperate for the Seahawks to win on Sunday.

Go and beat the Rams.

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If you’ve listened to Mike Macdonald’s post-game interviews this season you’ll have noticed how often he makes reference to letting the game ‘declare itself’.

The inference here is that he’s waiting to see what happens then acting accordingly. He adjusts to opponents, game scenarios and conditions. He makes decisioned based on the moment and flow of a given game.

If there’s one thing the 2025 NFL season has shown us it’s that several other coaches refuse to do this.

There’s a trend among Head Coaches to do the opposite. They, along with analysts like Greg Olsen, treat every game like it’s a carbon copy. If you just do this list of things, you’re doing it right. Forget the situation. Stick to your principles.

This lack of flexibility has caused more problems than solutions.

Detroit’s Dan Campbell is a big proponent of this. Yet his decision making cost the Lions in the NFC Championship game two years ago against the 49ers.

He passed on two potential field goals for fourth-down attempts (4th & 2 from the 28 and 4th & 3 from the 30) when leading and trailing, respectively. Both resulted in incomplete passes. The Lions lost a game they led 24-7 at half-time by three points.

In that scenario the Lions just had to keep the scoreboard ticking along. Campbell refused — because he believes in what he describes as “feel calls”.

We saw that same aggressiveness prove costly for the Lions again during the 2025 season. In a 16-9 loss to the Eagles they were 0-5 on fourth down:

— 4th & 2 from own 48-yard line (0-yard run)
— 4th & 2 from own 43-yard line (failed fake punt)
— 4th & 5 from Eagles’ 32-yard line (incomplete pass)
— 4th & goal from Eagles’ 3-yard line (incomplete pass)
— 4th & 3 from Eagles’ 45-yard line (incomplete pass)

After the game Campbell admitted:

“If you go totally conservative in the way this game played out and the way it was, you got a better chance of winning that game than some of those decisions I made.”

Meanwhile, his former offensive coordinator Ben Johnson suffered the same fate last night. In a cold, frigid environment, in what ultimately proved to be a low-scoring typical playoff encounter, he aggressively chased fourth down conversions instead of kicking field goals. There were mixed results.

Take the opening drive. They march downfield, turn it over on fourth down and instead of the Bears’ defense trotting onto the field feeling like they’d had a good start, they had to grab their helmets and respond to an interception. A few moments later, the Rams were leading 7-0.

It didn’t help that Johnson’s play-calling was off, as was his personnel usage (just run Kyle Monangai in goal-to-go situations). Yet it felt like he wasn’t playing the weather, the situation, the type of game we were witnessing or the opponent. He was ‘doing what he always does’ because ‘that’s just the way I am’.

Funnily enough, having suffered failure on the goal-line, when it came to be braver than, well, a bear — he suddenly lost his bottle and didn’t go for the two-point conversion to win. Instead he kicked an extra-point and settled for overtime.

Macdonald doesn’t seem to fall for any of this. It’s not that he’s anti-analytics or never aggressive. He’s just more thoughtful and calculated. He’s not going for fourth down all of the time. He isn’t listening to the cool kids on Twitter who treat any game like an opportunity to tut at not following the prescribed cool kid rules. Every 2nd and 10 run after an incomplete pass is a heinous crime. Never kick field goals. Go for two when you’re down 15 (as the Eagles did against the Bears in November) — meaning if you fail you still need two scores.

Please, stop the madness.

There’s been no louder voice on this than Olsen, the former Seahawks tight end now working for Fox. His views on the matter, delivered like a weekly sermon, drowning every game he covers in noise, reached fever pitch in the Vikings/Seahawks game in week 13. He declared ‘field goals get you beat’ as the Seahawks climbed to a 13-0 half-time lead against a team fielding Max Brosmer at quarterback.

Some coaches would’ve felt like they had to be ultra-aggressive to prove some kind of point against an overmatched opponent. The Seahawks were content to focus on the mission — actually winning the game. They did win, 26-0.

Olsen went on to say:

“I hate when commentators say it, I hate when coaches say it, I hate when the media says it. I don’t know what ‘take the points means,’ it doesn’t make sense to me.”

It means scoring points. Building a lead. In some games, that’s what you need to do. In other games, a more aggressive approach might be necessary. If it’s a shoot-out and you need to match every score with your opponent, going for it a lot on fourth down could be the key to winning.

Other games might be a defensive battle and playing the percentages will be the key, with scoring at a premium.

Macdonald seems to recognise this and the Seahawks are better for it. You need to let the game declare itself and make sound decisions based on what you’re seeing on the field. Not stick to inflexible principles that can easily get you beat if they’re stubbornly pursued.

It would be great if the Seahawks could win a Super Bowl for many different reasons — perhaps none more so than their traditional brand of football reminding people that the game hasn’t changed quite as much as they seem to think. And no amount of twitter shouting or online clout chasing will do anything about it.

If you missed it earlier, check out my stream with Jeff Simmons (he joined for the second half) plus my appearance on UK Seahawks show ’12 Talk Podcast’.

So there we go — it’s #1 vs #2 in DVOA next weekend at Lumen Field for a place in the Super Bowl. The Seahawks and Rams meet for a third time this season. Discuss it all in the comments.

If you ask most Seahawks fans who they’d least like to play in the NFC Championship game, most would say the LA Rams.

That’s the right answer for a couple of key reasons.

The Seahawks finished the regular season as the #1 team in the NFL per DVOA. The Rams ranked #2. The Bears, on the other hand, were back in 16th.

It’s stating the obvious that #1 vs #16 is better than #1 vs #2.

The other reason is what happened in week 16. The Rams for three quarters were better than the Seahawks. It took a near miraculous set of events to get the game to overtime and credit to Sam Darnold and the offense, they delivered with the game on the line.

It’s still a fact though that the Rams had 581 yards of offense and scored 37 points. They won the turnover battle 3-0. They should’ve won.

A third game doesn’t necessarily have to repeat what happened there — but these two teams are not massively different than they were on December 18th.

The Rams had a bit of a wobble after that game, losing to the Falcons and toiling against the Cardinals and Panthers. Yet if they win in Chicago to claim back-to-back road playoff wins, it’d be safe to assume they’d overcome that wobble and would’ve regained momentum.

Matthew Stafford and Puka Nacua connected for 12 catches, 225 yards and a pair of touchdowns at Lumen Field last time. Nacua would fill the nightmares of fans all week if it’s LA coming to Seattle next Sunday.

Stafford, even with a bad finger, is a real threat. He’s spent a career playing hurt and is probably the best in the business at dealing with it. Sean McVay is clearly capable of testing Mike Macdonald in a way Kyle Shanahan hasn’t shown so far.

The Seahawks played the 49ers in week 18 and dominated. The score was only 13-3 because they failed to finish drives and put points on the board. A fortnight later they made amends to score 41. Is there a danger the Rams, if given the opportunity, would course-correct enough to finish the job in the NFC Championship, having blown that week 16 contest?

People often say you have to beat the best to be the best. I don’t agree. The path of least resistance is always superior — and such a path is possible in the NFL this year. I don’t want to see the best two teams in the playoffs play each other next week. I want the Bears to knock the Rams out.

That isn’t taking Chicago lightly either. They have a ton of weapons and a brilliant offensive mind leading them. Caleb Williams’ mobility and improv could be the perfect antidote to Seattle’s D-line physicality. Get him on the move, have him play backyard football early. Try to rip-up Seattle’s script and make the most of an arsenal of weapons. Make the Seahawks chase the game and get out of their comfort zone.

The Bears are capable of beating anyone.

Their defense however is susceptible and relies on turnovers. They have been opportunistic and I’m not sure over four quarters the Seahawks are going to do what the Packers, Bengals and Giants did this season and throw games away.

Some will use bravado and suggest they don’t care who the Seahawks face. That’s fine — I’m sure in most cases it comes from a place of honesty.

This is the truth though — the Rams are at least the second best team in the playoffs. Watching someone else beat them so you don’t have to try and do it simply increases the odds of the Seahawks reaching the Super Bowl — even if they’d still face a big challenge against Chicago.