NFL Playoffs: Los Angeles Rams and Denver Broncos to reach Super Bowl, says Phoebe Schechter

If you asked the question midway through the season, everyone would say, “Oh, the Rams are going to the Super Bowl.” But Matthew Stafford and his team have been struggling lately, so Seattle won the NFC West and secured first place in the NFC.

I was at the Rams’ wildcard game in Carolina and they had a bit of an uphill battle. Now they face a great defense in Seattle. These guys work at every level. You have DeMarcus Lawrence up front, linebacker Ernest Jones, and then you go to cornerback Devon Weatherspoon.

Seattle has allowed the fewest points this season and leads the league in third place in defense. They play like the best defense in the league.

That’s what [Seattle head coach] Mike McDonald developed while he was in Baltimore. They had that clear identity and style of defense that made the Ravens so special and now makes the Seahawks so special.

As defensive coordinator, Aden Durdi played a huge role. Good old Eden. I was coaching with him and it’s amazing to see what a British coach did, working his way up through the player pathway system, going to the Dallas Cowboys and then the Atlanta Falcons. Now he’s in Seattle interviewing for the head coach.

Mike McDonald is the defensive play caller, but Eden still leads the room. He has to get the players right – fundamentally, mentally and culturally – and that’s also defending Eden, isn’t it? He played fullback and his style is one of the reasons why Mike McDonald picked him, because they have very similar philosophies in that sense, and we’ve seen that come to life with this defense.

It puts them in a position where Sam Darnold doesn’t have to do anything spectacular. Seattle likes to run up the middle, so you hand the ball off, and then you can shoot it over the middle to Jackson Smith-Njigba. I feel like that’s kind of their game plan for this.

But Darnold had the most giveaways by a quarterback this season (20) and the Seahawks lost that double-double with their running back, because Zach Charbonnet is now out with a knee injury.

Kenneth Walker will carry a much larger load than he normally does, and this Rams defense will want to force the Seahawks into long, largely certain back-pass situations.