Seahawks’ Path to Super Bowl Revolves Around Challenge of Slowing Potent Rams Offense
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="5020"]
Seattle Seahawks defensive end Leonard Williams (99) reacts after a missed field goal by Los Angeles Rams in the fourth quarter at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Ng-Imagn Images [/caption]
RENTON, Wash. - For most of the 2025 season, the Seattle Seahawks stood at the top of the mountain as the NFL’s premier defense, culminating with a first place finish in points allowed.
With coach Mike Macdonald calling the shots from the sideline, Seattle tied for the league lead allowing 12 or fewer points in five different games. Beyond allowing the fewest points in the NFL, the Seahawks finished third in rushing defense, sixth in turnovers forced, ninth in sacks, second in quarterback hits, first in third down conversion rate, and fifth in red zone touchdown rate, standing among the best of the best in every noteworthy category to lead the team to a franchise-record 14 wins and the No. 1 overall seed.
Whether stuffing the run, pressuring the quarterback, or shutting down pass plays in coverage, no defense performed at an elite level as consistently as the Seahawks’ “Darkside” unit. But they still had a few games where they weren’t humming on all cylinders, most notably allowing more than 500 yards of offense to Matthew Stafford, Puka Nacua, and the Rams in Week 16, a prime time contest they were fortunate to win 38-37 in overtime to propel to the top of the NFC West and conference standings.
As Seattle prepares for the ultimate rubber match against its division rival on Sunday with a spot in the Super Bowl on the line, Macdonald faces his stiffest challenge yet trying to craft a more successful game plan pitting his wits against offensive guru Sean McVay and a potent Los Angeles offensive attack. And while he was proud of how his team rallied late in all three phases in that Thursday night battle, after surrendering a season-high 10 explosive plays that “inflated” the stats to an extent, he knows the defense must be much better to advance to the big game this time around.
“Look, you got to tip your cap to them. They played a great game,” Macdonald said on Wednesday. “[Matthew] Stafford played a tremendous game. Puka [Nacua] had a great game the second game. They did what they did to put up all the yards and points that they did. We’ve got to figure out a way to stop them this time. As a team, I'm proud of the way we figured out a way to win the game given what happened on defense.”
From the outset, McVay and Stafford seemed to be a step or two ahead of Macdonald at every turn. Though the Rams weren’t racking up explosive runs against the Seahawks as they did in the first matchup back in Week 11, Kyren Williams seemed to fall forward every time he touched the ball as the visitors tallied 103 rushing yards in the first three quarters, consistently setting them up with favorable second and third down situations.
According to TruMedia, in the first 45 minutes of action, Los Angeles had 12 third down conversion opportunities with an average of just 4.2 yards to gain. This prevented Leonard Williams and Seattle’s defensive line from being able to pin their ears back in pursuit of Stafford in the pocket, as they weren’t able to earn the chance to rush the passer very often due to early down struggles and allowed the opposition to orchestrate three drives with 10 or more plays in the first half alone.
Going nuclear primarily by throwing to the ever-so-destructive Nacua, the quarterback took advantage of optimal third down scenarios by unloading the ball in rapid fire fashion before the pass rush could have a chance of even sniffing him, taking just one hit and not being sacked a single time while throwing for 302 yards and averaging a gaudy 12.6 yards per attempt. By the time the third quarter concluded, the Rams had built a 23-14 lead and silenced the sellout crowd at Lumen Field, only to extend that lead to 16 points less than two minutes into the final stanza with Stafford throwing a no-look one-yard touchdown to Nacua.
“If you watch the games, he gets the ball out extremely fast. What they do a good job at is putting them in third and manageable downs,” Williams explained. “You don't have to sit back and drop and read coverages when you only need three to five yards for a first down. A lot of times, he just catches the ball and knows exactly where to put it; sometimes he's not even looking. He's a great quarterback.”
Down 30-14, some fans started to slowly trickle toward the exits, as it appeared the Seahawks were down and out with under 13 minutes to play. But everything changed as the clock ticked under the 10-minute mark, starting with a proud defense standing tall by forcing a three-and-out and a punt for the first time all night, setting the stage for Rashid Shaheed to re-ignite the crowd with a dazzling 58-yard punt return for a touchdown.
Just like that, Seattle cut the lead to 30-22, and the comeback was on. Williams and company promptly forced another three-and-out, finally getting to Stafford with a second down quarterback hit by Demarcus Lawrence and additional pressure to force a third down incompletion and another punt. Moments later, Sam Darnold connected with AJ Barner for a 24-yard touchdown and a bizarre two-point conversion off of a lateral knotted the game at 30 apiece.
Back in their element after being uncharacteristically vulnerable defending the run game and allowing explosives through the air for three quarters, the Seahawks forced a third straight three-and-out on the ensuing possession. Uchenna Nwosu came flying off the edge to blast Stafford on a second down incompletion and for a third straight drive, the Rams couldn’t convert on 3rd and 6 or longer, no longer benefiting from advantageous production on first and second down as they did for most of the game.
From Macdonald’s perspective, that change in effectiveness on first and second down played the biggest factor in the tide turning in Seattle’s favor by opening up the pass rush, eventually leading to a thrilling overtime victory.
“They do a really good job getting the ball out on time, playing decisively. We have to disrupt timing. That's really the fact of the matter,” Macdonald said. “We've gotten to him a few times where he got rid of it and thrown the ball away, which have been smart decisions where he hasn't put the ball in danger. There are some good plays we're putting on tape to be able to affect him. Not as much as we want or as frequently as we want. But I think what you're talking about, that's a product of how you're playing early down football, and situational football to put you in those moments where maybe you can dial something up.”
In the aftermath of that win, defenders such as safety Julian Love were obviously pleased with the final outcome, but their performance against Stafford, Nacua, and company left a bad taste in their mouths. Yielding over 500 yards of offense and 37 points on the scoreboard didn’t come close to the Seahawks’ usual standard.
If there’s good news, however, Seattle found a way to finish the game strong defensively and “get it right” by forcing four punts and a missed field goal in the final five possessions of regulation to force overtime. Enough stops were made down the stretch to come out with a massive win while having plenty of areas to improve upon for the NFC Championship Game rematch, inspiring confidence from Love and others that the unit will be ready to turn in a far better showing on Sunday.
“We played like shit that second game, but we won. We got the win in the critical part of the season,” Love remarked. “And now there's improvements to be made. It's the best when you win a game and still have stuff to improve on. I've been a part of some units that you feel like you've been perfect and still lose by a few touchdowns. So that's the unit that we have. Especially on defense, everybody takes pride on their side of the ball, but we take pride on it. If we get our job right and do what we supposed to do and we have confidence in that, then things should be good.”
As for what the Seahawks intend to do schematically in the latest chess match between Macdonald and McVay, neither the coach nor his players diverged much into specifics on what they may have found late in that Week 16 win that could serve them well in the high stakes grudge match. But looking back at the past two games between the rivals provides some intriguing insight that could be part of the game plan with sights on advancing to the Super Bowl for the first time since 2014.
Back in Week 11 at SoFi Stadium, Seattle allowed 77 rushing yards and 7.7 yards per carry to Williams and Blake Corum in the first half. But the defense stiffened up after halftime, giving up only 34 rushing yards on 11 attempts in the final two quarters, and the back seven excelled at taking away downfield throws in coverage, holding Stafford to just 4.6 yards per attempt, a 53% completion rate, and 130 passing yards on the afternoon.
What worked for Macdonald’s squad? Matching up well against the Rams newly-adopted 13 personnel approach using multiple tight ends on a regular basis, the Seahawks leaned more on man coverage schemes than usual in that matchup with great effectiveness, calling Cover 1 or Cover 0 on north of 30% of their defensive snaps. Stafford completed six out of 11 pass attempts against man coverage, but those completions netted just 3.4 yards per attempt and a -0.20 EPA per drop back.
Macdonald also was more aggressive sending five or more defenders, blitzing on 46.4% of the Rams’ drop backs, the third-highest rate in the NFL that week. Even with him not being sacked once by the Seahawks, Stafford completed just 46% of his 13 pass attempts for 3.5 yards per attempt when facing the blitz in that contest, clearly disrupted by the extra pressure.
In the Week 16 rematch, Seattle again did well against Stafford when deploying man coverage, limiting the quarterback to a 44.4% completion rate and 1.9 yards per attempt on nine attempts versus Cover 0 and Cover 1. But Macdonald opted for a more zone-heavy approach near 90%, and the veteran gunslinger averaged 11 yards per attempt versus Cover 6 - which the Seahawks called 23% of the time - as well as Cover 4, connecting on explosive pass plays at a ridiculous 26.3% clip on 38 pass attempts against zone coverage schemes.
“You’ve got to give them credit. They had great game plan and made a lot of great plays,” Macdonald commented. “So they had guys open; when they didn't, they still made some plays. I think the explosives really inflate the stats a lot. The only way you get to a number like that is by some really explosive plays, and those are good plays by them, plays that we have to execute better.”
The Seahawks weren’t as active sending blitzers after Stafford either, as Macdonald called extra pressure on only 25.5% of the Rams’ drop backs, closer to the team’s season average. That substantial dip may have been a direct result of the quarterback being more lethal against the blitz than the first matchup, completing seven out of 12 passes for 121 yards and two touchdowns.
Based on those numbers, it would be a surprise if Seattle doesn’t shift back towards more man coverage on Sunday, trusting a talented secondary led by Devon Witherspoon, Riq Woolen, and Love to be able to handle one-on-one matchups against Nacua, Davante Adams, and a bevy of quality tight ends. As for whether or not Macdonald will risk turning up the heat more often sending five-plus rushers, that remains to be seen considering the mixed results in previous matchups and may hinge on how things unfold early in the game trying to apply pressure on Stafford with the front line.
If there’s one thing that is certain, Macdonald won’t be letting the fact that the Bears had success getting to Stafford last weekend via the blitz have much, if any, bearing on his game plan for Sunday.
“There are sometimes where it's important to send people; sometimes it's important where it's not,” Macdonald explained. “We try not to put too much stock into one game, especially against a team that you're really familiar with. So it really doesn't affect like how we're going to think about how we want to game plan the game.”
Ultimately, while scheme battles between two masterful coaches will take center stage, for Seattle to continue playing beyond this weekend, execution will be more important than the Xs and Os dialed up by Macdonald. They can’t afford to have coverage assignment busts that allow Nacua or Adams to break free for chunk plays last month and the run defense has to be better out of the gate than it has been the first two times they sparred with Los Angeles, setting up more ideal second and third down situations for the pass rush to come to life and make life tougher on Stafford.
Having seen how his teammates have responded to any adversity along the journey to the NFC Championship Game, including several key starters such as himself missing extensive time due to injuries, Love has no doubts the Seahawks’ defense will be ready to rip on Sunday an do what they need to do to win the rubber match. With Macdonald and assistant coaches pulling all the right strings to position their players for success, he expects the lessons learned from their struggles in Week 16 will pay major dividends with a spot in the Super Bowl up for grabs.
“We have the guys that know we are going to get it right. And that's powerful. That's special… For us, we know, all right, the tides are going to turn no matter what. And we trust in Mike. We trust in our coaches under Mike. We trust in our players to make things right. We're not going to let things continue to happen. Wish we could have figured it out earlier in that game, but I think we figured it out, and, yeah, we're confident for Sunday.”
