The eyes of the NFL world will be centered on Sunday afternoon’s NFC West showdown between the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams.
DVOA guru details what separates the Seahawks and Rams
It’s the first of two heavyweight encounters between the 7-2 juggernauts, who both have established themselves as legitimate Super bowl contenders. And it’s a clash of two evenly matched teams, as the Seahawks and the Rams are the only two squads in the NFL with both a top-five scoring offense and a top-five scoring defense.
What will be the deciding factor Sunday in Los Angeles?
During an appearance on Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy, The Ringer’s Sheil Kapadia said he thinks it’ll come down to how much pressure the Seahawks’ fearsome pass rush can generate on quarterback Matthew Stafford and the Rams’ high-powered offense.
“When you face great offenses – we’ve seen it over the years when you look at guys like Patrick Mahomes – it’s like, well, when do they actually lose? When does the offense actually not look good?” Kapadia said. “And so many times it’s just (that) an opposing defense was able to pressure them with four, didn’t have to blitz a lot and broke down their protections.”
The Rams have the league’s fifth-ranked scoring offense at 27.9 points per game and have lit up the scoreboard with 34-plus points in each of their past three contests. Stafford has led the way, throwing for a league-high 25 touchdown passes and just two interceptions. And he’s been sacked just 14 times, with a 4.32% sack rate that’s the third-lowest in the league.
But the Seahawks will likely be the best pass rush Stafford & Co. have faced. Seattle is tied for second in sacks (32) and fifth in pressure rate (25.4%), despite blitzing at the third-lowest rate in the league.
“The way that Seahawks defense is playing – and their pass rush specifically – I think that’s the big thing,” Kapadia said. “Can you pressure Stafford? Can you force him into some negative plays?
“I don’t think you’re going to completely shut them down. But I do think the Seahawks have a better chance than basically any other defense in the NFL to at least slow them down, and then create some explosives on offense and come out of there with a win.”
Listen to the full conversation with The Ringer’s Sheil Kapadia at this link or in the audio player near the top of middle of this story. Tune into Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.
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