In cornerback Roger McCreary’s first seven games with the Los Angeles Rams, he played 42 defensive snaps. In the Rams’ 20-17 overtime victory against the Chicago Bears in a Divisional Weekend game last week, the former Williamson High School and Auburn standout played 42 defensive snaps.

“He competed,” Los Angeles defensive coordinator Chris Shula said. “He played tough. You can tell he’s played a lot of football. Obviously, getting him in kind of later in the season, he’s done an excellent job learning the defense. I thought he communicated really good. I thought he played hard. He showed up when he had to tackle, and I thought he competed really hard in the pass game, so it was really awesome to see.”

After placing Ahkello Witherspoon on injured reserve following a 34-31 victory over the Carolina Panthers in a Wild-Card Weekend game on Jan. 10 and with Emmanuel Forbes nursing a shoulder injury, the Rams had an all-hands-on-deck approach at cornerback for the game against Chicago, and that’ll likely be the plan when Los Angeles takes on the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship on Sunday.

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Former UAB standout Darious Williams hadn’t played in Los Angeles’ previous three games, but he led the Rams’ cornerbacks against the Bears with 62 snaps. McCreary made his first start for Los Angeles against Chicago and was not targeted once in the game. Cobie Durant, who played the most snaps at cornerback this season for the Rams, intercepted two passes, while Emmanuel Forbes, who started 14 regular-season games, played only four snaps.

“We wanted to be able to play all of those corners,” Los Angeles coach Sean McVay said. “We had the mindset to be able to play four corners. Forbes got his shoulder early on in the game. There were some different things that we liked that Roger provided. I thought he did a really good job in some instances against Carolina. And so (pass-game coordinator) Aubrey (Pleasant) has a good feel for being able to rotate those four. Forbes got his shoulder, but I thought Roger did a really nice job. Obviously, Cobie was outstanding, and I thought D-Will had a really good game as well.”

Los Angeles obtained McCreary for a sixth-round draft pick in a trade with the Tennessee Titans on Oct. 27. The Titans’ slot corner, McCreary had played 306 defensive snaps in eight games in his fourth season with Tennessee. He played solely on special teams in his first three games with the Rams and sustained a groin injury on his first defensive snap for Los Angeles on Nov. 23, which led to a four-game stay on injured reserve. McCreary returned with two games remaining in the regular season.

“It’s a really tight, tight group,” Shula said about the Rams’ cornerbacks. “They communicate really well. They’re really close on the field, really close off the field. It’s really fun. It’s been really fun the last couple years to kind of see their growth as a group and see how close they’ve become and, really anybody new that comes in, how they kind of put their arms around them and learn and grow together. It’s a close group that loves football and loves playing together, and you can see that on the film.”

The Rams and the Seahawks square off in the NFC Championship Game at 5:30 p.m. CST Sunday at Lumen Field in Seattle. FOX will televise the game.

The winner of the NFC Championship Game will play the winner of the AFC Championship Game in Super Bowl LX on Feb. 8.

The AFC title game matches the New England Patriots and the Denver Broncos at 2 p.m. Sunday at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver. CBS will televise the game.

As AFC West rivals, Los Angeles and Seattle played twice during the regular season. The Rams won 21-19 on Nov. 16, and the Seahawks won 38-37 in overtime on Dec. 18. McCreary did not play on defense in either game against Seattle, but Williams intercepted a pass by Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold in Los Angeles’ victory.