{"id":706299,"date":"2026-01-26T12:26:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T12:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/706299\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T12:26:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T12:26:17","slug":"studs-and-duds-from-rams-heart-breaking-playoff-loss-to-seahawks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/706299\/","title":{"rendered":"Studs and duds from Rams’ heart-breaking playoff loss to Seahawks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jan. 25, 2026, 6:54 p.m. PT<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Rams<\/a> met the Seattle Seahawks<\/a> on Sunday for the third time this season, and Sean McVay’s team was handed a 31-27 loss and was officially eliminated from the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles’ defense and special teams struggled all year, and those phases led to the team’s ultimate downfall in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

As we do after every game, let’s evaluate some of the best and worst performances from the Rams<\/a> and hand out some credit and criticism to those who deserve it.<\/p>\n

STUD: QB Matthew Stafford<\/p>\n

Stafford was great in this one, as he completed 62.8% of his passes for 374 yards and three touchdowns. The veteran even ran the ball twice for 16 yards, including once on a key fourth down to keep a fourth-quarter drive alive.<\/p>\n

Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a>DUD: PR Xavier Smith<\/p>\n

This will be a game that Smith wants to forget. He muffed two punts and lost one of them, which immediately led to a Seahawks touchdown. Smith was benched after the second muff, forcing running back Kyren Williams to take over.<\/p>\n

STUD: WR Davante Adams<\/p>\n

Adams had his best game since returning from injury on Sunday, catching four passes for 89 yards and a touchdown. He’s also now tied for the 10th-most receiving touchdowns in NFL postseason history.<\/p>\n

DUD: Rams secondary<\/p>\n

Sam Darnold sliced and diced the Rams’ defense, completing 69.4% of his passes for 346 yards and three touchdowns. Emmanuel Forbes wasn’t on the field defensively in the first half, which seemed to be a coaching decision. He may have been able to help early on.<\/p>\n

The secondary’s play can be summed up by the late penalty on Cobie Durant that effectively ended the game.<\/p>\n

STUD: WR Puka Nacua<\/p>\n

Nacua steps up whenever he’s needed, and that was no different against Seattle. He caught nine of his 12 targets for 165 yards and a touchdown. He’s now tied for the sixth most receiving touchdowns in Rams’ postseason history.<\/p>\n

DUD: LB Omar Speights<\/p>\n

Speights may have finished the game as Los Angeles’ leading tackler, but he had multiple missed tackles in this game while trying to bring down Kenneth Walker III, which were tough to watch.<\/p>\n

STUD: K Harrison Mevis<\/p>\n

It’s crazy to think that field goals and extra points were such an issue earlier in the season. Mevis was such a stud after signing with the Rams. On Sunday, he made both of his field goals, including one from 50 yards, and all three of his extra points.<\/p>\n

More Rams: Cardinals reportedly “looking” at Rams OC Mike LaFleur for head coach<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jan. 25, 2026, 6:54 p.m. PT The Los Angeles Rams met the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":706300,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[95878,7,6,84,95922,95923,95882,95890,95946,97188,97267,98175,97056,95924,95927,95896,95888,95895,95899,96163,95925,95977,96008,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-706299","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl-playoffs","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-nfl-playoffs","12":"tag-sstssportsnflrams","13":"tag-sstsnrams","14":"tag-tagamerican-football","15":"tag-tagarizona-cardinals","16":"tag-tagcalifornia-gold-rush","17":"tag-tagemmanuel-forbes-jr","18":"tag-tagharrison-mevis","19":"tag-tagkenneth-walker-iii","20":"tag-tagkyren-williams","21":"tag-taglos-angeles-rams","22":"tag-tagmatthew-stafford","23":"tag-tagnational-sports","24":"tag-tagnfl","25":"tag-tagnfl-hub","26":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","27":"tag-tagsam-darnold","28":"tag-tagsean-mcvay","29":"tag-tagseattle-seahawks","30":"tag-tagsmg-listicle","31":"tag-tagsports-news","32":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=706299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/706300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=706299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=706299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=706299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}