The Rams and Seahawks will play for the third time this season in the NFC Championship Game, and Rams coach Sean McVay says that raises some interesting challenges.
On the one hand, he’s already called many of his favorite plays against the Seahawks, and he doesn’t want them to know what to expect. On the other hand, he doesn’t want to get too cute and get away from what his team does best just because the Seahawks have seen it before.
“You want to be careful not to chase ghosts,” McVay said. “It is about good execution, good fundamentals. They’re a great team. They’re great in all three phases. We’d like to think when we’re humming and we’re at our best we’re pretty good too. You are aware of those things, but you don’t want to do it at the detriment of allowing guys to be able to go execute and play the way they’re capable of. We’ve been in this situation a couple times. In the ’21 season we played the Niners in the NFC Championship, and then we played Seattle a third time in the covid year. So it’s been similar when we played two divisional teams in the playoffs, but it’s going to be a great opportunity for us.”
In 2021, the Rams lost to the 49ers twice in the regular season but beat them in the NFC Championship Game. In 2020, the Rams split with the Seahawks in the regular season, with both teams winning at home, but then the Rams won at Seattle in the playoffs. McVay hopes that his team can beat a divisional opponent in the third meeting, for a third time, on Sunday.
