NFL championship game storylines: Rams-Seahawks chess match; mission impossible for Broncos? – The Athletic
The Athletic has live coverage of Patriots vs. Broncos and Rams vs. Seahawks from Sunday’s NFL conference championship games.
Welcome to Championship Sunday, when two teams will take one more giant step toward achieving their ultimate goals, and two will see their seasons end in heartbreak.
The AFC has come down to the New England Patriots and the Denver Broncos. New England reached this point by defeating the visiting Houston Texans 28-16 last Sunday, and Denver advanced to the championship game after outlasting the Buffalo Bills 33-30 in overtime last Saturday.
Meanwhile, the NFC Championship Game will feature the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks. The Seahawks, who host this game, blew out the San Francisco 49ers 41-6 in the divisional round, and the Rams edged the Chicago Bears 20-17 in overtime.
Here are the most compelling storylines to follow in these two title bouts.
AFC Championship Game: Jarrett Stidham’s tall task; Drake Maye’s continued climb
Patriots at Broncos, 3 p.m. ET, Sunday, CBS
The jubilation of outlasting the Bills in overtime of the divisional round quickly dissipated as Denver’s coaches and players learned that quarterback Bo Nix had fractured his ankle and would miss the remainder of the season. The news put the Broncos’ Super Bowl dreams on thin ice and thrust backup Jarrett Stidham into a high-pressure role.
As a refresher, Stidham is the sixth-year pro who played his college ball at Baylor and Auburn and entered the NFL as a sixth-round pick of the Patriots in 2019. He hasn’t attempted a pass since the 2023 season, when he started the final two games after Sean Payton benched Russell Wilson. Stidham has appeared in six total games, completing 59.4 percent of his passes for 1,422 yards, eight touchdowns and eight interceptions.
Payton has expressed full confidence in Stidham, saying, “Stiddy’s ready, and we’ll be ready for the next challenge. … I’ve said this at the beginning of the season, I feel like I have a (No.) 2 (quarterback) that’s capable of starting for a handful of — a number of teams. I know he feels the same way. So watch out. Just watch.”
Only a handful of backup quarterbacks have stepped in to lead their teams to Super Bowl victories. Doug Williams (1987 season) and Jeff Hostetler (1990) did so with just two regular-season starts under their belts, and Nick Foles (2017) started three regular-season games before leading the Philadelphia Eagles on a march through the playoffs. Now Stidham will try to pull off the same feat with the least amount of experience of any backup-turned-Super Bowl hero.
Stidham must try to direct the Broncos offense against a Patriots defense that has held playoff opponents to just 224 yards and 9.5 points per contest (both second fewest). New England’s nine sacks also rank first in the playoffs, and the passer rating of 46.5 that opponents have posted against the Patriots ranks last.
Ideally, Payton would aim to lighten the load on the unproven quarterback by establishing a strong rushing attack. However, the Broncos managed only 70 rushing yards in last week’s game against Buffalo, and were just average in the rushing department during the regular season, ranking 16th with 118.7 yards per game. And to make matters worse, the Patriots boasted the sixth-best rushing defense in the regular season, and this postseason have held foes to just 67.5 rushing yards per postseason contest, which ranks first.
Meanwhile, New England quarterback Drake Maye draws another stiff test as he tries to lead the Patriots to their first Super Bowl appearance since the 2018 season. Maye has withstood the aggressive attacks of the Los Angeles Chargers and Texans and now readies for a Denver defense that led the NFL in sacks and ranked just behind Houston in total defense during the regular season.
Drake Maye faced plenty of pressure last week from the Texans defense. (Elsa / Getty Images)
The Broncos held opponents to just 187.2 passing yards and 18.3 points per contest. The Texans sacked Maye five times last week while also forcing him into an interception and four fumbles (two lost). But the second-year pro never flinched and still finished the game with three touchdown passes, including one in the fourth quarter to keep his team beyond the reach of Houston.
Denver harassed Josh Allen in impressive fashion last week, sacking him four times, hitting him 10 times more and forcing him into two interceptions and two lost fumbles. Pressure certainly is coming, and New England’s ability to fend off pass rushers ranks among the biggest question marks of this game. The Patriots surrendered 2.8 sacks per game during the regular season (ninth most). But if Maye can protect the football and find ways to extend plays, the Patriots should outplay the short-handed Broncos and punch their ticket to Santa Clara, Calif., and Super Bowl LX.
NFC Championship Game: Instant classic brewing between Mike Macdonald, Sean McVay?
Rams at Seahawks, 6:30 p.m. ET, Sunday, Fox
In the third installment of this showdown between NFC West rivals, the Seahawks will welcome the Rams, with whom they split games during the regular season and last month defeated in a shootout that required overtime to settle and went a long way to determining conference seeding and the divisional crown. Now, these teams face each other once more. On the line: Seattle’s first Super Bowl appearance since the 2014 season and the Rams’ first Super Bowl berth since the 2021 campaign.
It’s a showdown between two of the best coaches in the game: Mike Macdonald, the Seahawks’ 38-year-old defensive mastermind in his second season at the helm, and Sean McVay, the Rams’ 40-year-old (as of Saturday) offensive wizard, who seeks his second Lombardi Trophy in his ninth season as a head coach. Each of the last two games has resembled chess matches between these two, with both experiencing success and struggle throughout while unable to gain a commanding advantage until the final play.
The Rams defeated the Seahawks 21-19 in their Week 11 meeting. In that game, L.A.’s defense overwhelmed Seattle quarterback Sam Darnold for much of that contest, forcing him into four interceptions. Counterpart Matthew Stafford recorded two touchdown passes, and Rams running back Kyren Williams added a touchdown and 91 rushing yards. However, despite Darnold’s struggles, the Seahawks still had a chance. Seattle marched 50 yards in the final 1:40 of play and into field goal range only for kicker Jason Myers’ 61-yard field goal attempt to fall short, sealing defeat.
Seattle turned the tables in the Week 16 rematch, rallying from a 30-14 fourth-quarter deficit thanks to a 58-yard punt return for a touchdown by Rashid Shaheed and then a 26-yard Darnold touchdown pass to AJ Barner and the wacky Zach Charbonnet 2-point conversion recovery, which tied the game with six minutes left. Overtime featured a 41-yard Stafford-to-Puka Nacua touchdown pass and successful kick. But Darnold fired back with a touchdown pass to Jaxon Smith-Njigba and 2-point conversion pass to Eric Saubert to capture the victory.
In all, the teams amassed 996 total yards, with Stafford passing for 457 yards and three touchdowns and Darnold 270, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Meanwhile, Kenneth Walker led a Seattle rushing attack that produced 171 yards and two touchdowns.
So what happens this time around? McVay went with dramatically different game plans in the two meetings. How will he attack Macdonald’s defense this time around?
Nacua put up pedestrian numbers in the first outing (seven catches for 75 yards) but then torched the Seahawks for 12 catches, 225 yards and two touchdowns. What will Macdonald cook up this time, and after missing the last game with injury, how big a factor will Davante Adams be this time around?
Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula did a great job of scheming up pressures to disrupt Darnold. However, Seattle offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak continued to come up with answers, and his quarterback displayed great resilience. Who gains the upper hand in the most high-stakes contest yet?
