Had today’s National Football League Championship games been played in Philadelphia or New England they would have battled severe winter weather conditions. Where the games are played, Denver and Seattle, the weather is relatively mild. It will be cold in Denver, when the Broncos host the New England Patriots in today’s early game, around 20 degrees at kickoff. Snow may fall in the second half, but no conditions that should impair the play on the field.
Mild weather in Seattle too, where the Seahawks host the Los Angeles Rams. Good playing conditions with game-time temperatures around 40 degrees and more than likely no precipitation.
The late game today, set to kickoff at 3:30 p.m. Pacific Time, is promoted as a battle between two veteran quarterbacks; Matthew Stafford of the Rams and Seattle’s Sam Darnold. More accurately stated, it is a battle between Stafford against the Seahawks defense and Darnold versus the Rams stop unit.
When put in those terms, the Seahawks pick up a significant edge.
While Darnold became only the second player in NFL history to win 28 regular season games in consecutive seasons, he won 14 last year with the Minnesota Vikings and this season with Seattle, he has benefited in both campaigns with solid defensive play on his side. For the record, the other quarterback to win 28 games in back-to-back seasons was Tom Brady who did it in 2003 and 2004.
The Seahawks defense, which guided Seattle to a pair of Super Bowls to complete the 2013 and 2014 seasons, was known as the “Legion of Boom.” This year’s stop unit has also picked up a name, “The Dark Side.” The name was coined by Seattle defenders Leonard Williams and DeMarcus Lawrence, and they explain it by saying their defense prowess is “cutting the lights off” of opposing offenses.
The Seattle defense is in rare company by allowing the fewest average yards both rushing and passing this year with 3.7 and 5.4 marks in each category respectively. Only two other teams in NFL history have accomplished that feat. The Minnesota Vikings did it in 1971 and were upset by the Dallas Cowboys in the playoffs in the season Tom Landry won his first Super Bowl with the Cowboys. In 1974, the Pittsburgh Steelers allowed the lowest averages against both the rush and pass and won Super Bowl IX over the Vikings.
This year, the Seahawks won the top seed in the NFC and now look to advance to the Super Bowl against their NFC West rivals. Last week, the Seahawks completed back-to-back wins over the San Francisco 49ers. Darnold and company downed the 49ers at Levi’s Stadium on the final day of the regular season to secure the top seed in their conference and then blasted the 49ers in the Divisional round last week in Seattle, 41-6.
The Seattle dominance last week is not to be misinterpreted on what is in store for them today when they host the Rams. Their home victory last Saturday was against a 49ers team that had exceeded all expectations given the amount of injuries Kyle Shanahan and his staff were forced to overcome. The 49ers parlayed their Wild Card berth into a playoff opening win over the defending Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles before arriving as little more than roadkill last week in Seattle.
Today’s game will in all likelihood be much more competitive that last week’s romp Seattle victory.
The Rams are a more formidable foe and come into this game with far fewer injuries than the 49ers confronted. In fact, in this game, the major injury is suffered by the Seahawks, who lost the services of runningback Zach Charbonnet to a season ending injury last week.
The better defense spiked by the need to compensate for the loss of a key offensive player against an opponent that they have respect for adds up to an advantage for the home team.
Appears to be the perfect stage for their dominant defense to assert itself.
Qoxhi Picks: Seattle Seahawks (-2½) over Los Angeles Rams