Previewing the NFL Playoffs
2. 3) The Seattle Seahawks vs. 6) The Los Angeles Rams
This is the hardest matchup of Wild Card weekend to make a call on.
The Rams can look like the best team in the league one week and then the following week, look like the worst. For instance, Los Angeles beat the Patriots 24-3 in impressive fashion and then lost the following week to the winless Jets. Why are they so inconsistent? Well it comes down to the play of quarterback Jared Goff.
When Goff is playing like the guy the Rams took first overall in the 2016 draft, the Rams are hard to beat. With weapons at his exposal like wideouts Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp, and good backs like Cam Akers and Malcom Brown, the Rams can light it up with the best of them. That is when Goff is executing. When he’s not executing, he looks like one of the worst quarterbacks in the league, and the Rams offense suffers. The Rams are a lot like the Colts in that way. However, the Rams playoff opponent, the Seattle Seahawks, isn’t as formidable as the Colts, the Buffalo Bills.
The Seahawks are very similar to the Rams and very different at the same time. The way they are similar is that some weeks they look like the best team in football, and some weeks they look just terrible. For example, Seattle lost to the the New York Giants 17-12 back in week 13. The following week they pounded the Jets 40-3. Yes, it’s the Jets, but putting up 40 points against any NFL team is impressive.
Russell Wilson is the catalyst for this Seahawks team. Seattle’s success depends on Wilson, which is different from Seahawks teams of the past. Seattle’s teams of the past were all about defense. This year is quite the opposite. Their defense as been pretty bad, ranked second to last in passing yards allowed per game, according to ESPN, whereas their offense is one of the top in the league.
Come game-time on Saturday, Russell Wilson will be Russell Wilson, which is a top five quarterback in the league. This game will come down to the play of Jared Goff. If Goff can move the ball down the field and not throw any interceptions than the Rams have a good shot at winning this game.