The Seattle Seahawks rallied around their league-best defense to clinch the No. 1 seed in the NFC and ride a nine-game winning streak into the playoffs. Nonetheless, as good as they've been against most teams, the Los Angeles Rams seem to have their number.
That shouldn't be much of a problem, given that they've already moved past them. Then again, Sean McVay's team may have given the New England Patriots a blueprint on how to put up points against this elite secondary.
As pointed out by NFL researcher Dante Koplowitz-Fleming, the Seahawks gave up a grand total of 132 points during their nine-game winning streak. Notably, the Rams put up 64 points against them in two games, while every other team combined for 68 points over seven contests.
The Rams exposed the Seattle Seahawks' defense's only weakness
Of course, flukey things can happen in divisional games since the two teams know one another pretty well. Then again, watching this defense struggle against 12 personnel wasn't a coincidence. If anything, McVay had already figured them out.
As shown by Seahawks reporter Brady Henderson of ESPN, the Rams went away from their usual approach in the NFC Championship Game. They went from running 12 personnel just 9.6 percent of the time, the fourth-lowest in the league, and 4.7 percent in the playoffs, to a whopping 22.4 percent against Seattle.
As a result, Matthew Stafford averaged 10.7 yards per attempt en route to 374 passing yards, three touchdowns, and zero picks. Rams running backs averaged five yards per carry, and the offense and special teams had to step up to secure the win.
The Rams used 12 personnel to stretch the defense and spread the offense all over the field. They used tight ends Colby Parkinson and Davis Allen lined up as wide receivers, lined them up in the backfield, and had their running backs running short routes to move defenders underneath.
That got Puka Nacua and Davante Adams plenty of room to move around, especially in the open field. That's not a matchup many defensive backs can handle one-on-one.
The Patriots can do something similar. They have two solid pass-catching running backs in TreVeyon Henderson and Rhamondre Stevenson, and both of their tight ends, Hunter Henry and Austin Hooper, are legitimate receiving threats. Add Stefon Diggs and Kayshon Boutte to the mix, and they have a recipe to hurt this team's defense.
Still, Mike Macdonald and defensive coordinator Aden Durde don't usually make the same mistake twice. They should be more than ready for whatever Mike Vrabel and Josh McDaniels have in store for them.