Richard Sherman knew how to help the Seattle Seahawks win football games. He won a Super Bowl with the team in the 2013 season (and he lost one the next year, but let's not focus on the negative). He also played extremely well in the most important games. Sherman is a team legend who offered Seattle some free advice ahead of the NFC Championship game.
It was the kind of advice he would have had for his own Seahawks team. In the playoffs, after all, a team tends to get more conservative offensively as most of the defenses are quite good. It is better to grind out yards while getting just enough points to win.
At least, that is how it worked during many of Seattle's victories in their best years when the cornerback played. Rely on elite defense to win games and hand the ball to running back Marshawn Lynch. Quarterback Russell Wilson was tasked with being a game manager who created a few explosive plays.
Seattle Seahawks icon Richard Sherman offers the team some good free advice ahead of Rams game
But how to this season's Seattle Seahawks team defeat a very good Los Angeles Rams team for the second time in a month? Sherman suggested a game plan on his eponymous podcast that needed only three words: "Run the ball!"
Of course, the advice stemmed from what happened at the end of the 2014 Super Bowl when Seattle lost to the New England Patriots after having the ball on the Pats' 1-yard line with less than a minute left. Instead of giving the ball to Marshawn Lynch, the Seahawks threw a pass, and 12s know what happened next.
Sherm x Mitch with ONE message for the SEAHAWKS | “RUN THE BALL”!#Seahawks #Patriots pic.twitter.com/VpVXjiao5N
— Richard Sherman Podcast (@RShermanPodcast) January 23, 2026
It wasn't good, and the play had a long-lasting effect on the culture of the team. Will current head coach Mike Macdonald have the same chance that former head coach Pete Carroll had and choose to do things differently? Let's hope so.
The positive part is that after struggling for much of the first part of the season, the Seattle Seahawks' run game has been working far more efficiently recently. Kenneth Walker III was electric against the San Francisco 49ers in the Divisional Round and will need to be against the Rams in the NFC Championship, too.
The team won't have backup Zach Charbonnet, who tore his ACL against the 49ers, but recently activated George Holani has shown the same kind of power Charbonnet had, and Holani might be one of the keys to the game. 12s simply need to hope the defense keeps performing at an elite level, too.