The key play in Sunday’s NFC Championship happened with 4:59 to play, the Rams trailing by four, and L.A. facing fourth and four from the Seattle six. The Rams went for it, and quarterback Matthew Stafford’s pass to the end zone fell incomplete.
After the game, Rams coach Sean McVay explained that the Seahawks basically got lucky.
“They kind of lucked into having two guys peel on Kyren right there,” McVay said at the time. “I know that that can’t be part of their design, so . . . fortuitous bust by them. . . . I can’t imagine that’s what they were really trying to do.”
While that may not have been the plan, Seahawks linebacker DeMarcus Lawrence improvised in the moment.
“The back was too fast,” Lawrence told reporters on Thursday, via Brian Nemhauser. “You know, if it was a regular design and the back wasn’t [Stafford’s] ‘hot’ [route], the back would have, you know, waited to see if [safety] Julian [Love] was going to rush first and then flare it out. But he didn’t wait, you know, so that was definitely an indicator, like, a ‘oh shit’ moment, you know? The back is flaring out that fast, that means that’s his ‘hot.’ So he’s going to the back first and, you know, playing football as long as I’ve played, I ‘ve seen so many formations and schemes. Like, you know, you start to pick up on those things.”
We broke down the play on PFT Live, in the attached video. Williams runs past Love, who abandoned his blitz, grabbed at Williams, and retreated along with Lawrence.
As Simms noted, however, Williams still looked to be open, even with two men covering him, or at least trying to. But they did enough to get Stafford to move to his next read — and to ultimately thwart what could have been a go-ahead touchdown pass.
Rams Clips
The Rams have hired Bubba Ventrone as their special teams coordinator, Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports.
The Rams fired special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn last month after a series of blunders by the unit in a 38-37 overtime loss to the Seahawks. Assistant special teams coach Ben Kotwica finished the season as the interim coordinator, but the Rams muffed a punt in the NFC Championship Game.
The Steelers also requested to interview Ventrone.
Ventrone was the assistant head coach and special teams coordinator for three seasons on Cleveland’s staff. He has also coached for the Colts and Patriots since concluding a playing career that saw him spend time with the 49ers, Browns and Patriots.
A week ago, a massive winter storm sparked optimism that viewership for the conference championship games would skyrocket. Relative to those expectations, the actual performance was more like the last shot from a Roman candle.
Via Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal, the average audience for the AFC Championship and NFC Championship fell by 6.7 percent, from 50.8 million in January 2025 to 47.4 million.
The average ends a three-year streak above 50 million as the average audience for both games.
The early game, Patriots-Broncos on CBS, generated the bigger number, at 48.4 million. It was the lowest average for the AFC Championship in four years, when Bengals-Chiefs attracted 47.9 million.
Rams-Seahawks on Fox averaged 46.1 million. While up from 44.2 million who watched the Eagles blow out the Commanders in the early window a year ago, the prime-time game dropped from 57.4 million last year for Bills-Chiefs. It was the lowest NFC Championship audience since Packers-49ers landed at 43 million in January 2020.
Karp’s article mentions “likely suppressed out-of-home viewership” due to the weather. But wouldn’t folks who have watched it at a bar or a restaurant or a friend’s house watched it at home?
The better explanation seems to be this: Jayden Daniels, Jalen Hurts, Josh Allen, and Patrick Mahomes. They were the four quarterbacks last year. Remove star players from the equation (Travis Kelce, too), and the games have less inherent sizzle.
The Rams had issues with their special teams all season, including a crucial muffed punt in their NFC Championship Game loss to the Seahawks, and they are working to find a new coach for those units.
Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports that they have requested an interview with Browns special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone for the same role on Sean McVay’s staff. Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com reports that the Steelers have made the same request.
Ventrone also had an assistant head coach title during his three seasons on Cleveland’s staff. He has also coached for the Colts and Patriots since concluding a playing career that saw him spend time with the 49ers, Browns, and Patriots.
The Browns news comes shortly after the Browns announced the hiring of Todd Monken as their new head coach. The team already has a vacancy at offensive coordinator and passing on promoting defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz could leave the team with openings at all three coordinator spots.
The Steelers are in a similar position after hiring Mike McCarthy over the weekend.
The Browns are one of three teams without a head coach. And they are down to three clear finalists.
Via Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com, the candidates are current Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, former Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken, and Rams pass game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase.
Via Cabot, the Browns “did more work” on the three finalists today — and “we could possibly still hear something tonight.”
Some believe Schwartz is the favorite, given that they have to choose between elevating him or possibly losing him.
Schwartz, in 2023, had the top-ranked defense in the league. In 2025, Schwartz’s defense finished second in the NFL.
Seahawks receiver Cooper Kupp had a significant impact on Sunday against his former team. Even if the stat line doesn’t show it, Kupp was one of the big reasons why Seattle advanced to the Super Bowl.
Perhaps the biggest play came when Kupp managed to catch a pass and convert a first down with 3:20 to play and the Seahawks leading by four.
On Monday, he admitted that he did something he shouldn’t have done.
“That’s a cardinal sin,” Kupp told reporters. “You don’t do that on third down. But I felt good about where I was at holding the ball and I also felt like based on how my momentum was going, where the DB was, how my body position was the only chance I had was to try to reach that thing out. I wasn’t concerned about the ball coming out. I knew the ground had forced the ball out, so weren’t concerns about that. The spot, I knew it was close.”
He was later asked to explain why it’s a “cardinal sin” to do what he did on third down.
“You never reach on third down,” Kupp said. “Fourth down, end of game, last play of the game where it’s fourth down, that’s where you can reach. On third down it’s because of that. Like if it was close and you get tackled and you’re short you have an opportunity to go for it still. You reach for it on third down, fumble, that opportunity is gone now. You eliminated the chance for anything on fourth down. And so that’s why you don’t do it on third, but it worked out. Process over results, so you don’t do that. Don’t do it.”
You don’t do it, unless you do. He did. And it worked.
It still would have been interesting to see what would have happened if the Rams had opted to throw the challenge flag. Would it have been ruled a first down? Would the replay process have concluded that Kupp was going to the ground when he caught the ball and lost possession when he landed, a la Brandin Cooks?
Regardless, it worked. And it helped slam the door on the last chance the Rams surely assumed they’d get (other than with 93 yards to go and 25 seconds left) when they went for it on fourth and four from the Seattle 6.
After Sunday’s loss to the Seahawks in the NFC Championship, Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford didn’t have much to say about the future. On Monday’s new episode of the Let’s Go! podcast, Stafford didn’t have much more to say about what comes next for his football career.
“It’ll be a lot that goes into it,” Stafford told Jim Gray. “It’s a physical, a mental and emotional decision, a personal and a family decision as well. So, we’ll figure all that kind of stuff out with some time.
“I know I had a ton of fun playing football this season and had so much fun playing for the Rams. So when I’m ready to figure that out, I’ll be ready to figure that out. That moment isn’t right now. I have so much more time, I feel like, to reflect on just the people and the season that we just had. I want to appreciate that and give it the time that it deserves before I start thinking personally about what’s next for me and my family.”
He has time, but not an indefinite amount. The Rams will need to know what he’s doing before the start of free agency at the very latest. And free agency starts in just six weeks.
Last year, contract talks between Stafford and the Rams bogged down to the point where the Rams gave Stafford permission to seek a trade. The Raiders and Giants were very interested. Stafford eventually stayed put with a relatively modest (in the grand scheme of things) bump for 2025.
This year, Stafford will be entitled to something much more than a bump over the $40 million he’s due to make in 2026, given that he might be nine days away from hoisting an MVP trophy. He arguably had the best season of his entire career.
To get what Stafford fully deserves this time around, maybe he needs to not use the possibility of playing for another team as his leverage. In 2025, the Rams called his bluff. His better play in 2026 may be to say to the Rams, “I think I may be done playing.”
Really, what’s their alternative? Jimmy Garoppolo? Last year, Aaron Rodgers was Plan B. This year, with Rodgers a year older (as we all are), it could be a little more dicey for the Rams to address the most important position on the team, if Stafford decides that 17 years and $408 million is more than enough.
Buffalo interviewed Rams passing game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase on Monday night, the team announced.
That brings their total to nine candidates for their head coaching search.
Scheelhaase, 35, joined the Rams’ staff in 2024. Since then, the Rams have ranked third in pass yards per game and fifth in points per game.
He coached at Iowa State from 2018-23, working his way up from running backs coach his first season to offensive coordinator in 2023.
Scheelhaase completed his second interview with the Browns on Monday.
The Bills also have Colts defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady, former Giants head coach Brian Daboll, Commanders run game coordinator, Jaguars offensive coordinator Grant Udinski, Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver and Broncos quarterbacks coach Davis Webb under consideration for the job.
Rams pass game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase has wrapped up his second interview with the Browns for their head coaching vacancy.
Scheelhaase had his first interview with the team on January 16 and the second meeting had to wait until after the Rams participated in the NFC Championship Game. Sunday’s 31-27 loss to the Seahawks freed Scheelhaase up for an in-person interview, which the Browns announced on Monday evening, and the Browns could also hire him now that the Rams’ season is over.
If that happens, Scheelhaase will pass on the opportunity to interview for the Bills’ head coaching job. Word of their request to interview Scheelhaase came while he was meeting with the Browns on Monday.
The Browns have already seen several candidates pull their names from consideration for the job and they’ll have to continue the search process if they don’t come to an agreement with Scheelhaase.
Rams pass game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase may have options in his head-coaching job search.
Scheelhaase, who is considered a strong candidate for the Browns’ head-coaching job, is also a candidate for the Bills job.
The Bills have requested an interview with Scheelhaase, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.
If both teams are interested, the Bills would seem to be the better job for Scheelhaase, a former Illinois quarterback who has developed a reputation as a good coach of quarterbacks and would surely would love the opportunity to work with Josh Allen.
The 35-year-old Scheelhaase became an assistant coach at Illinois after playing there, and later became offensive coordinator at Iowa State before spending the last two years with the Rams. He’s now viewed as one of the best young coaches in football, and a good prospect to be a head coach. Perhaps a coach viewed as a top prospect by more than one team.
