Divisional rival games are weird. In part, divisional rival games are fun because they are weird. It turns out playing twice a year gives teams so much information on each other that nearly anything can happen on any given night.
When the Seattle Seahawks play the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, it will be the 56th time the two teams have faced off in regular season. It’s 28-27 Seattle, for curious folks.
But these Seahawks have never faced these Rams with the three particular advantages they now possess.
It’s a layer of newness to a rivalry that’s been brought back to the forge of sports-hate since the two have become powerhouses once again.
DeMarcus Lawrence
What a ridiculous free agent signing. At 33 years old, and nine games in, I’m ready to propose DeMarcus Lawrence as the best edge player Seattle has had in eight years, when Frank Clark was traded. Hear me on this – he’s not the best pure pass rusher in that span, but he is by far the best all-around defensive player on the end. The Seahawks defense grew worse and worse over the end of Pete Carroll’s tenure until 2023, when it became legendarily bad. In 2024 it was better. Much so.
In 2025 though, they took a very respectable defensive line and added Lawrence. Now it’s dangerous.
Lawrence is having his best season in six years, with maybe only 2022 as the exception. He’s already his totals from four of the last five seasons in: QB hits, Pressures, Tackles for Loss, Fumble Recoveries, and his 4 sacks better than three of the past four seasons.
After nine games.
This is new for Seattle because they’ve not truly been able to threaten the Rams offensive tackle play in a number of years. Boye Mafe and the other defensive ends are good players, but the newness that Lawrence brings is elite power, and his game is so well-rounded that he’s in the backfield regardless of what type of play it is.
This is the theme for these advantages, and is crucial for Lawrence’s game against Los Angeles. Whatever Sean McVay wants to run in Lawrence’s direction, he won’t create a mismatch. Lawrence can still stop inside runs at top-of-NFL level. But he’s also scary rushing the passer. He does not easily get beat to the outside. He recognizes…everything really – double teams, routes, and screens.
McVay’s advantage over defenses typically resides in his ability to deceive and utilize enough versatility to create mismatches. Lawrence is not often deceived or at a disadvantage; his fundamentals are too strong.
Also, offensive tackle is one of L.A’s biggest weaknesses.
Cooper Kupp
For a couple reasons.
The first is in the roster itself. In addition to tackle, cornerback is another weak spot for the Rams. With Jaxon Smith-Njigba now drawing either double coverage or a big play, Kupp should have a weaker cast attempting to cover him.
I’m more intrigued by a different wrinkle, however. This is the first time Mike Macdonald has had a significant contributor from one of his rivals. And Cooper Kupp is not just anybody. People have said for years that Kupp is one of the smartest athletes they’ve ever been around; that someday he’ll be a coach (if he wants to) wherever he wants.
And he comes straight to Seattle with McVay still designing the offense.
Every training camp this conversation comes up, and on that day it’s meaningless noise. No, Marquez Valdez-Scantling is not going to go to the San Francisco 49ers and doom the Seahawks.
Cooper Kupp is not a training camp release. He’s Cooper freaking Kupp. As to his own part, he has unsurprisingly downplayed the significance of this week, refusing to call it a revenge game.
But I’d argue you’d be hard-pressed to find one NFL athlete who knows and can articulate any of their former team’s process or vocabulary better than Kupp. Matt Stafford will not be able to use the same language on the field. Again normally I dismiss these theories out of hand, but not with this particular organization and this particular player. If ever there was inside information to be had, for once, Seattle has it.
Nick Emmanwori
Back to the matchups game. Nick Emmanwori is quickly becoming jack-of-all-trades, master of….most of them?
No, his game isn’t perfect yet. He may get exposed. But what he will not be is outmatched. Los Angeles and their weird current obsession with tight ends holds no sway over the rookie who can somehow cover every offensive position. Remember the guy who ran stride-for-stride with 4.39 40-time Jaylin Noel? Remember the guy who blew up the highlight reel for blowing up a screen play and tackling Deebo Samuel one-handed?
He’s this same guy:
Sean McVay will inevitably create a mismatch somewhere. You run enough plays and they’ll get Puca Nacua on Josh Jobe in a bad position. But he won’t get it by simply aligning any position against number 3. As Daniel Jeremiah said on Wednesday, if there’s a team in the league that has the personnel to just athletically reject what the Rams are doing lately, it’s the Seahawks.
A large part of that starts with Emmanwori.
None of these players were here in 2024. This is not the same game it was a year ago.
