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It’s NFC Championship week for the Seattle Seahawks! A trip to the Super Bowl is on the line at Lumen Field, with the Seahawks looking to win the rubber match against the Los Angeles Rams, the only team to ever come to Seattle’s current stadium and win a playoff game. Let’s hope
they don’t accomplish such a feat for a third time.
Anyway, will the Seahawks or Rams win? You can make your usual score margin prediction based on whether Seattle or LA wins by one or more than one possession.
Our other question related to this game is the turnover battle. These teams have been nearly identical across points and yards gained, but the turnover margin is all in LA’s favor. The Rams are +6 through two meetings, with Sam Darnold responsible for all but one of those Seahawks giveaways. As I wrote in a national column for SBNation.com, Seattle’s turnover regression swung in a positive direction against the San Francisco 49ers, while the Rams are very fortunate to avoid negative regression in consecutive weeks.
Under Mike Macdonald, the Seahawks are a perfect 11-0 when they’ve had a positive turnover margin, 10-2 when it’s even, and 4-8 when they have a negative differential. No kidding that teams tend to lose when they turn the ball over more than the opposition, but the Seahawks are 3-2 this year when -1 or worse on that front. That’s not exactly something you want to see too often, so it’s imperative on Sam Darnold and the offense to continue taking care of the ball. Defensively, Seattle’s only takeaway against the Rams this year was a rare Puka Nacua fumble. Matthew Stafford has neither been picked nor sacked, but he has been a little erratic this postseason and is fortunate to only have one turnover these last two weeks.
What will be the story of this matchup? Turnover margin in favor of the Seahawks, Rams, or dead even?
Vote in the survey below!
We’ll see you again with the results on Saturday!
