The Seattle Seahawks defense looked incredible in last weekend’s divisional-round win over the San Francisco 49ers. The No. 1 defense in the league all season looks like it’s peaking, which is a trend that we’ve seen from coach Mike Macdonald’s defenses. They improve as the season progresses because they become increasingly more ingrained in the system. The Seahawks will have a rematch against a Los Angeles Rams offense that lit them up in Week 16. How will they change their approach in the NFC Championship Game?

On the other side of the ball, Seattle quarterback Sam Darnold wasn’t challenged in the divisional round. Can the Rams challenge him? We’ll examine film and stats to answer these questions.

Los Angeles Rams at Seattle Seahawks (6:30 p.m. ET Sunday)

Key matchup: Seahawks’ underneath defenders vs. QB Matthew Stafford

The usual question to ask about an offense facing the Seahawks defense is: Can you run the ball against their light boxes and sub personnel?

The Rams have the most efficient run game of the last quarter-century in terms of success rate. The last time the teams played, the Rams were intent on running the ball and had some success against possibly the best defensive tackle duo in the league in Leonard Williams and Byron Murphy. The Seahawks had their worst game in defensive rushing success rate of the season against the Rams (53.8 percent).

Watching the film, the battle was pretty even; there were some wins by the Rams’ offensive line and the defensive line clearly won on some reps. The edge goes to the defense that invites offenses to run with light boxes and sub personnel (five or more defensive backs). The Rams did enough to get the Seahawks to respect their running game, and they were able to create some openings in the play-action game.

In the second half, the Seahawks played a lot of cover 3 to bring the safety into the box. Stafford was surgical on play action, completing 10 of 15 passes for 167 yards and two touchdowns without an interception. Even without Davante Adams, the Rams attacked the middle of the Seahawks’ secondary successfully with Stafford moving defenders with his eyes.

The Seahawks seemed intent on trying to force Stafford into third-and-long situations by rotating a safety into the box on second down, but Stafford and Puka Nacua punished them for it on a couple of deep passes, including the game-winner in overtime.

Week 16, 7:02 remaining in overtime, second-and-9

In overtime, on second-and-9, the Rams had a play-action pass called with a big dagger concept and Nacua running the dig. The defense initially showed its typical two-high shell.

As Stafford faked the ball to his running back, the defense rotated into a cover 3 with the weak-side safety coming down to play the weak hook zone.

At the top of his drop, Stafford knew he had to move linebacker Ernest Jones with his eyes. Even without any routes going to the sideline, Stafford had his eyes glued outside.

Even as he was throwing, his eyes were outside, which caused Jones to move just enough to open up a window inside.

Without looking, Stafford hit Nacua in stride and he did the rest and finished in the end zone.

PUKA GOES OVER 200 YARDS RECEIVING AND PUTS THE RAMS IN FRONT

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I expect Macdonald to be more cautious in his approach, especially with Adams to worry about, but Stafford has shown he’s very capable of being methodical as well. He should look to attack the middle of the field, but he likely will have to throw more short-to-intermediate until the Seahawks start getting impatient. Once they start driving on short passes, Stafford could hit the Seahawks with one of signature no-looks to Nacua on a dig.

I have never seen a quarterback manipulate underneath defenders like Stafford does routinely. He did in the Super Bowl and countless times throughout his career. It’s almost as if you have to coach your defenders to resist their intuition and stay in place until the ball leaves his hands. The discipline of the Seahawks’ underneath defenders will be key to stopping the Rams’ passing game, especially in a critical juncture in the game.

Key matchup: QB Sam Darnold vs. Chris Shula’s disguises

The Rams’ secondary has picked off quarterbacks seven times in their last five games. In their two regular-season games against Darnold, they picked him off six times. The Rams finished ninth in interception rate in the regular season. Darnold finished 30th worst among 36 qualifying quarterbacks in interception rate (2.9 percent). He has put the ball in harm’s way this season, and the Rams are opportunistic.

While it’s never a good strategy to rely on interceptions, defensive coordinator Chris Shula will undoubtedly have some designer coverages to get Darnold to throw the ball into coverage or take a sack. Also, the Rams’ defensive backs have strong pattern-recognition skills. They can quickly process and recognize route combinations and break on the ball.

7:12 remaining in the third quarter, third-and-9

On third-and-9, the Seahawks initially lined up in a two-by-two formation with Cooper Kupp lined up to the offensive right. As Kupp motioned to the other side of the formation, corner Josh Wallace followed him all the way across, which gave Darnold a major man tell. The defense is in man coverage 95 percent of the time if a corner follows a receiver across the formation.

Rams safety Kamren Kinchens even moved down to make it look like he was covering the running back in man. The defense made it look like it was going to bring pressure and play cover 1 behind it (man-to-man with one deep safety).

However, after the snap, the defense dropped into a cover 2 zone. As Darnold was throwing the ball to an outside slant, the coverage still looked like man.

However, Wallace was falling off of Kupp and dropped right into the slant window to pick off the pass.

PICK! Josh Wallace intercepts Sam Darnold and takes it down to the ONE

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Darnold wasn’t pressured mentally or physically against the 49ers. The Seahawks had a lead for the entire game and they were able to run the ball all over the 49ers’ front. It’ll be much harder to lean on the run game as much as they did in that game. Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak has effectively taken the load off of Darnold’s shoulders this season. The Seahawks rank 30th in Cook rate, which measures how often teams pass in neutral situations.

Against the 49ers, Darnold had his lowest Cook rate of the season and didn’t really have to test himself physically with the oblique injury that he suffered in practice. The Rams have been one of the best run-defending teams in the league this season and we’ve already seen them force the Seahawks into a shootout. In their Week 16 matchup, Kubiak got Darnold into rhythm after a rough start to the game with some schemed-up throws such as his long touchdown pass to A.J. Barner, which was a designed shot play.

Overcoming another multi-interception game from Darnold would be difficult in the NFC Championship Game, obviously. Darnold has to be diligent in seeing the Rams’ coverage rotations and making good decisions.