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The Rams this season have been a juggernaut, even in losses, showing off ridiculous offensive firepower and a competent defense. However, the Seahawks\u2019 offense has produced some jumbled performances recently that give a little pause on their ability to make a run through the postseason.<\/p>\n
Since Week 11, when they suffered a 21-19 loss to the Rams, the Seahawks\u2019 offense has put up pedestrian numbers. According to TruMedia, Seattle ranks 21st in expected points added per play, 13th in success rate and 24th in third-down conversion rate. The Seahawks still have some high-flying and explosive moments that have made them such an incredible watch this season, but overall it\u2019s been shakier than they would like. They were comfortably a top 7-10 offense with dominant peaks this season for the first 10 weeks of the season, but not so much since.<\/p>\n
Part of the reason is non-play-action passing has fallen off a cliff. They\u2019ve gone from one of the most explosive drop-back games in the league to one that\u2019s been pedestrian recently. Even their play-action passing has dropped from the consensus No. 1 attack in the league to one that\u2019s just top 10 over the past month. This might feel like nitpicking because this isn\u2019t one of the worst offenses in the league, but they\u2019re Super Bowl contenders playing an in-division Super Bowl contender they lost to earlier. So it\u2019s fair to be concerned here.<\/p>\n
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Sam Darnold and the Seahawks’ passing game aren’t lighting up teams as of late. (Photo by Jane Gershovich\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
(Jane Gershovich via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The Rams, on the other hand, have continued to breathe fire on every defense they go against recently, averaging a whopping 3.18 points per drive since Week 11 and a blistering red-zone touchdown rate of 72.7%, both tops in the league. Third downs have been an issue, but they\u2019re so efficient on early downs (and in general) that it hasn\u2019t been too much of a problem. The Seahawks\u2019 sterling defense will likely prevent the Rams from ripping off their third 40-point game in a row, but they\u2019re playing at an all-time pace right now going into the postseason.<\/p>\n
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The stakes are monstrous and these teams are going through different ebbs and flows with the Rams peaking at the perfect time. This is what we want on \u201cThursday Night Football\u201d!<\/p>\n
Tampa Bay and Carolina will play the lowest of the high-stakes games this weekend<\/p>\n
What\u2019s there left to say about the NFC South? This is the lowest the division has felt in terms of overall quality now that Tampa Bay has fallen off a cliff from where it was earlier this season.<\/p>\n
Tampa Bay and Carolina will have the first of their two matchups on Sunday, with the final one coming in Week 18. While the Panthers have improved this season, last weekend showed that both of these teams are awfully weak to have atop of a division \u2014 but wins are wins and here we are.<\/p>\n
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The Panthers and Bucs lost to the Saints and Falcons, respectively, in Week 15. Both of those teams have been among the worst in the league this year, and the Bucs and Panthers each have only seven wins. Nobody considers either of these teams threats to win in the playoffs, which brings us to something the NFL needs to consider: Get rid of the automatic home game for division winners.<\/p>\n
Division winners should still be automatic qualifiers for the postseason, but then rank it by record and re-seed from there as the playoffs go along. Why should anyone be rewarded for climbing out of the sewer with one shoe on to win the division?<\/p>\n
Why am I producing ideas on what to do with the porous and humiliating NFC South? Well, it\u2019s almost Christmas, I don\u2019t feel well and the thought of what the Falcons have done this season makes it only worse. Let\u2019s get back to real teams.<\/p>\n
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How the Chargers fare against the Cowboys may project their postseason<\/p>\n
The Chargers have sputtered a bit here to close their season, but they firmly control their playoff path at 10-4. While their record is impressive, some of their performances this season have left some to be desired in terms of down-to-down play.<\/p>\n
As they head into the final stretch of the season currently holding a playoff spot, the playoff-hopeful Cowboys<\/a> will provide a good test for them with their array of high-end talent that they\u2019ve acquired. Both teams are flawed, but the Chargers still need to prove that they can win against the more complete offenses in the league, which the Cowboys absolutely have.<\/p>\n Los Angeles\u2019 defense has had another quality season, but it hasn\u2019t had the toughest slate of offenses this year, which will change this weekend. Even in the Chargers\u2019 two wins over the Chiefs<\/a>, Kansas City\u2019s skill talent was not a huge challenge for them. Dak Prescott and the turbo-charged Dallas offense will provide problems they haven\u2019t dealt with outside of the early season Colts, who scored 38 points on them<\/a>.<\/p>\n Here’s a surprise: Jim Harbaugh has a well-coached team looking ready for the playoffs. (Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n (Katelyn Mulcahy via Getty Images)<\/p>\n Since that Week 7 game, the Chargers have had one of the top performing defenses in the league. Since the start of Week 8, they rank in the top three of the vast majority of defensive efficiency stats and 44.6% of opposing drives failed to gain a first down. It\u2019s really gnarly what they\u2019re doing to these other offenses, but these offenses aren\u2019t exactly the scariest units in the league. That run is made up of playing the Vikings, Titans, Steelers, Jaguars, Raiders, Eagles and Chiefs. The Jaguars managed to put up 35 points in rough fashion<\/a>, but the Chargers\u2019 defense was left out to dry by an offense primarily featuring backup quarterback Trey Lance. Holding the Chiefs to 13 points last week prior to a late-game injury to Patrick Mahomes was impressive, but they don’t have the same overall talent as Dallas.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n The Cowboys\u2019 problems are on defense. The offense is filled with stars just about everywhere except at running back \u2014 which is at worst solid. Prescott has played elite football this year, CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens have been a monster duo at wide receiver, and the offensive line at its best is one of the better units in the league.<\/p>\n This is a tough matchup for a team that is still building out its defensive personnel, but if the Chargers can slow down this Cowboys offense then they\u2019ll have a chance to change their outlook for the postseason. The way the Jaguars pummeled them up front was troubling, but they can reassure people now.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also the offensive side where a beleaguered, injured line will have the fun task of blocking the Cowboy\u2019s interior defensive tackle rotation of Quinnen Williams, Kenny Clark and Osa Odighizuwa. I\u2019ve seen enough games with this Chargers offensive line to know how that\u2019s going to go. L.A. probably doesn\u2019t have the horses for a run, but we will find out how the Chargers fare against a desperate and talented Cowboys team soon enough.<\/p>\n The Bills and Patriots will split for a fascinating weekend<\/p>\n After Buffalo\u2019s dramatic win against the division rival Patriots, the stage has been set for a tight finish between two of the best teams in the NFL to see who will win the AFC East \u2014 and potentially get home field-advantage for the playoffs. The Patriots and Bills split the season series, but the Patriots hold the keys for the divisional crown with 11 wins to the Bills\u2019 10.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n These teams face stark differences in terms of the quality of opponent they\u2019ll be facing and the oddsmakers are suggesting that these two will have the same record after this weekend is over \u2014 adding all the pressure in the world for the final two weeks of the season.<\/p>\n Buffalo got the perfect draw that it needed to keep pace with the Patriots: the Cleveland Browns. The Browns are a bizarrely electric topic of discussion this season. Not because of Myles Garrett\u2019s epic chase of Michael Strahan\u2019s sack record, but because of the obsession around rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders. Luckily for Buffalo, Sanders has comfortably been the worst starting quarterback in the league this year and is completing only 48% of his non-screen passes. The Browns have a couple of formidable rookies in running back Quinshon Judkins and tight end Harold Fannin Jr., but Sanders is so limited and disaster-prone that the strong Bills pass defense should be able to smother him. Judkins may rip off some nice runs against a leaky run defense, but it\u2019s hard to see how they\u2019ll be able to keep pace with the Bills \u2014\u00a0unless Garrett just makes life completely untenable for Buffalo.<\/p>\n On the Patriots\u2019 side, they head to Baltimore to take on a desperate Ravens team coming off of one of their best performances of the season, holding the Bengals to 0 points on the road. Baltimore is still an incomplete team, but even in this diminished state it is still an incredibly tough out as the defense has improved and Lamar Jackson gets a smidge healthier each week (assuming his recent \u201cflu deal\u201d subsides<\/a>). The Ravens are actually favored by three points in this game, making it no freebie for a Patriots team that also needs to win this game. This is a much stiffer challenge than taking on a rebuilding team with a Day 3 rookie quarterback.<\/p>\n New England will close its season with the other AFC East teams, the Dolphins and Jets, who are also starting late-round and undrafted players at quarterback like Cleveland. Buffalo has a game against the Eagles and then the Jets.<\/p>\n Last weekend set the stage for drama, this weekend is where the final push for a home playoff game begins between two of the most explosive quarterbacks in the league. Buckle up!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We\u2019re close to Christmas, and the NFL is gifting us some enticing matchups and races to watch. (Or…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":352835,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[5462,4851,12595,49,48,1772,8822,8825,1724,13276,13268,1762,7236,1750,27295,11286,13267,59977,2211,1522,2214,19260,514,121522,2218,13269,28544,2686,2693,5457,1756,13280,7675,1729,82,1626,153001,13263,13275,26682],"class_list":["post-352834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-baltimore","tag-bengals","tag-bills","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ceedee-lamb","tag-chargers","tag-chiefs","tag-cleveland-browns","tag-colts","tag-cowboys","tag-dak-prescott","tag-dallas","tag-george-pickens","tag-harold-fannin-jr","tag-jaguars","tag-jets","tag-kenny-clark","tag-lamar-jackson","tag-los-angeles","tag-myles-garrett","tag-new-england","tag-nfl","tag-osa-odighizuwa","tag-patrick-mahomes","tag-patriots","tag-quinnen-williams","tag-quinshon-judkins","tag-raiders","tag-ravens","tag-sam-darnold","tag-seahawks","tag-seattle","tag-shedeur-sanders","tag-sports","tag-steelers","tag-super-bowl-contenders","tag-the-rams","tag-titans","tag-trey-lance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"INGLEWOOD,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/a0cc6dda-c1f3-45ac-9ac2-57a50876014e.jpeg\"\/)
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