{"id":148001,"date":"2026-01-24T17:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T17:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/148001\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T17:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T17:04:10","slug":"nfl-conference-championship-picks-rams-defeat-seahawks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/148001\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL conference championship picks: Rams defeat Seahawks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Los Angeles Times NFL writer Sam Farmer<\/a> examines the matchups and makes his predictions for the NFL conference championships<\/a>.<\/p>\n

All lines and over\/under numbers are according to FanDuel Sportsbook.<\/a><\/p>\n

Last week, Farmer posted a 4-0 (1.000) record. He has a 179-103 (.635) record over the regular season and playoffs.<\/p>\n

Using point spreads with the scores Farmer predicted, his record against the spread last week<\/a> was 2-2 (.500). His record against the spread in the regular season and the playoffs is 129-153 (.457).<\/p>\n

All times are Pacific and TV reflects broadcasts in the Los Angeles area.<\/p>\n

No. 2 Patriots at No. 1 Broncos \"New <\/p>\n

New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye passes during a win over the Houston Texans in the AFC divisional playoffs on Jan. 18.<\/p>\n

(Greg M. Cooper \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Sunday, noon. TV: CBS, Paramount+.<\/p>\n

Line: Patriots by 4\u00bd. O\/U: 42\u00bd.<\/p>\n

Obviously, the Bo Nix injury changes this game dramatically. Mostly in light of the way the Denver quarterback was playing in the fourth quarter of games. But drawing up a workable game plan for Jarrett Stidham is right in Sean Payton\u2019s wheelhouse, so don\u2019t count out the Broncos. What\u2019s more, Drake Maye has fumbled a combined six times in the last two games, so this won\u2019t be a cakewalk for the Patriots. Still, it feels like New England should get the edge, having beaten a solid defense (Chargers) and an outstanding one (Houston) in the run-up to this game. The Patriots are back to playing the run tough, too, with the return of Milton Williams in the middle. A Denver win wouldn\u2019t be shocking, but New England has a slight advantage.<\/p>\n

Pick: Patriots 24, Broncos 20<\/p>\n

No. 5 Rams at No. 1 Seahawks \"Rams <\/p>\n

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford signals before taking a snap against the Chicago Bears in the second quarter of the Rams\u2019 20-17 overtime win in the NFC divisional playoffs at Soldier Field on Jan. 18, 2026.<\/p>\n

(Eric Thayer \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Sunday, 3:30 p.m. TV: Fox, Fox Deportes.<\/p>\n

Line: Seahawks by 2\u00bd. O\/U: 46\u00bd.<\/p>\n

These have been the NFL\u2019s two best teams all season, and the Seahawks are the league\u2019s most complete team. I can make a strong argument in favor of either to win. In their two games this season, they were separated by a combined one point and one yard. That said, the Seahawks do not play the Rams as well as they play the rest of their opponents. In five games pitting Sean McVay and Mike Macdonald \u2014 dating to Macdonald\u2019s days as defensive coordinator in Baltimore \u2014 McVay\u2018s teams have averaged 28 points. The Seahawks surrendered an average of 17.2 points to all other opponents this season. It doesn\u2019t help Seattle that Zach Charbonnet is out, especially in pass protection. This could boil down to Sam Darnold versus Matthew Stafford. I\u2019m taking Stafford.<\/p>\n

Pick: Rams 31, Seahawks 28<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Los Angeles Times NFL writer Sam Farmer examines the matchups and makes his predictions for the NFL conference…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":99731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[11592,423,48,52,51,21023,47,50,49,63,62783,73528,17322,54445,11706,5681,2504,11599,43889,776,2822],"class_list":["post-148001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-fox","tag-game","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-line","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-mike-macdonald","tag-nfl-conference-championship","tag-patriots","tag-point-spread","tag-ram","tag-record","tag-regular-season","tag-seahawks","tag-sean-mcvay","tag-sunday","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148001\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}