Sound Smart: 5 Observations from NFL Championship Sunday

Lumen Field (Seattle) — You saw that the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots will play in Super Bowl LX. You saw the blizzard that rolled into Denver and rendered the Broncos and New England Patriots’ offenses useless. You saw the shootout where Sam Darnold kept pace with — and ultimately surpassed — Matthew Stafford.

So let’s try to spin it forward, dive deeper and think outside the box about what we witnessed in the conference championship games. This is “Sound Smart,” where we prepare you for Monday morning with observations from the penultimate round of the postseason. If I do my job, you’ll be fluent in the NFL’s playoff action.

1. IF THERE’S ONE THING YOU SHOULD KNOW FROM CHAMPIONSHIP SUNDAY, IT’S THAT ….

Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald and offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak called a better game — and outcoached Rams coach Sean McVay and defensive coordinator Chris Shula.

In practice this week, there was one play where Jaxon Smith-Njigba found himself wide open. Unbelievably open. The star receiver lined up in the backfield in a two-back set and broke for the back right corner of the end zone, where he found what every receiver craves: no coverage.

“Am I going to be that open in the game?” Smith-Njigba remembered wondering.

Yup.

During Sunday’s NFC Championship Game against the Los Angeles Rams, the Seahawks wideout did exactly what he’d practiced. And it worked out exactly as they’d practiced — with nobody near him when he hauled in the touchdown pass. It put the Seahawks ahead to end the first half, but more importantly, it marked a strategic advantage for the Seahawks.

It takes a special play to throw an invisibility cloak over arguably the best receiver in the NFL. But that’s what Seattle’s OC did.

“I got to give credit to coach Kubiak. He called a great plan,” Smith-Njigba told me. “We’ve been running that [at practice], and I’ve been open on that all week long.”

Receiver Rashid Shaheed, whose route broke the opposite direction, knew that JSN was scoring before the ball came out of quarterback Sam Darnold’s hands.

“It was the exact look we were looking for. As soon as I saw the safety off the corner following me, I knew that Jaxon was gonna be open for a touchdown,” Shaheed told me. “So that was a special play, a play that we needed in that moment.”

This was a common refrain in the Seahawks’ locker room, where music blared, cigars engulfed the room in smoke and players sipped from red solo cups and glass bottles. In the moments that changed the game, Seattle’s offense had plays that were perfect against the Rams defense. The Rams saw it, too. 

It was how Darnold played the best game of his career in the biggest game of his career.

“[The Smith-Njigba touchdowns] was kind of a beater for what we was in,” linebacker Omar Speights told me. “At certain points, they caught us where certain plays matched up perfectly against ours. Hats off to them.”

There wasn’t a defender within 10 feet of Jaxon Smith-Njigba as he caught the go-ahead touchdown before halftime of the NFC title game. (Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images)

Another example? 

That 51-yard reception from Shaheed to start the game. That opening drive set the tone for the Seahawks and for Darnold, who finished with 346 yards and three touchdowns — all despite pressure on the scores. The 51-yarder was the third play of the game. It was their scripted drive. And Seattle saw an immediate advantage, which it wasted no time exploiting.

“They gave us the perfect look, man,” Shaheed told me. “Sam put it on the money.”

Speaking of Darnold …

2. STATS DON’T LIE — OR DO THEY?

Darnold completed three touchdowns under pressure, the most of his career and the most ever recorded since 2016, per Next Gen Stats.

There have been times when Darnold appeared unable to shake his reputation for flopping in big games. The most recent example, of course, was when he threw four interceptions against L.A. Most Rams players wouldn’t admit after the game that this version of Darnold looked different than the guy they saw earlier this year — or even the guy they bounced from the playoffs with the Minnesota Vikings roughly 13 months ago. But Speights finally conceded.

“He played better, for sure,” he told me. “He was able to find [his receivers] when we brought certain pressures.”

That was in the Rams’ locker room.

In the Seahawks’ locker room?

“He’s the best in the world,” receiver Jake Bobo said.

Take it easy there, Bobo.

“He just shut a lot of people up tonight,” Macdonald said during a postgame press conference.

OK, I can agree with that.

Sam Darnold has been vindicated after experiencing great struggles early in his career and then being passed over by the Vikings this past offseason following a career year. (Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images)

Macdonald isn’t lying. Nor are the stats. Darnold played the best game of his career and that was despite the pressure of the NFC Championship Game, despite the pass rush’s pressure and despite the fact that the Rams defense has been his kryptonite, even as he has smoothed out other kinks in his game. He did all that in a week when he was “barely practicing” due to an oblique injury, per Macdonald. Darnold figured something out against this L.A. team.

“He gets a lot of antics thrown his way from the media or whatever, and for him to stay resilient and keep going is truly remarkable. I’m super proud of him,” Smith-Njigba told reporters.

“It’s so hard for the words right now. Sam’s just unbelievable,” tackle Charles Cross told me.

And the touchdowns under pressure?

“It doesn’t say anything that we didn’t already know about him,” Bobo told reporters. “He’s the man, and obviously you see the arm talent out here every Sunday. But his leadership is what makes him special, and so everybody in this locker room wants to play for him. … Hopefully he doesn’t see me saying this, because I’ll get some s— for it.”

Again, that’s Bobo being Darnold’s biggest hype man. All the Seahawks were competing to be Darnold’s biggest hype man. But for all the effusive praise of Darnold, here’s one more quote that stood out:

“We’re super proud of the way that he commands the offense,” Shaheed told me. “We wouldn’t be here without him.”

For the longest time, that wasn’t true. 

Against the 49ers last week, the Seahawks probably could’ve won with Jarrett Stidham. Darnold might have engineered explosive plays at the third-highest rate among QBs behind Drake Maye and Jordan Love during the regular season. But that also came at the expense of turnovers (20; most in the NFL) with the second-highest turnover rate (3.7%) behind only Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy (4.6). You know … the guy who got memed into oblivion this year.

So, you get it. Darnold was really good, at times — and really bad, at times. The Seahawks had to compensate for his mistakes. Or they had to carry him altogether.

This was the game when Shaheed’s sentiment was most true: We wouldn’t be here without him.

Darnold was that good. The Seahawks wouldn’t have beaten the Rams to advance to the Super Bowl without him.

3. EVERYONE IS AFRAID TO SAY

Part 1: Drake Maye was the youngest QB in the playoff field, but he’s playing with wisdom beyond his years.

Patriots receiver DeMario Douglas told me a few weeks ago that Maye was mature beyond his years. Douglas is 25 years old himself, so what does he know, right?

Well, since Douglas said that, the Patriots have won three straight playoff games — and with Maye helping them win in three different ways. This isn’t to say he’s been perfect or even exceptionally consistent, especially when compared to an incredible regular season. But if you look around the NFL, you’ll see that quarterbacks have struggled throughout the playoffs.

Even for a guy like Matthew Stafford, it has been about doing just enough.

So that’s what Maye did on Sunday against the Broncos in a game that — in the second half — devolved into a white-out blizzard. Maye had zero turnovers, rectifying an issue that plagued him all playoffs long. He also had 65 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown. 

Drake Maye beat the Broncos with his legs as much as his right arm, as he scrambled for multiple first downs. (Photo by Kara Durrette/Getty Images)

“These conditions — they’re not great throwing the football,” Maye said with a chuckle in a postgame interview on CBS. “We did what we needed to do.”

Those rushing stats proved all-important for the passer — as oxymoronic as that sounds — because of snow. It was hard to throw against the Denver defense when the game started. It was downright impossible when the blizzard showed up. Maye was 10 of 21 for 86 yards and five sacks. But Maye figured out how to score with his legs. Maye also figured out how to ice — pun intended — the game with his legs on third-and-6 with a rollout run that allowed New England to knee the game to close it out.

It’s a credit to offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, who has — the whole season — met his players and his quarterback where they are. McDaniels has a famous and infamous system. Its complications have flunked plenty of players. But those who get it, get it.

Even after studying film of Tom Brady, Maye has made this offense his own.

“Tell me who the players are. Tell me what their strengths are,” McDaniels told me a few weeks ago. “And let’s try to build the system around them. And that’s what we try to do with Drake. We ran the option [against the Chargers.] We never did that with Tom [Brady]. Why? Because Drake can do it. … We scored on two rushing touchdowns against the Bills. Those were designed runs. We’ve moved Drake out of the pocket, and we’ve done other things that he can do well.

“We’re not just going to do that because I think he can do almost everything, to a point. … We can do more things — or different things — because he has different skill sets.”

Maye’s path to the Super Bowl will draw skepticism.

And to the credit of the skeptics, he has not had to outduel an offense with considerable firepower. But what those skeptics won’t point out is that Maye is the first QB to win three playoff games against top five total defenses in a single postseason, per FOX Sports research. Those units are all also three top nine defenses in points allowed per game, and two of them (the Broncos and the Texans) finished in the top three.

Because of that, Maye will be the second-youngest QB to start the Super Bowl — just behind Dan Marino — where, perhaps fittingly, he’ll face the top defense in the Seahawks.

Part 2: Special teams matter!

In the Rams’ loss to the Seahawks, we saw yet another reminder that there are three phases of this game. And it was special teams that provided the moment when the Seahawks took control of the game.

Rams receiver Xavier Smith fell over while trying to field a punt early in the third quarter and muffed it. The Seahawks were there to recover at the 17-yard line. And one play later, Darnold threw a touchdown to Jake Bobo to give the Seahawks a 12-point lead they ultimately wouldn’t squander.

“Every year, they lose key games and fail to maximize their potential due to a lack of investment in special teams,” a former NFL head coach texted me on Sunday night after the Rams’ muffed punt. “Look at the investments of who they hire. [It went from] from [former Rams special teams coordinator John Fassel] and [Joe] DeCamillis (two of the best) to the lowest bidders who promise in interviews to basically not play the phase. Whenever they play teams who invest in special teams, it costs them!”

A Rams fumble deep in their own zone led to a Seahawks touchdown and proved to be the difference in the NFC title game. (Photo by Jane Gershovich/Getty Images)

We have receipts, too. These are just from the Rams’ losses this year.

• In L.A.’s 33-26 loss to the Eagles in Week 3, Philly blocked two Rams field goals late in the fourth, including a 44-yard game-winning attempt with three seconds left.
• In L.A.’s 26-23 loss to the 49ers in Week 5, Josh Karty missed a 53-yard field goal and an extra point.
• In a 38-37 loss to the Seahawks in Week 16, the Rams allowed a Rashid Shaheed punt-return TD. Kicker Harrison Mevis also missed a 48-yard field-goal attempt with 2:11 left in the fourth quarter with the game tied at 30-all.

The Rams often win despite their special teams. But when a team like the Seahawks can use that phase to their advantage, it can tip the scales in a game that’s otherwise even.

4. WE GOTTA TALK ABOUT THE WEATHER

The NFL playoffs are not a marathon — they’re a steeplechase. Or maybe it’s skijoring.

Before you take off to Google what those sports are, just know that they’re weird. They don’t test athletes in clean or aesthetic ways. If I told you those sports were for the Cowboys, you’d believe me. And playoff football — it turns out — is in that same category.

That’s what we saw with the crazy snowfall in Denver.

Patriots coach Mike Vrabel was made for the playoffs. His team was made to win in any kind of weather.

Behind Vrabel and defensive playcaller Zak Kuhr, New England’s defense allowed just 26 points in the entire three-game playoff run, second-fewest in NFL history by a team with three games playing into the Super Bowl. The Chargers offensive players admitted to Patriots linebacker Robert Spillane that they had no idea what they were seeing in terms of disguised coverages. The same was probably true when C.J. Stroud threw four interceptions in the divisional round. 

It’s safe to say weather was a factor in Sunday’s AFC title game between the Patriots and the Broncos. (Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images)

With help from the snow, Broncos QB Jarrett Stidham couldn’t see … anything. There was a brief moment when it seemed, maybe, Stidham could contend. He had a 52-yard play to Marvin Mims on Denver’s second drive before throwing a touchdown. But that competence was short-lived. Otherwise, Vrabel and the Patriots smothered the Broncos — as they should against a backup QB. New England made do with the conditions they got.

With the win, Vrabel tied George Seifert for the most wins in NFL history by a head coach in their first season with a team, including the playoffs, per FOX Sports Research.

Folks are going to question the Broncos’ decision to go for it on fourth down in the second quarter — before the storm hit. I didn’t mind it. Maybe you could’ve seen the forecast. Maybe you could’ve seen the way this game would change — and how quickly. But damn, that would’ve been truly transcendent, omniscient awareness. At the time, the fourth-down attempt looked reasonable.

No, the more questionable decision from Sean Payton came on the Broncos’ final drive when they tried to throw the ball downfield twice (into the peak of the storm). On the first, Stidham had his guy open (enough) to try it. Instead, he checked down. On the second throw, Stidham did not have his guy — but tried it anyway. There were a lot of moments where the game didn’t go the Broncos’ way. That was the real back-breaker, where the decision didn’t match the situation.

Whether it was luck or versatility, the Patriots beat the snow — and, in turn, the Broncos.

5. HE SAID WHAT?!

“No curfew tonight. But the bus is leaving at 8:00 in the morning — so if you ain’t on it, you ain’t playing in the Bowl.”

Wherever you are right now, remember that the Patriots are somewhere in Denver having more fun than you. (Unless it’s Monday after 8 a.m. — then you’re probably feeling better than them.)

In Sound Smart we’re diving deeper and thinking outside the box about the week that was in NFL action.