The Rams had to watch a division rival celebrate a Super Bowl title last Sunday and the pain of that was made all the worse by how close the Rams came to being the NFC’s representative in the game.
After splitting two games with the Seahawks in the regular season, the Rams had their chance to win the season series and the conference title in Seattle in late January. Edge rusher Jared Verse said on The Pivot podcast that the young defense came into that game feeling that “we’ve got this all sealed” because they felt they had learned from mistakes that contributed to their loss in their previous matchup with Seattle.
The Seahawks hit on a 51-yard pass to wide receiver Rashid Shaheed on their first offensive possession in the NFC title game and Verse said everyone on the unit was “kind of like s—ting the bed” as a result. Verse said that he feels the failure to turn that back around was the reason for the Rams’ loss.
“When we started having trouble, we didn’t know what to do,” Verse said. “Like some of us on the defense, some, you know, I’m going to take full blame, too. Like, there were a couple of times I’m like, but they’re running the other way. Like, I don’t know what to do. I can’t chase. Like I’m not that fast. I can’t chase him on the backside. What do I do? So when we had some troubles, we just kind of like mentally shut down.”
Verse and his teammates will get two more shots at the Seahawks this season and they’ll get a chance to show what they learned from their last experience against their division rivals.
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