setting up the Seattle game … w/ broadcast map

J.B. Long@JB_Long
Seahawks (7-2) haven’t trailed since Week 6, falling behind 6-0 at Jacksonville.

Rams (7-2) haven’t trailed since Week 6, falling behind 3-0 at Baltimore.

SoFi Stadium this Sunday.

from Re-stacking NFC contenders: Are Rams, Seahawks more dangerous than Eagles? — Pick Six

Mike Sando

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6788300/2025/11/10/rams-seahawks-eagles-nfl-super-bowl-odds/?campaign=15632948&source=athletic_targeted_email&userId=603890

There was a point Sunday afternoon when the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams led their opponents by a combined 56-0 margin.

Both take 7-2 records into their Week 11 matchup in Los Angeles.

With the Detroit Lions topping 500 yards for the second time this season in a 44-22 victory over Washington, and with the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles visiting Green Bay on Monday night, the time is right to re-stack the NFC hierarchy.

“I’m trusting Seattle and the Rams both over Philadelphia, just because I like the way the quarterbacks are playing,” an exec from another team said.

The Seahawks and Rams might be the best teams in the NFC. Let’s run through the top.

The exec quoted above thinks the Rams and Seahawks can score and win in more ways than the Eagles can. He was highest on Green Bay entering the season but is having trouble trusting the Packers as much now, despite their 5-2-1 record.

Tampa Bay’s defeat to New England gave the exec some pause on the Buccaneers, while the injury situation in San Francisco seems too much to overcome. As for Detroit, he thought the Lions, despite their dominance of the Commanders, lacked some of the creativity that stood out when Ben Johnson was coordinating the offense.

Our top six NFC contenders appear below, ordered by their chances to reach the Super Bowl via The Athletic’s projection model as of Sunday night. Records and Super Bowl chances appear in parentheses.

• Rams (7-2, 26.2 percent): The Rams are the only team in the league to rank among the top five in EPA per play on both sides of the ball. Their chances of reaching the Super Bowl have roughly tripled since preseason now that Matthew Stafford has proven the back issues that sidelined him during training camp are not a concern.

“Stafford is playing as good as anybody at the position,” an opposing team exec said.

Stafford has hit Rams-era career highs for EPA per pass play and air yards per attempt. There would seem to be a correlation between Stafford having more time to throw and feeling better about striking down the field. Puka Nacua’s dominance was well-established in Los Angeles, but newcomer Davante Adams, who suffered an oblique injury Sunday, is on pace for career highs in air yards per target (12.8) and reception (11.5).

“Davante is the kind of guy that is in the right spot, so it’s easy for the quarterback to get used to him,” a defensive coach said. “It’s so different from DK Metcalf in Pittsburgh, who slows down and starts guessing if he’s in the read or not.”

Stafford and coach Sean McVay have 73 total games together, and it shows. The Rams own the NFL’s lowest rate of pre-snap penalties, typical for a McVay offense. The team has scored at least 34 points in each of its past three games, handing the San Francisco 49ers’ defense its worst beating of the season Sunday as measured by EPA per play.

The offense has leaned heavily into 13 personnel (three tight ends) in recent weeks, even after Nacua returned from injury. Might that keep Seattle out of its exotic sub packages in Week 11?

The Rams are not perfect.

Their kicking game has been atrocious, resulting in a league-worst minus-31.8 EPA differential on field goal tries. That could cost the Rams in a tight game against a strong opponent, including against Seattle, which ranks first in overall special teams EPA this season.

• Eagles (6-2, 20.2 percent): All they do is win 71 percent of their games under Nick Sirianni, with two Super Bowl appearances and one Lombardi Trophy over his four-plus seasons as coach. They’ve beaten the Chiefs and Rams already this season.

Philly needed reinforcements at the trade deadline and spent a third-round pick on pass rusher Jaelan Phillips. Guard Landon Dickerson and linebacker Nakobe Dean are back from injury.

When the Eagles struggled on offense early in the season, some in the league predicted a repeat of the 2023 season, when Brian Johnson was one-and-done as the offensive coordinator between Shane Steichen and Kellen Moore. Philly has made major statistical gains on offense under first-time coordinator Kevin Patullo since then, although the offense

“(Jared) Goff, when he is going and they are going downhill, is difficult to deal with, and of course, Stafford is that way too,” one exec said. “But I don’t feel that way about Jalen Hurts.”

Philly has shifted heavily toward being under center over the past two games after successive defeats to the Broncos and Giants. The rushing output has never been lower through the first eight games of a season under Sirianni. Much could be learned against Green Bay on Monday night.

• Seahawks (7-2, 16.1 percent): Seattle is the first team since 1980 and the fourth ever to exceed 30 first-half points three times in one season, per Pro Football Reference, and there are still eight games to play. The Seahawks have built first-half leads of 38-3 over the Saints, 31-7 over Washington and 35-0 over Arizona. Seattle’s overall point differential (+103) is a franchise best, by far, to this point in a season.

“They have great personnel,” an opposing coach said. “There are little things with their roster that make a difference, like all the tight ends can play on (special) teams. Situationally, they are very sound. And then they attack the ball on defense.”

Seattle has become a physical, hard-hitting team on defense in Mike Macdonald’s second season as coach and defensive play caller. Two fumble-forcing hits on Cardinals quarterback Jacoby Brissett on Sunday were particularly violent, with both resulting in touchdown returns for DeMarcus Lawrence.

On offense, Sam Darnold owns three of the NFL’s five best games this season for EPA per pass play. He is averaging 9.9 yards per attempt, best in the league by a yard (Drake Maye, 8.9). He’s tied with Stafford and Maye for most completions on passes traveling longer than 20 yards downfield (17 each), while ranking first in completion rate on these throws by far (61 percent, with Hurts next at 52 percent).

“Going into the year, you would not say this was going to be a top-five offense, but it is,” another opposing coach said.

The Rams look unstoppable.

The ⁦@Seahawks⁩ defense, however, is the great neutralizer.

Already fired up for next weekend's clash of the league's hottest offense vs its most dominant defense.

Waxing poetic on the Seattle D.

⁦@ESPNNFL⁩ ⁦@FirstTake⁩ pic.twitter.com/tnY5DySZxW

— Peter Schrager (@PSchrags) November 10, 2025

wv wrote:

Rams:
Seahawks, Bucs, Panthers, Cards, Lions, Seahawks, Falcons, Cards.

Seattle:
Rams, Titans, Vikings, Falcons, Colts, Rams, Panthers, 49ers.

w
v

Red = tough match

Blue = not so tough match

Rams:
Seahawks, Bucs, Panthers, Cards, Lions, Seahawks, Falcons, Cards.

Seattle:
Rams, Titans, Vikings, Falcons, Colts, Rams, Panthers, 49ers.

from PFF: 2025 NFL MVP Primer: Breaking down the top candidates entering Week 11— https://www.pff.com/news/2025-nfl-mvp-primer-breaking-down-the-top-candidates-entering-week-11?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=dhtwitter&utm_content=null

Below is a summary of the top contenders for football’s most prestigious on-field award to this point, assessing each’s candidacy using PFF data — including PFF’s signature Wins Above Replacement [WAR] metric.

QB Matthew Stafford, Los Angeles Rams
PFF WAR: 1.98

Most of the last eight months have been uncertain for Stafford, from navigating trade rumors to lingering concern about the state of his back in the preseason. Perhaps it’s only fitting, then, that his play this year has been anything but.

At age 37, Stafford is in the midst of his best season yet. The two-time Pro Bowler leads all quarterbacks in PFF passing grade (92.4) and big-time throws (23) and is also the most valuable player by PFF WAR. Stafford has been elite virtually everywhere, slotting second among qualifiers in passing grade under pressure (66.6) and fifth in passing grade when blitzed (81.4). After all, his last six games have featured 15 big-time throws and only five turnover-worthy plays, plus 20 touchdowns to zero interceptions.

With the Rams 7-2 and one of the best teams in the NFL, Stafford is shaping up to be the favorite to take home his first MVP. However, winning the NFC West — which Los Angeles has a 59% chance to do, according to the PFF Power Rankings — may be the key considering the competition, including within his own division.

QB Sam Darnold, Seattle Seahawks
PFF WAR: 1.86

Some questioned why the Seahawks would willingly swap Geno Smith for Darnold, especially after the latter displayed cracks in his game at the end of the 2024 season. So far, the move has been a home run for general manager John Schneider.

Through 10 weeks, Darnold is first among quarterbacks in overall PFF grade (93.1) and big-time throw rate (9.0%) while placing second in passing grade (92.3), passer rating (116.5) and WAR. Darnold has made his heyday throwing down the field, producing a staggering 99.5 passing grade on throws past the sticks and a 99.9 mark on deep (20-plus-yard) attempts.

With Darnold leading the charge, Seattle is 7-2 and one of the top teams in football. His two looming head-to-head showdowns with Stafford — starting on Sunday — will be large determinants in deciding the MVP race.

They do the Rams at about 17:45

…

Ramsoholic@ShayTweetedThat
2 top 5 coaches
2 top 5 WRs
2 top 5 defenses
2 top 5 offenses
2 top 5 QBs both in MVP race

Nate Atkins@NateAtkins_
Davante Adams (oblique) is doing warmups for today’s practice and is in uniform.

Adams ran routes as normal during the individual/pass game drills.

Zooey wrote:

Their wins?

Arizona twice.
Jacksonville
Houston
Pittsburgh
New Orleans
and Washington.

Pittsburgh is the best of all those teams, and Pittsburgh is 5-4.

Seattle may be very, very good, but that resume isn’t impressive.

Rams wins & records of those teams:

Houston 4-5
Tenn. 1-8
Indy 8-2
Balt. 4-5
Jax 5-4
N.O. 2-8
SF 6-4

Includes wins against 2 teams that are 8-2 and 6-4, respectively.