The NFC championship features a rematch of the regular-season game between the Los Angeles Rams and the New Orleans Saints. The top two seeds in the conference meet again after the Saints defeated the Rams 45-35 at the Superdome in Week 9.
The Rams earned a trip back to New Orleans after defeating the Dallas Cowboys 30-22 at the Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles in the divisional round, while the Saints will play in the NFC title game after defeating the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles 20-14 at the Superdome in their divisional matchup.
A key matchup that will go a long way determining who wins this game is the battle between the Rams secondary and Saints’ quarterback Drew Brees, who in Week 9 was all over the field and exploited the holes left by Rams cornerback Marcus Peters.
If the Rams want to at least have a realistic chance of earning a trip to the Super Bowl for the for the first time since their days in Saint Louis, their secondary must do a better job. The return of Aqib Talib (who missed the first game with an ankle injury) should help them settle down. He alone will help them have a better performance in this rematch against Brees and company as he’s undoubtedly their best cornerback.
Talib is a vital playmaker in the Rams secondary, as he’s always close to the action and understands how to position himself to get his hands on the ball and will look to cover any Saints receiver that comes into his zone, but he will especially be on the prowl against wideout Michael Thomas who had a monster game against the Eagles as he finished with 171 receiving yards and one touchdown.
Without the physical Talib in the lineup, Thomas shredded the Rams in Week 9 for 211 yards and a touchdown after the Rams tried to contain him putting Peters in single coverage against him.
The Saints know the Rams won’t approach this matchup the same way and will try to better utilize a defense that ranked third in the NFL with 18 interceptions to stop Brees from putting as many points on the board in this matchup.
Another way the Rams can prevent the Saints from scoring points in bunches is by controlling the time of possession with their running game. Los Angeles will need their ground attack to be successful if they want to win. When running backs Todd Gurley and C.J. Anderson get it going they provide enough space for quarterback Jared Goff to start using their lethal play-action game.
This is important because the play-action game will allow the Rams to be more versatile on offense and evade the Saints pass rush, which will in time help them avoid sacks and limit turnovers.
The ability to stop the run will also be important for the Rams so tackles Ndamukong Suh and Aaron Donald will need to step up and command the defensive front to control the line of scrimmage, put pressure on Brees and stop Saints running backs Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram II.
Accomplishing all this will be vital for the Los Angeles Rams to earn a trip back to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1980, when they lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-19 in Super Bowl XIV.
