The Los Angeles Rams will be matching up against their division rivals, the Seattle Seahawks, on Sunday, Jan. 5, a game that will officially close out the team’s regular season run.
The two teams last saw each other during Week 9, the Rams pulling narrowly past the Seahawks in overtime to solidify a final score of 26-20. However, the win also commemorated the first tie in years between the two teams for games won in their history against each other.
The Rams and the Seahawks have now seen each other a total of 54 times, and their upcoming Week 18 match will break their current 27-27 tie.
The Seahawks had dominated the win-loss record between the two for years; however, the tides changed especially in the last ten years where, in that span, the record between the two went 13-6, with the Rams prevailing.
It took the Rams three straight wins to tie up their cumulative record, and a win this weekend could put the Rams in the lead. However, Rams head coach Sean McVay will be taking a different approach on plays this weekend, as the team now has the playoffs to prepare for.
McVay has already made the decision to sit dynamic starters like Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford and start players who have not had much time to shine, like quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.
There could even be a chance that a coach other than McVay could be calling plays from the sideline come this weekend. But, ahead of all these changes, McVay assured reporters that he still was planning on making the game a “complete” one.
“I don't want to put the cart before the horse, so our focus and concentration will be on, alright, ‘how do we get an opportunity to play a complete game against an excellent Seattle Seahawks football team?’ Until we have to decide otherwise, that's where my sole focus and concentration will be,” McVay said after their Week 17 match against the Cardinals.
The tiebreaker between the two and a potential seeding decision gives the Rams something to play for in Week 18, despite the fact that the Rams’ playoff fate has been sealed, and regardless of seeding, the team will be playing in the first round in the next two weeks.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/nfl/rams/ as Rams-Seahawks Week 18 Matchup Will Set A Record Straight.