ESPN Predicts Monster Game for Seahawks Playmaker Against the Rams

The Seattle Seahawks bring one of the most talented rosters in the NFL into Sunday evening's NFC Championship Game against the Los Angeles Rams.

Seattle's defense has All-Pros at all three levels, their special teams unit has the best kick returner on the planet and they are as well-coached as any team in football, including the Rams.

If this team has a weakness it's their offense - however, over the last month there's been a long-awaited re-awakening of the element that was supposed to be this team's bread and butter on this side of the ball.

After months of inconsistency and inefficiency, the Seahawks run game is performing at a high level - thanks mostly to the recent explosion from starter Kenneth Walker III. Fresh off a monster three-touchdown game against the 49ers, ESPN analyst Ben Solak is predicting another big game from No. 9.

"Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III given the lion's share of the carries with Zach Charbonnet (knee) out for the season, will set a season high in rushing yards yet again, clearing the 116 mark that he posted just last weekend against the 49ers."

The Rams do have a better defense than the short-handed Niners unit that the Seahawks just lit up. However, they didn't have much success slowing Walker down the last time these two teams met.

In Seattle's epic overtime victory over LA back in Week 16, Walker went off for 100 rushing yards on just 11 carries (9.1 yards per attempt) and chipped in another 64 yards as a receiver on three catches.

It was a different story when the Seahawks visited SoFi Stadium the previous month, though. Walker saw more action but he wasn't nearly as explosive, totaling 67 yards on 16 attempts (4.2 yards per carry) and a touchdown, plus 44 yards on three receptions.

While those aren't bad numbers by any means, it's also a dramatic dropoff compared to what he did to the Rams defense in December.

Which way will it go? That's anybody's guess, but it's not worth nothing that Walker has momentum on his side. Over his last four games Walker has racked up 364 rushing yards, averaging 5.96 yards per attempt along the way.

With Zach Charbonnet out due to his ACL tear, Walker should continue to see a heavy workload even if they activate George Holani to serve as his backup. Our best guess is that Solak has it right, and we should see Walker continue his hot streak against LA.

More Seahawks on SI stories