For the last 10 seasons, Bobby Wagner faced the Rams twice a year as a member of the Seahawks. Seattle only went 8-12 in the 20 games Wagner played against the Rams, but he had 172 tackles, 10 tackles for a loss, one sack and four passes defensed.
Having faced the Rams so many times in his career, he actually came to enjoy playing against them. That’s because it was constantly a chess match when it came to tendencies that showed up on film from game to game.
While on “The Rich Eisen Show,” Wagner described what it was like facing the Rams twice a year and what made it fun to go against their offense.
“I always liked playing against the Rams because they watch stuff that I do on film and I know they’re gonna put it in the next game,” he said. “And so there was one particular game where I was playing the Rams, whenever they motioned the running back out, I knew they weren’t throwing them the ball. And I kind of didn’t really play it because I knew they weren’t going there. So the next time we played them, I knew they saw that. So I was like, ‘All right, they’re gonna run a running back screen at some point.’ So that kind of chess moves where it may not happen this game, but it will happen the next game. I remember it, I know they’ve seen it. I’m like, knowing them, I know they’ve seen that. They know they didn’t throw it to that running back and I wasn’t even acknowledging it because I knew they weren’t going to throw it. I knew going into that next game, they were gonna find a way to put that in there just to have me play it honest.”
Sean McVay has become a better coach as the years have gone on because of his ability to recognize his own tendencies and mix things up on offense. Wagner obviously saw some of those tendencies show up on film, and he used it to his advantage.
But he also knew the Rams would closely analyze the game tape and adjust accordingly, which McVay has done a good job of in the last couple of years.
Wagner will no longer get the chance to face the Rams, seeing as he’s a member of the team now, but he always enjoyed going up against their creative and unique offense while with the Seahawks.