After the Rams fell to the Seahawks in the NFC Championship and then watched Seattle claim the Super Bowl two weeks later, Rams player Jared Verse didn’t hold back in sharing his thoughts on the Seahawks.
“They’re our division rivals, and sure, there’s some good about them, but honestly, I don’t like them,” Verse stated on the podcast “The Pivot” last week. “Deep down, I have contempt for them. I hate them. I can’t stand the Seahawks. There’s nothing I like about them — not their players, not their staff; I just don’t like them.” He emphasized his feelings with a repetition that made his point clear: “I don’t like the Seahawks. I don’t like the Seahawks.”
“When we face them, it’s the same for the whole team. My close friends on the sideline share that feeling. I don’t care if my mom wears Seahawks colors when we play,” he added.
This wasn’t the first time Verse has been vocal about his disdain for Seattle, especially as he approaches the 2024 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year title.
After the Seahawks defeated the Rams 31-27 to secure a Super Bowl spot, Verse acknowledged his role in the losses, emphasizing the defensive lapses.
He mentioned that the Rams were “on fire all week,” convinced that the game would be an “easy win.”
“We were thinking, ‘Yeah, we’re going to beat them again,'” he recalled. “We thought we learned from our previous game, but then they threw a big play early. That shook us. What do we do now? This isn’t going according to plan. They aren’t just going to roll over,” he reflected.
Verse admitted that when issues arose during the game, he felt overwhelmed. “I didn’t know how to respond. I mean, some of us were playing defense, while I took full responsibility too,” he commented.
“A few times, things went against us, and I just felt stuck. I wasn’t fast enough to catch up. So when things went wrong, I kind of mentally shut down,” he explained.
The defeat lingers for Verse and the Rams, but there’s still hope ahead.
Quarterback Matthew Stafford, fresh from winning the NFL MVP award, plans to return next season to lead a top-performing offense.
On the defensive side, Verse acknowledges improvements are necessary, but watching the Seahawks lift the Lombardi Trophy serves as a powerful motivator.
