LOS ANGELES – Davante Adams warned reporters not to expect any smiles if the Rams won their playoff opener in Carolina. He allowed one or two after the overtime win over the Bears in the divisional round, but not much more.
That reserve is the product of four trips to the NFC championship game during his eight seasons with the Packers, four appearances that all ended in losses one game short of a Super Bowl appearance.
So as the Rams prepare for their NFC title bout with the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, Adams is on the verge of the first Super Bowl appearance of his career.
“It feels almost like a mythical thing to me at this point,” Adams said. “You do everything you can to get there and it’s been so hard and I’ve been working so hard at it. We’re close. We just have to finish it off.”
Adams’ first trip to the NFC title game after the 2014 season ironically came against these Seahawks, in Seattle. The Seahawks overcame a 19-7 fourth-quarter deficit to win in overtime.
The wide receiver was a rookie then. If he thought he would surely get over the hump with the Packers after that early success, he was left disappointed. Three more appearances, three more losses in the final four. And then a three-year absence from the playoffs with the Raiders and Jets.
“I started off with a great experience with the Packers and didn’t have anything else to compare it to, so you don’t in a sense, take it for granted,” Adams said. “Being back in a position where you’re with a great team and in a great situation, you definitely have a greater appreciation for times like this, for sure.”
Despite the Rams’ Super Bowl LVI championship after the 2021 season, only a handful of players are left from that roster. Most are in the same position as Adams, trying to reach their first Super Bowl.
As he tries to reach that “mythical thing,” Adams leans on advice that he got from his Packers quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, back in 2016.
“‘We don’t need any Herculean efforts,’” Adams recalled. “Just thinking about how football is the most team sport that there is. If you go out trying to be Superman every week, that’s not necessarily what’s needed in order to complete the puzzle. For me, [QB Matthew Stafford] or whoever it is, it’s just making sure we do our job and if we take care of our one-eleventh then that should be enough for what we have on this team.”
Injury report
Outside linebacker Byron Young (knee) will be listed as questionable for Sunday’s game, but head coach Sean McVay said he expects the team’s leader in sacks to play against the Seahawks.
Right tackle Rob Havenstein (ankle/knee) returned to practice on Thursday in a limited fashion after spending the last nine weeks on injured reserve, but McVay ruled out the possibility of him playing against the Seahawks.