The biggest X-factors for each Conference Championship team Feat. Kansas City Chiefs, New Egland Patriots, Saints and Rams 

Los Angeles Rams:

Offense – Gerald Everett

I could have easily gone with the Rams’ third receiver Josh Reynolds here, but with Robert Woods taking over more of the slot role since Cooper Kupp went on IR, but instead I went with a different target in the passing game – Gerald Everett. The South Alabama product actually was the first draft selection in the Sean McVay era. The first-year head coach loved the dynamic pass-catcher coming out of college and he was projected to go somewhere late on day two, but instead, those guys grabbed him at 44. However in first two years of regular season, Everett has totaled just 564 receiving yards and fellow tight-end Tyler Higbee has doubled his snaps in 2018, in large part due to being a better blocker and also because the Rams primarily use their wide receivers to run those shallow and deep crossing routes. Yet I believe the second-year man could be an X-factor in the NFC Championship game because he presents more of a vertical threat and can run some of those routes L.A. tasks their slot receivers. Whoever plays the role of that third pass-catcher next to Brandin Cooks and Robert Woods could play a big role against a Saints defense that has been vulnerable against guys like that.

Everett certainly is not the most productive tight-end in football and he has played just 35 percent of the Rams’ offensive snaps, but he has been on the field for them when they needed to spread out and win with their passing attack. He also came up huge in that 54-51 Monday Night spectacle versus the Chiefs, when he scored twice, including the touchdown that put his team ahead for good. Everett was targeted just twice and didn’t catch a single pass in the Divisional Round versus Dallas, but that could change quickly this week. I could easily see him and Robert Woods streaking down the seams and the free safety jumping on Woods, leaving the tight-end open for a big play or maybe Sean McVay will even draw up a shot play to him with Brandin Cooks running a clearout route to open up room for his teammate. I think both teams will try to establish their ground game early on, but I could easily this turn into a shootout as these two coaches are as aggressive as any guys we have in the league. If this becomes a track-meat and the Rams try to put speed on the field, Everett could be the beneficiary and have a breakout game here, because he can basically be a fourth receiver in the formation.

Defense – Ndamokung Suh

Very seldom do you talk about a player with the eighth-highest payroll of anybody in the NFL (14 million) as an X-factor. However, when that player has looked like a rather average starter for the most part. Through the middle of the 2018 season, Ndamokung Suh seemed to be one of the most overpriced offseason additions. He had a pretty good game in their second matchup with Seattle and feasted on a bad Arizona O-line, but no dominant efforts. Over the course of the year he recorded a total of just four tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks, plus 19 QB hurries. He didn’t have a single game with more than one sack or TFL, but all of a sudden last Saturday Suh came alive against the Cowboys. Until that point it was a few big plays here and there by a Samson Ebukam having a crazy game against the Chiefs and a timely strip-sack by Dante Fowler against the Seahawks a couple of weeks after arriving in Los Angeles, but other than that there was a ton of pressure on reigning Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald to be superhuman-like – and he did. Donald’s 20.5 sacks through the regular season are exactly half of what the entire defense totaled and nobody outside of him even reached five respectively. Not exactly what people expected when they first heard about Suh teaming up with Donald.

When Dallas came to town in the Divisional Round Suh was a man amongst the boys. He showed up in the backfield constantly and took his blocker with him on the way. The play that stands out was that fourth-and-one at the start of the fourth quarter, when he drove back center Joe Looney and stuffed Ezekiel Elliott before his teammate joined in and cleaned things up. That was the defensive stop of the game and his best one of the year. Even though Suh seemed like he mailed it in during the regular season, he turned it on at the right point and if he plays like the bully he was in Detroit (without the dirty stuff) this Rams defense goes to a different level. Those guys just held Zeke to 47 yards on 20 attempts and allowed the Cowboys to convert just one of their eight third downs. A lot of that had to do with Scott Linehan’s uncreate play-calling and that will change when they go to the Dome and face an evil genius in Sean Payton, but his motor and overall play could be the difference compared to their first matchup against each other when Suh was pretty much a non-factor. That offensive line room spent hours setting up protections to slow down AD, but now they have to worry about a motivated Suh as well. Another guy I think could be key for the Rams defense is linebacker Corey Littleton, who leads the team with 125 tackles and 13 pass deflections, while also recording four sacks and three picks. He could be used to drop underneath those potential deep in routes by Michael Thomas, that helped the Saints all-world receiver catch eleven first down passes in the Divisional Round, or cover Kamara in the flats. Plus he has come up with big plays in some of the Saints most important games.