Emmanwori played a key role in reaching Super Bowl LX, with two key interceptions — one on Puka Nacua — late in the first half of the NFC Championship Game against the Los Angeles Rams, helping Seattle regain the lead before halftime. A leadership they would never relinquish.
“It was definitely a cool moment. I just remember being in my zone in the game. I was in the zone. … It was just normal,” he said of his game against LA, which included three PBUs and five tackles. “Whatever’s in the scheme, whatever’s in the playbook, I would just adapt to it flawlessly and I can just make those plays. So it was like, I was guarding the quarterback, making the play, guarding Puka in the slot, like guarding Davante Adams. Setting the rim, getting off blocks. I was just basically in the zone and we were just focused in that zone..”
Emmanwori said it felt like beating the Rams was for all the marbles, even with the Super Bowl remaining as an obstacle.
“No disrespect to the Patriots or anything like that. I don’t want to take anything away from them, but that game, I felt like that game was legit,” he said of the NFC Championship deficit. “You know how it is with the competition. The Rams, they come in, (Matthew) Stafford, he’s a hell of a quarterback. (Sean) McVay always got a hell of a plan. That game was definitely different. It was a different game. It was live. I was in my zone.”
Given that it took some time for the rookie to find his footing after an injury early in the year, there is room for growth in Emmanwori’s game. With the Seahawks poised to lose several key pieces on defense in free agency, the young DB taking another leap forward in Year 2 would ensure Macdonald’s defense continues to develop.