Cleveland Browns defensive end Jared Verse, who was traded by the Los Angeles Rams, has nothing in his heart for the Seattle Seahawks. The NFC West giants were his arch-rivals, who might never let him live down the pain of losing the NFC Championship last year. Before leaving the Rams, he left the team with a parting message: “Make sure to beat the Seahawks,” he told USA Today’s Cameron DaSilva.

The Seahawks, however, weren’t one to back down from this attack.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter posted the same message on his Instagram to share with his followers. Seattle safety Nicolas Emmanwori commented, “We left a stain on bra mind 😂.”

Defensive linemen Leonard Williams also dropped a few laughing emojis in the comments. 

Verse and Emmanwori have different memories of that game. The Seattle safety had a career day on the field that night, but Verse was unfortunately involved in a play that played some part in knocking the Rams out of Super Bowl contention.

In the fourth quarter, Sam Darnold’s screen pass during a two-point conversion attempt bounced off Jared Verse’s helmet and landed in the end zone. It was initially ruled as an incomplete pass, but the officials later declared it as a backward pass, meaning it had been a fumble. Since running back Zach Charbonnet had picked it up, the Seahawks were given the two points. Seattle eventually went on to win the game in overtime.

Verse was seen slamming his helmet on the ground when the Rams walked back into the stadium after the game. In an appearance on The Pivot Podcast a few weeks later, the DE took all the blame and highlighted that the young Rams defense had become a little too confident.

” I think it was a young mindset. I think it was my fault on the defense,” Jared Verse said. “… I think it was our fault as a defense because we’re a younger defense. We have a lot of young dudes. We felt like we earned everything.”

Emmanwori, on the other hand, finished with five tackles and three pass-breakups after this game. This was the performance that really put the then-rookie on the map. And thanks to his heroics, the Seahawks got to extend their lead on the Rams by one more game, now standing 30-28. That’s how close Los Angeles came; this was also the first time the Rams lost to the Seahawks in the postseason.

Naturally, the loss was going to be a tough one for Verse, who absolutely can’t stand Seattle.

“They’re a division rival, all that good stuff. But like I genuinely don’t like them,” Verse added in the podcast. “l got a disdain in my heart for them. Like, I hate them. I don’t like the Seahawks at all.”

This longstanding rivalry has given football fans some of the most exciting matchups, being two of the strongest teams in the league. But the Rams might have an edge over the Seahawks this season, thanks to Verse himself. With star defensive end Myles Garrett now suiting up in sunny Los Angeles, the entire division has something to worry about.

Will the Seahawks be able to dodge this defensive phenom? We’ll have to wait and watch.