There may not have been a signature end-of-game play by the Seattle Seahawks in this NFC Championship victory—no ‘The Tip’ and no Russell Wilson to Jermaine Kearse overtime magic—but this magical Seahawks season
nevertheless continues on after an astonishingly entertaining 31-27 win over the Los Angeles Rams. Sam Darnold delivered when the Seahawks needed him most, while the defense stiffened up with the season on the line after one of their worst performances all season. Special teams? Well that’s not a fair fight when the Rams can’t go a week without a special teams blunder.
It’s Enemy Reaction time! This is jam-packed with a lot of screenshots for an eventful game, and you better believe I perused other SB Nation NFL sites for their reactions to Seattle’s victory. The game thread comments from the Rams are courtesy of Turf Show Times.
Note: It’s hard to fit game thread images into this article without them automatically shrinking. Whether on mobile or a tablet or desktop, you may have to tap the screenshots twice to get the full image dimensions.
Sam Darnold throws a 51-yard strike to Rashid Shaheed! (0-0)
Kenneth Walker III opens the scoring! (7-0 SEA)
Matthew Stafford finds wide open Puka Nacua, Rams kick a field goal (7-3 SEA)
Jaxon Smith-Njigba with a sick one-handed grab! (10-3 SEA)
DeMarcus Lawrence strip sacks Matthew Stafford, gets away with face mask, Rams kick field goal (10-6 SEA)
Kyren Williams scores on a blown coverage (13-10 LAR)
Sam Darnold throws go-ahead touchdown to Jaxon Smith-Njigba! (17-13 SEA)
Xavier Smith muffs punt, Dareke Young recovers! (17-13 SEA)
MORE BOBO! Jake Bobo cashes in on Rams turnover with a touchdown (24-13 SEA)
Davante Adams toasts Josh Jobe, then beats Riq Woolen for a touchdown (24-20 SEA)
Cooper Kupp with his first Seahawks home game touchdown! (31-20 SEA)
Riq Woolen drops pick, commits 3rd and 12 taunting penalty (31-20 SEA)
Even worse, Riq gets burned by Puka Nacua for a touchdown (31-27 SEA)
Somehow, Matthew Stafford breaks DeMarcus Lawrence tackle to convert 4th and 1 (31-27 SEA)
Devon Witherspoon breaks up 4th down pass, Rams turn it over on downs! (31-27 SEA)
Cobie Durant flagged for holding Cooper Kupp (31-27 SEA)
Puka Nacua tackled in the field of play, Seahawks go to the Super Bowl! (31-27 SEA FINAL)
Bonus reactions from the…
San Francisco 49ers
Minnesota Vikings
New York Jets
Dallas Cowboys
Las Vegas Raiders
New England Patriots
Carolina Panthers
Chicago Bears
Detroit Lions
Post-Game recap: Rams top priority? Extend Sean McVay, Les Snead (Gary Klein, LA Times)
Now that the Rams’ season is over, they will begin deciding when to offer extensions to key players such as receiver Puka Nacua, defensive lineman Kobie Turner, edge rusher Byron Young and offensive lineman Steve Avila.
But there are much more pressing contracts to consider. Like the one for the most important person in the organization: coach Sean McVay.
And the one for the second-most important person: general manager Les Snead.
[…]
The Rams are projected to have $46.5 million in cap space, according to Overthecap.com.
Nacua is due for a monster extension, and Turner, Young and Avila also figure to get paid. And if Stafford returns for an 18th season, after his MVP-caliber performance, he no doubt will demand a raise.
But first the Rams should lock up the team that built this team: McVay and Snead.
Post-Game recap: No late miracles for the Rams this time (Jim Alexander, LA Daily News)
Well, the Rams did have one small triumph Sunday evening.
Lumen Field can seem like a cauldron of noise when Seahawks fans get going – primarily when the opposition has the ball – and these ominous notes showed up on one of the auxiliary scoreboards: Seattle’s fans have been responsible for 302 false start penalties, and the single-game record is 11.
The Rams didn’t jump, or twitch, or flinch once at the line of scrimmage Sunday. That and five bucks or so will get you one of this city’s most famous products – and yes, they serve Starbucks in the press box here.
But it’s not going to win the Rams a championship this year.
[…]
There was a Darnold the Rams haven’t seen much of in their last few meetings: No interceptions, one sack. In the two regular season meetings with the Seahawks this year, he’d thrown six picks, and he was sacked four times in Seattle’s 38-37 overtime victory in December. A year ago, in the Rams’ playoff victory over Minnesota, Darnold was intercepted once and sacked nine times.
But it wouldn’t be unfair to say that these were the two best teams in the NFC, and not just the last two standing. Maybe – maybe – even the two best teams in the league, as the top finishers in the NFL’s toughest division.
That’s not much comfort now for the Rams.
Post-Game Video: This one is gonna sting for awhile (Rams Radar w/Payo Time)
Enemy Preaction: New England Patriots
One more win. That’s all that is left for the 2025 Seattle Seahawks to achieve football immortality. They have gone through the NFC West gauntlet and come out the other side as winners. Fittingly, their path to winning their second Lombardi Trophy involves beating the same franchise they agonizingly lost to at another NFC West stadium. It’s Seahawks vs. Patriots on Feb. 8 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.
What a season. What a journey. What a team. And the job isn’t done yet.
Thanks for reading and go’ Hawks!
