The most brutal stretch of the NFC Championship Game took only 14 seconds on the game clock.
Late in the fourth quarter, we all witnessed the most gut-wrenching, head-drooping, heart-stopping, two-play sequence of the 2025 NFL season.
A beautiful pass breakup that resulted in a 4th-and-12 turned into a first down and an immediate 34-yard TD pass to Puka Nacua to put the Los Angeles Rams within 4.
The crime was the latest taunting penalty by Riq Woolen. An unbelievable moment. Especially considering
this really has been a while since Woolen ‘cost’ the team a game, it felt like it might actually be headed in that direction.
Fortunately, the Seattle Seahawks were the better team over the next three drives, and prevailed. But your blood pressure is probably still recovering.
After the game, Woolen apologized, and fans have largely been in his camp.
The responses are predominately supportive, bolstered no doubt by the endorphins of an upcoming Super Bowl. Macdonald was overwhelmingly supportive of his cornerback as well, saying Woolen has been “playing tremendous” but that he “made an emotional decision.” Macdonald went on to talk about rebounding from mistakes, and that Woolen played well the rest of the game.
It’s a dark day when the NFL officials are being instructed by the league to throw that flag, for no better reason cited than effectively ‘not stopping.’
It was a horrible sequence, it was unbelievable in the moment that Woolen was flagged right then, but man do I hate this emphasis by the league. I’ve experienced firsthand the vitriol by Seattle fans when defending Woolen on this site, but I find myself forced to do it again.
Without using a banned gesture, aggressive behavior towards an individual player, or saying something expressly prohibited, this is a useless, dumb, and unenjoyable penalty called at the singular worst moment of the singularly most important game of these teams’ season.
Woolen did play a great game otherwise, and has offered his regrets. You decide what you will do with that.
