Where do you even start?
At the end? Sure, but you can’t tell this happy ending without the dark-magic two-point conversions.
With a fourth-quarter comeback straight out of the Improbability Drive? Maybe. But you can’t tell the story of how the Seattle Seahawks defeated the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday Night Football in Week 16 and totally leave out everything they did to lose it in the first three and a half quarters.
From the perspective of the game-winning drive? Maybe.
When a game has everything, you can’t retell this victory without the role players, the redemption stories, the bounces that were and weren’t, the hot-and-cold defense counterbalancing their hot-and-cold teammate at QB. Can’t forget the feeling of death, then hope’s resurrection. Or the missed field goal that left one final door ajar.
You can’t leave out the special teams touchdown! That was the first real ray of hope.
Even though it’s impossible to recapture every twist of fate, if you left anything out, it would do a disservice to the greatest regular-season game in Seattle since…? Since? Help me out here. Because sure feels like “since ever.” How many times will we ever witness the Seahawks:
- set a franchise record for largest fourth-quarter comeback
- to clinch a playoff spot and take over first place in the division and the conference all at once
- by defeating their archrival
- in prime time
- on a single winner-take-all play
- at the end of overtime.
You could live multiple lifetimes and not have the stars align as neatly again. So much history was made in this game, so very much that you’re better off finding it elsewhere on the website. Tyler wrote about two-pointers, Mookie wrote about the comeback and the final play’s uniqueness. There were hundreds of individual stories intersecting at different speeds on the field. Thousands of battles were won, lost or fought to a draw, weaving amongst each other to shape an exquisite tale equal parts coherent and chaotic. In short, almost everything that can happen, did. A victor was crowned because some of the everythings took precedence over their brethren.
The story of Seahawks 38, Rams 37 found its fulcrum in the center of a seesaw manned by a devastating giveaway and a resuscitating punt return. Of course it did! Because until Rashid Shaheed took matters into his own hands, yelled “CLEAR!” and applied the paddles humming with defibrillating energy, this game looked deceased. Sam Darnold had just thrown a goal-line interception. The Rams had scored 30 practically unanswered (Kenneth Walker begs to differ, and that studly gentleman can check back in later) to turn a 7-0 Seahawks lead upside down, all the way into a 30-14 stinker of a blowout. Pardon me, potential blowout.
Like Ernest Jones captured with an earnest eloquence, somewhere in that messy fourth quarter, “over” lost its meaning. The Seahawks defense bucked up with two run stops and a good piece of coverage by Josh Jobe on Puka Nacua. And for the first time of the day, LA sent out the punter. They had to. They regretted it immediately. Like they say, the call was coming from inside the house. To the house.
Shaheed gets blocks, yes, but also swooshes past tacklers and avoids setting a cleat out of bounds with a feat of equilibrium. Now it’s 30-20, and theoretically a one-score game if the two-pointer succeeds. (Cooper Kupp hangs on and it does.) Meaningfully, Shaheed repairs Darnold’s brain fart because only 1:36 elapse between the turnover and the touchdown.
Only two things mattered deeply before Shaheed’s special salve. A) the Rams kept shooting themselves in the foot in the red zone with point-reducing penalties, and B) Kenneth Walker was a boss. He single-handedly kept the Seahawks afloat with two plays. One was his 44-yard screen pass on the opening drive; the other gave Seattle a short-lived lead right after half.
But back to our decisive quarter. LA had built their lead with scoring drives of 11 and 12 plays early on, and capitalized on a different but equally yikesy Darnold interception, which Josh Wallace returned to the one yard-line. (Blake Corum scored on the next play.) But a funny thing happened on the way to/out of Lumen with a victory. As the final whistle neared, the Rams’ long drives shriveled like George Constanza after a swim. What were 11- and 12-play possessions that ate up yards in chunks and ended in points became shorter, punier, barely visible at all. And more importantly, pointless.
What changed? Seattle’s defense finally started applying pressure to Stafford and forced three consecutive three-and-outs. The offense responded with the efficiency, weirdness and even a callback to peak Cheathawks/Mariners chaosball. Their two-play scoring drive of Shaheed end-around + Barner head-fake sent the game into a 30-28 state where a tied game stood one conversion away.
Tasked with getting the ball out fast to the outside on the two-point try, Darnold pivoted, threw sideways toward Charbonnet. It never reached him, because it found a Ram helmet, as so many of Sam’s offerings do. Harmless it fell to the turf, rolling with nary an participant interested. Straddling the goal line, Charbonnet picked the ball up because it was there and handed it to the referee. A peeved Darnold scooted to the sideline. The broadcast went to commercial.
Yet upon further review, the ball was deemed to have traveled backwards from Darnold’s release. It’s the right call. The overhead view is pretty damn conclusive.
Charbs’ good deed meant points, which meant thirty apiece. And this with still six minutes left to play? Scarcely has anything not named Donkey Kong ever been more on.
Remember the three-and outs? The Rams had another in them. A run stop from DeMarcus Lawrence and Jarran Reed, a Colby Parkinson double-agent drop, and a completion short of the sticks brought up LA’s third punt in the last three minutes and fifteen seconds of game time. Yes, three punts in three minutes. Which is kind of bonkers because the Rams had already accumulated 400 total yards.
Surely these offenses, second and fifth in scoring coming in, would break the tie before overtime? Maybe if the Seahawks hadn’t punted right back. Maybe if Harrison Mevis hadn’t chosen that moment to miss his first field goal OF THE SEASON after eight straight makes. With a assist from Kirk Herbstreit and Al Michaels, who mentioned his perfect start enough times to activate the well-known broadcast jinx:
Two minutes left, and Seattle found itself a couple first downs away from sending Jason Myers out for the game-winner. Nothing simpler, right? Did it six times against the Colts, including once with half this much time on the clock. Well, no, that would’ve been too easy. If there’s anything this season has taught us, it’s that the Seahawks may now win the easy way but have not forgotten the old tradition of making victories as painful as possible. So instead, Seattle’s offense stalled with a handoff, a sack where Darnold never had a chance, and a pass tipped at the line.
The Rams got as far as midfield, where a Stafford overthrow ended their final chance in regulation. They pinned the Seahawks deep, and sans timeouts, Mike Macdonald let the clock run out after another sack, Darnold’s fourth.
It would be his last. The next time he’d touch the ball, he’d be transformed, a different person practically. And such is the Sam Darnold Experience, as this column explained last week. You take the good with the bad, because for as bad as the bad is, the good can be even gooder.
What do you want to hear about the Rams in overtime? Nacua continued to feast on a secondary that couldn’t handle him, and his 225th receiving yard came crossing the goal line for what looked like the game-winning score. 37-30 bad guys and now your work is cut out for you, score six or else.
Play 2: Darnold to JSN for 17
Play 4: DPI on JSN, first down
Play 6: the Kupp toe-tapper
Play 8: Barner to the sideline inside the 10
Play 10: JSN, back of end zone, game tied pending the extra point.
We’ve seen better QBs than Sam fail in this situation against worse defenses. We see it literally every week in a league where every player is a current superstar or was one at a lower level. The Seahawks faced third down only once, in the red zone, and looked as sharp as they have all year. Their ceiling is the ozone layer.
Dueling timeouts by each team preceded the final call, which was an empty-set dropback for the guy who got you this far in overtime. Eric Saubert chipped Jared Verse for his left tackle, backup Josh Jones, then released into the middle of the field. No defender paid Saubert any attention. Why should they, with Smith-Njigba, Barner, and Walker out there?
Narrator: maybe they should’ve paid attention.
Saubert caught the ball. That was important. But you know what? It’s what he did at the start of the play that made everything work. I’m a piano teacher by trade and after the kids have reached a certain level, one of my favorite things to do is let them in on a little trade secret: the little things are actually the big things. Small adjustments to the angle you strike with, different levels of staccato, and bits of subtle dynamic phrasing are what separate good play from great.
Had the Seahawks lost Thursday night, they would’ve still been good. But now they have a chance to be great.
Before Predator and Prey, three statistical highlights have to be mentioned:
- JSN had one target and no catches at halftime. He checked in with 8-96-1 all said and done. The 1? That little thing? Just the overtime touchdown. More like JSHim, amirite?
- Seattle’s run defense allowed 3.2 yards per carry to what many consider the league’s most dynamic rushing duo. Corum and Williams did not register a run longer than nine yards.
- The Rams became the first team in NFL history to lose a game with 500+ yards of offense, three opponent turnovers and no giveaways of their own. Gee, that’s a shame.
PREDATOR
Sean McVay, until 13:34 remained. And some after that, though not nearly enough. McVay was well on his way to making a statement for his team and himself. With less than a quarter remaining, that statement was going to be, We are the Big Dog.
He did not get to say that. But he was gonna, until history intervened.
PREDATOR
Matt Stafford, until the pass rush started to get home. And some after that, though again not nearly enough. He was well on his way to claiming the win for his team and the MVP for himself.
He might still. But it won’t be because he beat the Hawks in Seattle.
PREDATOR
Puka Nacua. It’s true, at season’s end Nacua may well find himself coveting JSN’s Offensive Player of the Year Award. There is no denying, however, how he owned the Seahawks all night, once on a no-look pass and once in overtime. 12-225-2 with 133 yards after catch. He’s so good. At football.
This is one hell of a play to pull off in your rival’s end zone.
PREDATOR
Rashid Shaheed. In addition to, you know, the touchdown that saved his teammates’ asses, he also had a nifty end-around for 31 yards that set up A.J. Barner’s game-tying touchdown and Zach Charbonnet’s heady play. He’s a playmaker on a team that is desperate for someone to take the heat off JSN.
PREDATOR
Crunch time Sam Darnold. It’s objectively hilarious that what’s technically a fumble led to the final two points of the 16-point comeback. He threw the ball backwards, it bounced off three players, and rolled to the right dude in the right place at the right time. If that’s not living right, I don’t know what is.
He missed throws, until they were required. He redeemed 2.9 games of waking nightmares against a team he had to and has to defeat. After the pick he threw right at Kobie Turner Darnold was perfect on the play to Barner, turnover-free on the sacks he took late in the fourth (this is not faint praise!) and then 5-for-6 on the final drive. Excuse me, 6-for-7 once you count the final two-point conversion. Which we count.
The Seahawks can win all the playoff games with Crunch Time Sam.
PREDATOR
Kenneth Walker. What a showing. He single-handedly kept the Seahawks in the game until others chimed in. 164 total yards on 14 touches for K9 in the biggest game of the year. Nearly 12 yards per attempt, be it through the air or on the ground.
You cannot take away his two best plays. But even if you broke the law and did, he’d still have racked up 63 yards on 12 touches, so still above 5 yards a tote. Good news: those explosives you deleted still happened. He was insanely good and a main reason the Seahawks won.
It didn’t matter very much on the scoreboard, but Walker also made the tackle at the 1 that prevented Josh Wallace from scoring on his pick. I bet his teammates think it mattered. And converted this 3rd and 16!
PREDATOR
Zach Charbonnet. Scored eight points. Without them, especially the last two, who knows?
PREDATOR
Everyone involved in the Seattle run attack, from offensive linemen to ball carriers to coaches. Excluding sneaks and scrambles, the Seahawks ran the ball 21 times for 163 yards (7.8 ypc) and two touchdowns.
Is that good? The only thing wrong with it is how seldom it was deployed compared to the 38 dropbacks.
PREDATOR
Eric Saubert signed an extension on Saturday and hung on to the game-winning, history-making, Rams-infuriating, Twelve-electrifying, potentially division-winning score. Nothing else matters. All these words I don’t just say. Nothing else matters.
PREDATOR
Remember the old joke about Earl Thomas? “70 percent of the earth is covered by water. ET covers the rest.” This is how I’m feeling about Devon Witherspoon, who has a habit of darting in from off-screen like a horror villain, and only getting beat by perfectly placed balls to star receivers. Every game now.
PREDATOR
A.J. Barner, for this move and this move only. (Okay, also hello to his three other catches and successful Barnyard.)
PREDATOR AFTER BEING PREY
When Cooper Kupp fumbled to short-circuit an early drive, it felt like maybe it wasn’t the Seahawks’ Thursday. So he made up for it in overtime. Considering the setting and technique, this is a team catch of the year candidate.
PREDATOR THEN PREY
Finally, in the fourth quarter, the undermanned Rams offensive line started to leak. Through three quarters they’d allowed just one QB hit; by game’s end it was four and a half-dozen hurries that led directly to incompletions or overthrows. Maybe I’ll update the post with pressure stats but until then, the eye does not lie: it was night and day for the defensive line, who repeatedly got in Stafford’s face in the fourth quarter and overtime.
If you want more Preys, that’s up to you. This was a legendary bout between the sport’s two biggest heavyweights. It was seemingly won over and over again by spectacular plays from athletes at the top of their game, giving their all with superhero bodies and a hundred times the mental fortitude any of us in this space will possess. Half the players lost on Thursday, but everyone left with pride.
I can’t wait for the rubber match. Hold up. Run the tape back. No, that’s a lie, let’s give it a month. If the Rams and Hawks are to go at it again, let us go with them. After some rest though, gosh.
