SEATTLE — In a matter of minutes, the house of the Seattle Seahawks went from a painfully quiet Lumen “Library” to a rollicking madhouse that despatched seismologists scrambling for his or her ground-motion sensors.
Name it the Sheesh-Quake Sport.
In a historic comeback, the Seahawks dug their means out of a 16-point, fourth-quarter ditch to beat the Rams in time beyond regulation, 38-37.
Oh, the guests will agonize over a number of the weird calls, some deserving of additional rationalization from the NFL. An ineligible-man-downfield name that worn out a Rams landing after they had been a yard away from the tip zone? That had folks scratching their heads. Then there was that do-or-die two-point conversion that seemingly fell incomplete… however later was reversed. Extra on that in a second.
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Gary Klein breaks down what went unsuitable for the Rams of their 38-37 loss to the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Area on Thursday evening.
When the Rams wincingly rewind the video of the collapse, they’ll be peering by way of the cracks of their fingers.
You’ve heard of a no-look go? This was a no-look end.
As soothing wins go, this was a heat bubble tub for the Seahawks, who secured a playoff berth and assumed the motive force’s seat within the race for the NFC’s No. 1 seed.
“You hear folks late within the yr have losses, and also you hear folks come up right here and say, like, ‘Man, that is going to be an excellent factor for us,’” mentioned Seahawks receiver Cooper Kupp, a onetime Rams hero. “It’s a lot better to be up right here proper now saying that is going to be an excellent factor for us.”
Kupp atoned for his first-half fumble with a profitable two-point conversion within the fourth quarter — the primary of three in a row for the Seahawks — and a 21-yard reception on the successful drive in time beyond regulation.
“Should you discover a approach to get a win once you do flip the ball over thrice, you do find yourself down 16 factors, or no matter it was, within the fourth quarter, simply discovering methods to win video games when the chances are in opposition to you and issues aren’t going proper — discovering a approach to combat again — it’s going to be an excellent factor for us,” Kupp mentioned. “ factor for us to attract on.”
The Rams are sifting by way of the particles of a unique lesson. It was a reminder that this charmed season, with Matthew Stafford in line to win his first Most Invaluable Participant honor, can come crashing down at any second. There’s no extra clean glide path to Santa Clara for the Tremendous Bowl.
Pretty much as good because it was for many of the recreation, choosing off Sam Darnold twice and sacking him 4 instances, the Rams protection failed to carry up when it counted most. Shades of the three-point loss at Carolina.
Darnold could have a narrative to inform. He exorcised a number of demons. The Rams sacked him 9 instances within the playoffs final season when Darnold was enjoying for Minnesota, and intercepted six of his passes in two video games this season.
“It’s not nice when you have got interceptions and turnovers, you need to restrict that,” mentioned Darnold, the previous USC star. “However all you are able to do is combat again. For us, I used to be simply going to proceed to plug away.”
Darnold got here by way of when it counted, finishing 5 passes on the successful drive, then discovering the obscure tight finish Eric Saubert — his fourth possibility — vast open ultimately zone on the triumphant conversion.
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold seems to be to go in opposition to the Rams within the first half Thursday.
(Lindsey Wasson / Related Press)
The second of the three conversions was the sport’s most controversial second. The Seahawks wanted it to forge a 30-30 tie with a bit of greater than six minutes remaining in regulation.
Darnold fired a fast display go to his left, making an attempt to get the ball to Zach Charbonnet. Rams defender Jared Verse jumped the route and knocked down the go. Everybody thought the play was useless, together with Charbonnet, who casually jogged throughout the objective line and picked up the ball because it lay ultimately zone.
That proved vital as a result of officers — after what appeared like an eternity — dominated that Darnold had thrown a backward go and the ball was reside when Charbonnet picked it up. Subsequently, a fumble restoration and profitable conversion, tying the sport.
Requested later if it felt like a backward go, Darnold had a half-smile and mentioned, “Um, yeah. It felt like I threw it form of proper on the facet. I’m glad Charbs picked it up, and that turned out to be a game-changing play.”
Was that designed to be a backward go?
“It simply occurred to be backwards,” he mentioned. “It wasn’t essentially talked about. We had been simply making an attempt to get it in down there on the objective line.”
The Seahawks had been lined as much as kick off when officers introduced that, upon overview, the earlier play was profitable. Instantly, essentially the most unbelievable of come-from-victories was inside attain.
Earlier within the fourth quarter, when the house staff was trailing, 30-14, the Amazon Prime crew needed to do some vamping to maintain viewers engaged. Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit advised some Kurt Warner tales from the “Best Present on Turf” days. Hey, it needed to be extra attention-grabbing than this recreation.
Michaels delivered an obscure stat: When main by 15 factors or extra within the fourth quarter, the Rams had been 323-1.
Knowledgeable of that, Seahawks working again Cam Akers — as soon as proven the door by the Rams — had a wry response.
“Now, they’ve misplaced two,” he mentioned.
Celebration in a single locker room. Silence in one other.
Do you imagine in meltdowns?
