Backwards logic

Seahawks-Rams final: What. Just. Happened?

This week’s newsletter asking for questions started with a little story: It was a Thursday night game in 2018, under almost the same circumstances at the same time of year, except it was the Chargers and Chiefs. In that game, the underdog Chargers trailed 28-14 late in the fourth quarter but completed an amazing comeback that was finalized on a 2-point conversion by none other than Philip Rivers.

That game sucks compared to this one.

We just watched one of the best wins in the HISTORY of the Seattle Seahawks.

Seahawks 38, Rams 37 (OT)

The Seahawks:

• Clinched a playoff berth

• Are in first place in the NFC West

• Control the NFC’s 1 seed

And it took one of Sam Darnold’s worst games as a Seahawks to get there. Alternatively, it was also his best.

What do YOU have to say about the game? Don’t hesitate to leave your comment and jump back into the rest of the newsletter:

The Seahawks trailed 30-14 when Darnold threw his second interception of the game with under 10 minutes left, but special teams and defense pulled Seattle back into a tie only a few minutes of game time later and thanks to one of the weirdest scoring plays you will ever see:

After Darnold’s first interception, I wrote this comment in the Seaside Joe live chat:

“Darnold has to regroup and realize that he can still re-write his narrative and people won’t care about the pick if the Seahawks win the game.”

I felt good about that comment…until Darnold threw his second interception, inside the 10 yard line…when the Seahawks still trailed by 16 points….in the middle of the fourth quarter.

The Rams had a 97.4% chance to win the game at that moment.

It was at this time that Sean McVay’s game management, which has often been questioned by Rams fans, took another hit. L.A.’s quick three-and-out led to an immediate punt return touchdown by Rashid Shaheed to cut the lead to 10.

Seattle converted the 2-point try to Cooper Kupp (who had his own redeeming to do after a painful fumble) and cut the lead to 8.

Again, McVay ran just 1:01 of clock and let the Seahawks get the ball back down by 8 points, a drive that kicked off with Shaheed’s 31-yard run. The last article I wrote this week featured just one important player to watch: Rashid Shaheed.

Next play, Darnold throws a 26-yard touchdown to A.J. Barner which was a hair away from being a hair too high. Seahawks cut the lead to 2.

Then the play I showed you before happened, as if the Universe would just not allow Seattle to lose this game…at least, not as badly as it looked like they were going to lose five minutes earlier…and the scored was tied.

The excitment of the 1:59 of game clock to cut the lead from 30-14 to 30-30 (yes it was really that quick) turned into gut wrenching anticipation of watching to find out whether this would be an historic win by Seattle (who as the graphics on TV said were 0-172 when trailing by 15+ in the fourth quarter) or a less deflating loss than it appeared it would be after Darnold’s second pick.

Punts, punts, punts, and then a Harrison Mevis missed 48-yard field goal (another moment that was pre-ordained in Wednesday’s newsletter about special teams), and pretty soon we were watching overtime.

And if I could have picked a way for the Seahawks to win knowing that they would win, I would have gone with this option:

Fearing the worst but getting the best.

The Seahawks elected to kick the ball to the Rams, as most teams are now doing in overtime, and allowed yet another long pass to Puka Nacua for a touchdown. Nacua had three plays of 40+ on his own (that’s as many or more than four entire teams have had all season long…Seattle leads the NFL with the most 40+ yard plays) and a touchdown to give the Rams a 37-30 lead.

Maybe McVay should have gone for two before the Seahawks had the chance.

Credit to Nacua, who had 12 catches for 225 yards and 2 touchdowns, but Seattle’s secondary was ravaged by injuries: First Coby Bryant, then Nick Emmanwori, then Riq Woolen. All left the game and didn’t return.

If the Seahawks lose, they suffer all the more. If the Seahawks win however, they know that there are 10 days left until the next game and time to heal and hopefully get some of those players back while in first place.

For fans waiting to find out what Sam Darnold’s defining game as a Seahawk would be — hell, the defining game of his entire career — we got that moment in overtime.

Needing a touchdown but knowing in the back of his mind that he had failed in these situations several times already (Bucs game, 49ers game, Rams game), I wouldn’t have blamed Sam Darnold for being too cautious on Seattle’s last drive. However, he didn’t really have a choice did he? Score a touchdown — and a two-point conversion — or spend another month of people reminding you how last season ended with the Vikings.

• Walker for 4

• Darnold to JSN for 17

• Incomplete

• Pass Interference on Rams

• 21 yards to Kupp

• 2 yards to Charbonnet

• 5 yards to Barner

• Charbonnet for 5

• Darnold to JSN for a 5-yard touchdown

Darnold’s official stat line for overtime: 5-of-6, 55 yards, 1 TD

Now, Seattle couldn’t tie.

A tie didn’t move them up the standings. A tie just let the Rams leave Seattle with the same result as a win.

McVay timeout. Kubiak timeout. Now neither team could call a timeout. And who are you going to go to in that moment? The moment of the season? Who else but Eric Saubert.

28 seems a little old to say that a guy solidified himself as your “quarterback of the future” but that’s what Darnold did tonight. What was once the most questionable game of his Seahawks career has now been the night that Darnold established that he’s totally irreplaceable.

On another note, it could also be the night that Klint Kubiak wrote his ticket out of Seattle.

There was a moment in the first half that I said could be the play that inconspicuously won the Seahawks game IF they won the game. It’s 3rd and 16 near the end of the half and it looks like Seattle’s going to punt again, giving the Rams one more drive to score before halftime. Then Kenneth Walker, who had his best game in three years, took a carry for 17 yards.

That drive most certainly did not help Seattle as much as it should have (Kupp fumbled) but it did guarantee that the Rams wouldn’t score again.

Well, that play is probably a microcosm of the season IF the Seahawks win the Super Bowl.

Did you think of what you wanted to say yet? Say it!

If the Seahawks win the Super Bowl, we can look back at the fourth quarter and overtime of this game as the reason why, assuming that Seattle is able to close out this season with the number one seed. The Seahawks were staring down the barrel of a 30-14 deficit with under 10 minutes left and that would have put them in the 5-seed or 6-seed, if not the 7-seed. Seattle would have been a wild card and had to fight another uphill battle in the playoffs.

Now if the Seahawks win their next two games, it guarantees them a playoff “win” before they even get to the postseason and a home game in round two.

I was prepared to call this one of the best games I’ve ever seen even if Seattle ended up losing. Now I can just proudly call it one of the best games I’ve ever seen and not fear any backlash for it.

Yeah it was not even in “the top-1000 games” for the first three quarters, but sometimes it’s never too late to put your narrative in reverse.

Seaside Joe 2481