Takeaways from Seattle Seahawks 38-37 OT win over Rams

SEATTLE - The Seattle Seahawks lead the NFC West race thanks to one of the wildest games Lumen Field has ever seen.

It might not quite reach the same level of insanity as the NFC Championship win over the Green Bay Packers in 2015, but it had many of the same wild moments that resulted in stealing a win from the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday night.

"Holy smokes, What a great football game," head coach Mike Macdonald said.

The Seahawks rallied from a 16-point fourth quarter deficit – the largest comeback in team history – to force overtime. After allowing Puka Nacua to score the go-ahead touchdown in overtime, Seattle then answered with a touchdown of their own to Jaxon Smith-Njigba with 3:13 left to play. Macdonald then went for the win and the chance to seize control of the division, going for the game-winning two-point conversion.

A successful conversion from Sam Darnold to Eric Saubert clinched the victory for Seattle, becoming the first team in NFL history to win a game with a two-point conversion in overtime.

"No one gave up and we never think we’re going to lose the game," running back Ken Walker III said. "We’re going to keep fighting all four quarters, overtime, however long it takes."

The Seahawks needed so many things to go right to dig out of the 16-point deficit. A punt return touchdown, an ‘incomplete pass’ that becomes a successful two-point conversion, a missed field goal by the Rams, etc. If any one of those things doesn't go in Seattle's favor, it's likely a different result.

Instead, the Seahawks are atop the standings in the NFC and control the path to home-field advantage as the No. 1-seed in the postseason with two weeks left in the regular season.

Here are the takeaways from a wild night in Seattle:

Sam Darnold makes it happen in a big game.

Fairly or not, questions surrounding Sam Darnold's ability to get a team a win in a big game have lingered. After two bad showings in losses to the Rams and Detroit Lions last year in Minnesota late in the season, to throwing four interceptions in the loss to the Rams last month, Darnold still needed to show he could deliver a big victory.

Box checked.

Darnold rebounded from two interceptions in the second half to lead a game-tying drive in regulation, and a game-winning drive in overtime. Darnold completed all six passes he threw in overtime, including a critical 21-yard strike to Cooper Kupp to move into the Rams' red zone that was among his best of the night.

A 4-yard strike to Smith-Njigba on the back of the end zone gave Seattle the chance to go for the win, and the two-point conversion to Saubert came on the fourth read of his progression for the game-winning exclamation point.

"I've had games like this in the past where I haven't played necessarily my best football and turned the ball over, but at the end of the game you see yourself on the other side," Darnold said. "It's not great when you have interceptions and turnovers. You want to limit that. But all you can do is fight back. For us, I was just going to continue to plug away, get the ball to open receivers, and go through my reads."

Darnold threw for 270 yards on 22-of-34 passing with two touchdowns and two interceptions in the victory.

"His steadiness, his leadership, all these things that you want a quarterback," Kupp said. "You’ve got to have a guy step in the huddle, that's going to lead you the right way, regardless of what's put on him and whatever adversities come his way. His ability to overcome it, to go through it, and still be the same Sam Darnold that we need him to be, it's very impressive and he's done an unbelievable job of it."

The two interceptions weren't even of the colossal mistake variety. They were both really sharp plays from the Rams defense.

One of the primary reasons why football teams use pre-snap motion is to help diagnose what type of defense an opponent is running. When a defender follows a receiver across the formation with the motion, it's a pretty strong indicator that the defense you're seeing is man-to-man coverage.

Josh Wallace did just that for the Rams, motioning across the defensive formation with Kupp, who lined up in the slot to Darnold's left. As such, Darnold seemed to believe that Wallace would cover Kupp on the matching slant routes Seattle had called to the left side of the field. But instead of getting man-to-man, Wallace dropped off of Kupp to jump underneath the throw intended for Rashid Shaheed on the outside. 

"He made a really good play," Darnold said.

The second interception was another instance where a defender wasn't where Darnold expected him to be. Defensive lineman Kobie Turner dropped into coverage on a zone blitz that saw him in the throwing lane to Smith-Njigba as a rusher came free at Darnold. Just another superb play by the Rams defense.

"A lot of guys would get down on themselves and give up, lay down. That’s not what we do, that’s not who he is and that goes around to the whole team. I’m excited to have a leader in Sam," Smith-Njigba said.

Rashid Shaheed punt return TD kick-starts comeback.

It took a little while to get going, but the trade for Rashid Shaheed ahead of the deadline is paying off tremendously for the Seahawks.

Seattle looked dead in the water before Shaheed returned a punt for a 58-yard touchdown with 8:03 left to play. The return injected life into the stadium, which had wilted after Puka Nacua's 1-yard touchdown pushed the L.A. lead to 30-14.

"It gave us life," safety Julian Love said. "We felt like for this game, our special teams was a weapon. We have a really good unit. When we got Rashid this year, it gave us a whole new sense of focus and energy on special teams, just knowing that he can return a kick at any moment.

"Our special teams unit has just been a massive catalyst for us," Macdonald said. "You know, even when Tory (Horton) was returning punts he was doing a great job. Having Rashid do it, being decisive, getting downhill, punt return team blocking their tails off, yeah, you're right. That was definitely kind of ignited part of the comeback for sure."

Shaheed became just the fourth player in franchise history to record a kickoff return touchdown and punt return touchdown in the same season. Shaheed joins Tyler Lockett (2015), Nate Burleson (2007) and Charlie Rogers (1999) as the only other Seahawks with both in the same year.

Seattle could also win the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week award for a third consecutive week. Shaheed's kick return touchdown against Atlanta two weeks ago earned him the award, then Jason Myers' six field goals last week against Indianapolis gave him the nod last week. Will there be a bigger special teams play this weekend than Shaheed's touchdown? It's a big ask.

Mike Macdonald on the two-point conversion for the win.

Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald elected to go for the win and the division lead instead of merely kicking the extra point to tie the game with just over three minutes left in overtime.

Macdonald said the playoff outlook absolutely factored into the decision-making, knowing that they would cede the tiebreaker in the division to the Rams with only a tie, though that would have been enough to clinch a playoff spot.

"It was something we had talked about really throughout the season and then really particularly for this game because of the playoff situation," Macdonald said. "You know, do you play for the tie and lock up a playoff seed. I just felt great about our play and I trusted our guys. To Klint (Kubiak)'s credit, he was really confident and then the players ultimately make it happen. Once we got that drive going it was pretty clear what we were going to do."

Seattle very easily could have never possessed the ball again in overtime if they'd kicked the extra point to keep the game going. In that scenario, the Rams either win it themselves on their next drive, or make the tie and clinch the head-to-head tiebreaker between the two teams anyway, due to Los Angeles winning the first meeting last month.

Macdonald played for the win and it paid off.

Defense bends, but delivers key stops in fourth quarter.

Matthew Stafford is an incredible quarter and Puka Nacua is one of the best receivers in the NFL. Even Seattle's standout defense was unable to do much to slow them down through the first three quarters on Thursday night.

The Rams took a 30-14 lead early in the fourth quarter and had scored on six straight drives, excluded the final three snaps of the first half, with three touchdowns and three field goals apiece. Seattle had managed just one quarterback hit on Stafford in the first three quarters as he worked the Seahawks' defense left and right.

"They had a great game plan," Macdonald said. "They're elite coaches over there. They do a great job and execute at a high level and got great players. We got to play better and got to game plan better, call it better. I wasn't good enough on the defensive front."

But that changed in the fourth quarter.

The Rams finally punted for the first time with 8:18 left to play, and it resulted in Shaheed's touchdwon to cut the lead to eight. It sparked a streak of three consecutive three-and-out drives for the Rams offense, which bought time for Seattle's offense to find the tying score.

"Kind of the whole fourth quarter, we were dialed in," Love said. "A few three-and-outs were crucial and our offense got a shorter fields back. There is a lot to correct on defense so we don’t want to give up as many yards as we did or as many points as we did."

Seattle needed a little help from Harrison Mevis missing a 48-yard field goal as well, but the unit finished regulation by forcing four punts in the final five drives.

"It's hard to rush the passer on second-and-one," Macdonald said. "We had a lot of second and ones and they were running it and they were running it effectively, and we were trying to figure out solutions. The second half we figured out some solutions. I thought our coaches did a great job of finding some adjustments. "

Odds-and-ends.

– – Tight end Eric Saubert was the fourth read in the progression for Sam Darnold on the game-winning two-point conversion try. The initial read was to Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Cooper Kupp on the front side of the play, with A.J. Barner over the middle next, and Saubert releasing late after a chip block on defensive end Jared Verse.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba said he's never seen the ball end up with Saubert on that play when they've run it in practice.

"Never seen it," he said. "Never seen him get back to him honestly at practice, but you got to stay ready. And he does. He always does. And it was a great moment for him and the rest of us."

Saubert signed a one-year contract extension with Seattle last week and was thrilled to spend another year with the Seahawks. He followed it up with his bigger contribution yet in a Seahawk uniform.

"He found me late, and I kind of blacked out after that," Saubert said.

– – Puka Nacua caught 12 passes for 225 yards in the game for the Rams. It's the second-most yards ever allowed to a receiver by the Seahawks in a game, and just the fourth time they've allowed a 200-yard game to a receiver.

"Puka is a great player," Macdonald said. "He made some great contested catches that you got it chalk that up to him being a great player and they're going to win some of those and there are some where we got to play tremendously better as well. So it's a combination. Obviously, can't give up 200 yard games to anybody."

Wes Chandler holds the record with 243 yards for the San Diego Chargers against Seattle in 1985. DeAndrew Hopkins had 224 yards with the Houston Texans in 2017, and Markus Wheaton had 201 yards for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2015.

The crazy part about that stat is that the Seahawks won all four of those games anyway.

– – Jaxon Smith-Njigba set the Seahawks team record for receptions in a single season on Thursday night, breaking a tie with himself and Tyler Lockett. With eight catches for 96 yards (and a touchdown), Smith-Njigba now has 104 catches on the season, passing the 100 catches he shared with Lockett as the record.

Smith-Njigba set the record last season, while Lockett set his mark in 2020.

– – The Seahawks are only the fifth team ever to convert three separate two-point conversion attempts in the same game.

However, none are likely as wild as Zach Charbonnet's conversion on an ‘incomplete pass.’

"Incredible. Pick up every loose ball. Just simple," Macdonald said.

Sam Darnold's screen pass to Charbonnet was batted down by defensive end Jared Verse. The loose ball bounced forward to the goal line before Charbonnet picked it up in the end zone. On review, the throw from Darnold was actually a backward pass, which means it was a lateral and a fumble. Despite the whistle blowing, Charbonnet made a clear recovery in the aftermath of the play and it gave the Seahawks a successful conversion try that tied the game at 30-30.

"I'm just glad Charbs picked it up. Obviously that was a game-changing play," Darnold said.

– – Ken Walker III reached 100 yards rushing, becoming just the second 100-yard rusher for the Seahawks this season. Walker had 105 yards in Seattle's Week 2 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Walker finished with 164 yards in total from scrimmage with three catches for 64 yards as well. His 55-yard touchdown run is the longest run of the season by a Seahawks by 24 yards, and the first 50-yard run by a Seattle back since Charbonnet had a 51-yard touchdown last season at Arizona.

"I believe we just executed better," Walker said, "All week we talked about the run game and ways that we can spring it open, so the execution was much better this week."

– – The Rams are the first team since 1975 to lose a game when they produced 400 yards of offense with three takeaways, no turnovers, and no sacks allowed. Teams were 79-0 in game with those factors before Thursday night's loss to the Seahawks.

– – The Seahawks were 0-172 all-time when trailing by at least 15 points in the fourth quarter – including postseason – until Thursday night.

MORE SEAHAWKS NEWS FROM FOX 13 SEATTLE

Seattle Seahawks shock Rams, rally from 16-point fourth quarter deficit for 38-37 OT win

Seattle Seahawks rule out Charles Cross; Jason Myers named Special Teams Player of the Week

Seahawks Notebook: Playoff scenarios, Charles Cross still DNP

Offensive struggles continue for Seattle Seahawks as playoffs loom

Takeaways from Seattle Seahawks 18-16 win over Colts

To get the best local news, weather and sports in Seattle for free, sign up for the daily FOX Seattle Newsletter.

Download the free FOX LOCAL app for mobile in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store for live Seattle news, top stories, weather updates and more local and national news.

Seattle SeahawksSportsNFL