The Seattle Seahawks were down 30-14 to the Los Angeles Rams with their home fans booing with fewer than 10 minutes remaining after Sam Darnold threw his second ugly interception that seemingly all but ended their NFC West chances.
Well, those chances look a lot different now.
Seattle came storming back for a dramatic 38-37 overtime victory to improve to 12-3 overall with its fifth straight win. It clinched a playoff spot and now leads the NFC West over the 11-4 Rams and holds the conference’s No. 1 seed with two games remaining.
Meanwhile, Rams star Puka Nacua was not happy about the loss based on his since-deleted tweet:
The Seahawks pulled off the improbable win when Darnold answered Matthew Stafford’s touchdown pass to Nacua in overtime with his own touchdown pass to Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Seattle then went for two, and Darnold found Eric Saubert for the winner.
That came only after the game swung in the Seahawks’ direction in the fourth with a punt-return touchdown from Rashid Shaheed that, along with the ensuing two-point conversion, cut the deficit to eight. From there, Darnold bounced back from his early picks with a touchdown pass to a wide-open AJ Barner and then tied it on one of the wildest two-point conversions in NFL history.
It was initially ruled incomplete when the Rams tipped the pass, but replay determined it was a backward pass and fumble the Seahawks recovered in the end zone to tie it.
It was just part of an incredible game that drew no shortage of reaction from social media:
Los Angeles will surely rue its missed chances in the aftermath, as it turned it over on downs on the opening possession and settled for field goals on two different first-half possessions after driving inside the Seattle 10-yard line.
While a Terrance Ferguson gave the visitors the 13-7 halftime lead, the start of the game was largely defined by missed opportunities from the Rams that looked to be even more of a problem when Kenneth Walker exploded through the line for a 55-yard touchdown to retake the lead for Seattle on the first possession of the second half.
But that lead was short-lived.
Darnold’s first interception and Josh Wallace’s long return set up a Blake Corum touchdown, and his second interception was even worse since it happened inside the Rams’ 10-yard line. Throw in a 58-yard strike from Stafford to Nacua to set up a touchdown connection between the pair of stars, and it seemed like the game was over.
It also looked to be the same old story for Darnold, who threw four interceptions in the first matchup against Los Angeles this season. While he has largely put his early career issues with the New York Jets in the rearview mirror, it was fair to question whether he was limiting the team’s overall ceiling against the league’s best teams.
It turns out, he was just setting the stage for an unbelievable comeback.
