How the West was won: With the Seahawks’ defense shutting down the Rams in a 20-9 victory
In the same end zone, in the same month, with the same stakes—Russell Wilson to Jacob Hollister clinched the division title this time for the Seahawks.
But their back-from-the-dead defense won the West.
Bobby Wagner, K.J. Wright, Jamal Adams and their unit that for the first two months of the season was the worst in NFL history in yardage allowed was in no mood to surrender anything Sunday. They allowed the Rams, their conquerors five of the six previous times they’d faced them, just three field goals.
Wright continued perhaps his best of 10 Seahawks seasons by combining with rookie first-round pick Jordyn Brooks on two of Seattle’s four stops of Los Angeles’ runs inside the 2-yard line late in the third quarter. Jarran Reed had two sacks. The defense shut down L.A. by allowing a season-low in points.
Wilson’s touchdown pass to Hollister with 2:56 remaining, in the same north end zone where they were denied inches from the goal line by San Francisco to end last regular season, is how the Seahawks beat the Rams 20-9 on Sunday at empty yet alive Lumen Field.
“Little bit of poetry right there,” coach Pete Carroll said.
“At the right moment, we did right.”
All right.
Seattle (11-4) allowed the Rams (9-6) just 334 yards. It was the fifth-fewest the defense has surrendered this season. All five have come since late November.
“For everybody out there, they’ve got to start putting respect on this defense now,” All-Pro safety Jamal Adams said, “because this defense is playing lights out.
“And to me, we’re the best defense in the league. And you can quote that. You can do whatever you want with that.”
Wilson completed 20 of 32 passes for 225 yards, setting the Seahawks record for completions in a season.
And the Seahawks won the West and will have a home playoff game in two weeks for the first time since 2016.
“This is big,” running back Chris Carson (69 yards on 16 carries) said.
“This is the goal.”
Pride was all over Carroll’s face after the game. The only NFL team without a positive case for COVID-19 this pandemic season is now a division champion. Seattle will be home to begin a playoff cycle like no other in two weeks, after a regular-season finale against San Francisco in Glendale, Arizona, next Sunday.
“I’m really proud of what we’ve accomplished just by getting to this division championship right now. Just through all of the challenges that we face and all of the, you know, the things on the outside that we’re all dealing with and all of that,” Carroll said. “This group just continues to hold focus and really find their best through the process.
“Really, really fired up about it. We’ve been proud of it.”
The offense that failed on six of its first nine tries on third downs while Wilson got sacked five more times by the swarming Rams clicked when it had to: on third downs late.
And in the way Carroll wants: running the ball, with Carson back in the role he’s had for much of his four, injury-shortened seasons.
As a closer.
“This is what we want to do every week,” Carson said. “We want to run the ball.”
But it’s the stunning turnaround of the defense that is now pressuring quarterbacks, covering receivers and forcing turnovers. That’s what makes Seattle far more worthy of Super Bowl contention and consideration than it was at midseason.
Early last month, in a track-meet loss at Buffalo, the Seahawks got ransacked. They allowed 44 points, the most since Carroll arrived to coach them in 2012.
Buffalo seems like a lifetime ago now.
“There was times during the season everybody had enough statistics to go in and blow us out (saying) we weren’t worth anything on defense,” Carroll said, rightly.
“This defense is good. And they’ve shown it. They’ve declared it.
“This is the kind of defense that we played in years past when we were really a good team down the stretch.”
Goal-line stand
On a day they left former All-Pro run stuffer Damon “Snacks” Harrison inactive and reportedly were about to grant his request for release, the Seahawks stuffed the Rams at the goal line four times without him.
Lead Rams back Cam Akers was already out. His backup, Darnell Henderson, hurt his ankle when Seattle All-Pro safety Jamal Adams raced across the play to drag Henderson down at the 2 as he ran for a first down late in the third quarter.
“The mentality is: give us a blade of grass and we’ll defend it. ...
“We were in full-on attack mode.”
Malcolm Brown entered for Henderson. Brown got stopped on first down by rookie first-round pick Jordyn Brooks, then on second and goal by Adams and Bryan Mone, activated from injured reserve to replace Harrison.
On third and goal, Jared Goff tried a quarterback sneak. Brooks and fellow linebacker K.J. Wright blitzed directly into him. Goff lost the ball, but there was no clear recovery in the pile of bodies after officials on the field ruled a Rams fourth down.
Next, Wright, the longest-tenured Seahawk, continued one of his best NFL seasons. He blew up L.A.’s attempt to have third-choice back Brown run off right tackle. Brooks cleaned up the logjam Wright created in the hole and got the tackle on Brown.
It was the quietest fourth-down stop in Seahawks history. One could hear the defenders celebrating all the way into the press box, two levels and a couple hundred yards away.
“First down at the 2. And the guys would not let it happen,” Carroll said.
The 69-year-old coach called the goal-line stand “a famous one, one I will never forget.”
The Seahawks went three and out while the Rams sacked Wilson for the fifth time. Seattle’s Michael Dickson punted from his own end zone. The Seahawks had a golden chance when Cody Barton forced a fumble on the Rams’ punt return, but L.A. recovered under a mass of bodies at the Seattle 43-yard line. The Rams turned that great field position into Matt Gay’s third field goal.
Seattle’s lead was down to 13-9.
But then Wright broke up another pass and rookie Alton Robinson notched his second late-game sack in as many games. Reed got his second sack in the second half. Reed, the defensive tackle who got a two-year, $23 million contract before this season, is earning much of it in the last month. He has 3 1/2 of his 6 1/2 sacks this season in the last four weeks.
The Seahawks have allowed 21, 17, 17, three, 15 and now nine points in their last six games. Their five best defensive performances in yards allowed have come in that span: the Jets (185 yards), the Eagles (250), the Giants (290), Arizona (314) and Sunday’s shutdown of the Rams (334).
Seattle allowed at least 449 yards in five of its first six games of this season.
“People had all the numbers to present like we weren’t worth anything on defense,” Carroll said.
“This defense is good. And we showed it.”
Goff’s gifts
Goff appeared to be playing with an injured thumb he kept shaking.
He made two mistakes that gave Seattle its last two drive stops of the first half, and allowed the Seahawks to take their first lead early in the third quarter.
The Rams were driving for at least a 9-3 lead, with a first down on the Seattle 29-yard line with 4 minutes left in the half. Then Goff ran away from pressure to his right. He appeared to be running out of bounds, knowing he had at least two more plays and a likely field goal in hand. Instead, he flicked the ball 20 yards toward the middle of the field. The ball went nowhere near supposedly intended receiver Robert Woods, or any other Rams player. Seattle’s Quandre Diggs ran over and snagged the pass before it hit the empty turf for a gift interception. The Seahawks’ Pro Bowl safety returned it 25 yards.
What was Goff thinking?
“I couldn’t tell you,” Diggs said.
Wilson unwrapped Goff’s gift on the resulting drive. A third-down toss to Metcalf led to Jason Myers’ 33rd consecutive made field goal, extending his team record and forcing a 6-6 tie.
Wilson set a Seahawks record of his own in the first half with his 354th completed pass this season.
Then on the first drive after halftime the Seahawks offense did what it did not in the first two quarters: convert on third downs. They were 3 for 9 before David Moore made a brilliant, leaping catch down the right sideline with L.A.’s Darious Williams tightly covering him. That 45-yard gain set up Wilson’s scramble and improvisational, flip toss to safety-valve receiver Carlos Hyde on third down for 18 yards to the Rams 4-yard line.
From there Wilson ran left looking to pass but instead poked his way to the pylon for a 4-yard touchdown. Seattle had its first lead, 13-6.
Freeing Metcalf
As they did last month in their win in Inglewood, the Rams had Jalen Ramsey shadow DK Metcalf in coverage for much of the game. The All-Pro cornerback is best and happiest covering outside, denying catches near the sideline and outside the hash marks.
Wilson’s first target of Metcalf came 14 1/2 minutes into the game. He converted a first down to Metcalf on third and 6 late in the half, setting up Jason Myers’ 49-yard field goal that tied the game at 6. Seattle play caller Brian Schottenheimer had Metcalf in motion before that snap and stopped him in the left slot. Ramsey stayed outside, where he prefers. Metcalf found open space down the middle on a curl route against more zone coverage, away from his shadow.
That appeared to be the best way for the Seahawks to get passes to Metcalf. By halftime, the NFL’s leader in yards receiving much of this season had six targets and four catches for 40 yards, about half his average per reception. Wilson tried for a touchdown on a go route outside right to Metcalf against Ramsey early in the second quarter. By the time Metcalf got open deep, Wilson was being pressured by the Rams’ front again.
L.A. sacked Wilson three times and hit him four other times on his 22 drop backs in the first half.
The Rams had six sacks and 12 hits on Wilson in their home win last month.
But when the division title was in the balance again, for the second time, and in Christmas time, Wilson, Hollister and the Seahawks had the “Mamba mentality” to win in the clutch.
That’s why Wilson was wearing a black, Kobe Bryant Lakers jersey before and after the game.
The Super Bowl-winning, $140 million quarterback has tallied many personal and team accomplishments in nine seasons, but Wilson says this NFC West title has a special meaning.
Wilson says Seahawks players and families have been challenged like never before by COVID-19 and by protests over ongoing racial injustice in our country in 2020.
“It’s taken a lot of sacrifice,” Wilson said.
“But there’s still more to do.”
This story was originally published December 27, 2020 at 2:44 PM.
