One and oh, so done: Russell Wilson, Seahawks totally malfunction in season-ending loss
How bad was it?
Russell Wilson was shaking his head. It was in the third quarter, after another incomplete pass that should have been an interception, after yet another failed third down. Seattle’s quarterback of “Why not us?” and always believe never shakes his head on the field.
Everything should have been in the Seahawks’ favor. Jamal Adams knocked Rams quarterback John Wolford out of his second career start in the first quarter and into the hospital with a neck injury. Los Angeles was forced to do what it didn’t want to: start Jared Goff less than two weeks after he had surgery for a broken thumb. The Seahawks had All-Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald out of the game in the third quarter, with a rib injury.
Yet armed with all those pluses, the Seahawks produced their biggest minus of their season.
And that’s why it’s over.
The Rams’ top-ranked defense ruined Wilson and Seattle’s malfunctioning offense with double-deep pass coverage, shadowing of DK Metcalf with All-Pro Jalen Ramsey and a pass rush that sacked Wilson five times and hit him 10 times.
Wilson’s interception returned by the Rams’ Darious Williams for a touchdown and D.J. Reed’s fumble on a fourth-quarter punt return that set up another L.A. TD were far too much for the Seahawks to overcome in their 30-20 loss and exit from the playoffs in the NFC’s wild-card round at quieter-than-ever Lumen Field.
“I have no place in my brain for this outcome,” coach Pete Carroll said.
He sounded as dejected as he was.
He wasn’t alone. The usually rockin’ stadium in SoDo, empty all season because of COVID-19 virus, was never emptier and quieter than throughout this sullen Seattle Saturday.
The Seahawks’ first home playoff game since January 2017 became their first home playoff loss since Jan. 8, 2005. That was also to the Rams.
Seattle’s 12-win season and NFC West title disintegrated faster than you can say “Wilson is hit again.”
“We just didn’t play our best game,” Wilson said. “It was a tough match-up for us...unfortunate.
“The real unfortunate part is, this is it. ...I hate this feeling.”
Carroll said it feels like the Seahawks “gave away” all the postseason advantages of a division title: at least one home playoff game, higher seeding and better draws than in the five straight losses Seattle had in the divisional playoffs entering this season.
Adams agreed with that assessment of Seattle’s season.
“To me, it’s a failure,” Adams said. “That’s our goal: it’s about getting to the Super Bowl and winning it.”
Wilson went from candidate to be the NFL’s most valuable player this season to completely ineffective by its end. He completed only nine of his first 23 passes Saturday, for 134 yards. That was before a 12-yard touchdown to Metcalf in garbage time.
The way the Seahawks were on offense, it was extremely garbage time.
Seattle’s defense kept rising up and turning back the Rams. L.A. scored just one offensive touchdown through the first three quarters.
Yet Wilson and the Seahawks’ offense were worse than bad.
They were useless.
The Rams mostly kept two safeties deep to keep receivers Metcalf and Tyler Lockett in front of them. Rams All-Pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey shadowed Metcalf all over the field 25 times in Seattle’s first 43 offensive plays.
And it worked. Three times since November, in fact. The Rams sacked Wilson 16 times with 30 hits on him in three games this season.
“It was really tough on him,” Carroll said. “When you get rushed like that, get sacked five times, against that group, it’s really tough. ... The pressure was hard, the coverage was good.
“He was up against it all day.”
Metcalf had three catches against Ramsey, the third with 11 minutes left in the game. The Seahawks were 0 for 8 on third down after Wilson’s long ball to Metcalf got batted down expertly by Ramsey with 7 minutes left in the third quarter. Seattle stayed behind 20-13.
The Seahawks talked all week how big it was to finally have their five starting offensive linemen playing together for only the second time since week 4. That O-line was called for six penalties.
The worst was when Seattle lined up to go for it on fourth and 1 early in the fourth quarter while down 23-13. It was after a long injury time out for rookie right guard Damien Lewis. Inexplicably, the Seahawks got out of the huddle with just 5 seconds remaining on the 40-second play clock after the time out. Wilson tried to rush the snap before a delay-of-game penalty. Half the offensive line moved, but center Ethan Pocic did not snap the ball. That false-start penalty made it fourth and 6, and Carroll then decided to punt.
Seattle never got closer than that to coming back.
Carroll said he “got involved” in the play call on that fourth and 1. That contributed to the delay and ultimately confusion that led to the pre-snap penalty and, in essence, the game-ending punt.
Fittingly, the last play of Seattle’s season was a sack, with 1:24 left and the offense is desperate disarray.
Ultimately, Wilson and his team-record 41 touchdown passes this season were no good to the Seahawks while he was on his back so much.
The Seahawks were 2 for 14 on third downs. They didn’t convert one until under 4 minutes left in the third quarter, on a 2-yard run by Carlos Hyde. That drive ended after right tackle Brandon Shell was penalized for being an ineligible receiver down field on a pass and Pocic was called for holding.
The Rams were so dominant on defense that not only did they take away the soaring deep passes to Metcalf and Lockett, they took away intermediate stuff, too. Besides an improvisational touchdown pass to Metcalf, Seattle had just one pass completion of more than 20 yards before garbage time late. That was to Lockett for 24 yards late in the first quarter.
Worse, the Seahawks had just three completed passes in the range of 10-19 yards, among Wilson’s 27 throws.
The third quarter ended with Wilson at 7 for 18 passing for 110 yards, one touchdown pass and one interception. L.A.’s Darious Williams returned that for a touchdown in the first half. Wilson easily could have thrown two interceptions, but the Rams dropped passes twice on the same drive late in the third quarter. After three quarters, Wilson’s passer rating was a pedestrian 52.5. He ended at 72.1.
Seattle had just 194 net yards of offense after three quarters. Their running game had 105 of those yards, behind Chris Carson’s 74 yards on 13 carries.
Yet the Seahawks trailed by just 20-13 entering the fourth quarter.
Then Goff rolled out right and threw perfectly on time to Robert Woods for 20 yards in the middle of Seattle’s zone defense. That set up a 36-yard field goal by Matt Gay, and the Seahawks were in big trouble, down 23-13 with 11:33.
Instead of responding as he has an NFL-leading 35 times with a fourth-quarter or overtime comeback to win since 2012, Wilson went nowhere.
That’s where the Seahawks are going after one round.
“Teams did a really good job taking away things and making us less explosive,” Lockett said.
Seattle’s first 100-catch receiver this regular season had just two against the Rams.
Adams’ knockout blow
Last playoffs it was Jadeveon Clowney knocking out Carson Wentz with a hit to key Seattle’s wild-card playoff win at Philadelphia.
Saturday, Adams sent Wolford out of the Seahawks’ playoff opener.
It didn’t help.
Adams’ hit with his shoulder near Wolford’s neck injured the Rams’ new starter at the end of his quarterback draw during his second drive. Wolford stayed down for multiple minutes, medical staffers attending to him.
Adams knelt in apparent prayer on the field for Wolford. Then the Rams’ quarterback walked, wobbly, straight into Los Angeles’ locker room. He reportedly went to a Seattle hospital for further observation for a neck injury.
“I’m praying for him,” Adams said.
Adams said he talked to Wolford on the quarterback’s way to the locker room. The Seahawks’ safety said Wolford told him “I know you were just playing football and you didn’t mean anything.”
Officials on the play initially flagged Adams for his hit. Then they picked up the marker. Referee John Hussey announced: “He’s a runner, therefore he is not afforded protection.”
Goff entered. He returned to play less than two weeks after he broke his thumb during Seattle’s NFC West-clinching victory over Los Angeles—a game that seems like decades ago right now in Seattle, but was only Dec. 27. Goff had surgery a day after that game.
He completed 9 of 19 passes for 155 yards and a touchdown with a small ring of tape over his repaired thumb on his throwing hand.
Seattle tackle Jarran Reed sacked Goff on the $134 million quarterback’s first snap, the first of two sacks in the game for Reed. That forced the Rams to settle for a field goal and 3-0 lead.
Give away, get back
Wilson’s worst of many bad passes was also the worst block a rookie wide receiver made all season.
Midway through the second quarter Freddie Swain lined up outside left next to Metcalf. Swain’s job: keep the press-cover cornerback, Williams, from getting to Metcalf on a quick bubble-screen pass.
Swain whiffed. Williams could see the play coming from Los Angeles. He broke so decisively on Wilson’s pass it was as if he’d been in Seattle’s huddle. Williams stepped in front of the surprised Metcalf and ran 42 yards the other way for a Rams touchdown and 13-3 lead.
At that point, Wilson was holding onto the ball for long spans, trying to throw late in plays. It wasn’t working. In his first nine drop backs, the Rams had three sacks and four quarterback hits while forcing Wilson to scramble well short of the first down on a third and 7.
But after the Seahawks fell behind 13-3 on Wilson’s interception, holding onto the ball worked for him. He avoided another Rams pass rusher. Metcalf recognized the play had entered improvisational mode. Running a crossing route opposite and away from his shadow, Ramsey, Metcalf broke off his shorter pattern and took off deep. He got behind every Rams defender. Wilson’s lofted pass over all of them to Metcalf became a 51-yard catch and run for a a touchdown that revived Seattle.
It was 13-10.
Yet running back Cam Akers, who missed the Seahawks’ 20-9 home win over the Rams two weeks ago, kept plowing through Seattle’s defensive line that finished fifth in the NFL against the run during the regular season (95.6 yards per game allowed). Akers bettered that average in the first half, with 97 yards on 19 carries.
He finished with 131 yards on 28 runs.
“Cam Akers is a stuff,” Rams coach Sean McVay said.
No Seahawk touched the rookie running back on his easy, 5-yard touchdown run up the middle to end the drive after Seattle had closed to within 13-10.
That’s why it was 20-10 Rams at halftime.
This story was originally published January 9, 2021 at 5:15 PM.
