“B.S.”: Riq Woolen’s penalty? Or all the flags Seahawks keep getting? It doomed ‘em in LA
Devon Witherspoon and Riq Woolen were shaking their heads, almost in unison.
The Seahawks’ two young star cornerbacks weren’t talking inside the quiet visiting locker room at SoFi Stadium late Sunday afternoon as much as they were muttering.
Officials called key penalties on Witherspoon for pass interference in the end zone and Woolen for hands to the face of a Rams receiver 40 yards from an incomplete pass. Those fouls extended the Rams’ two drives to the 10 points that rallied Los Angeles to a 17-16 victory over the frustrated Seahawks.
Witherspoon, the fifth pick in this year’s NFL draft, was mostly brilliant again Sunday. He had eight tackles, a sack of Matthew Stafford on a nickel-back blitz, a tackle for loss, a quarterback hit and a pass defensed.
With the Seahawks leading 16-7 with 8 minutes left in the game, the Rams had a third and goal from the 5. They sent wide receiver Puka Nucua across the field and end zone from the left slot to right side. Witherspoon was a step behind him. Nucua then ran into Seahawks safety Quandre Diggs, who was running right to left covering another Rams receiver. The contact appeared to be accidental; Nucua and Diggs did not appear to see one another.
Nucua lost his balance off the contact with Diggs. Witherspoon was now on Nucua’s shoulder. As Stafford’s pass came near him, Nucua fell. Officials flagged Witherspoon for pass interference.
L.A. had a first and goal at the 1. The Rams scored two plays later, a 1-yard touchdown run to make it a 16-14 game. Los Angeles was back in a game Seattle had dominated but not put away.
“Yeah, I didn’t get no explanation. I’m just trying to see what the refs saw,” Witherspoon said after commiserating with Woolen at his locker.
“They can just tell me. That’s all.”
In Witherspoon’s mind, “he hit someone else, not me.”
“I’m just trying to see what did he see that made him throw the flag on that. I didn’t get that explanation, man. We’ve just got to live with it.”
Drew Lock, replacing injured Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith, then threw an interception trying to throw a deep sideline ball to covered Tyler Lockett. The Rams’ ensuing drive was in trouble with a third and 15 at their own 48. Stafford’s pass was incomplete on the right sideline intended for Nucua.
After the pass hit the ground, the official on the opposite sideline, 40-plus yards from the pass, threw his flag. It was for Woolen getting his hands into the face mask of Rams wide receiver Austin Trammell. That 5-yard penalty carries an automatic first down.
With their drive extended, the Rams continued their march eventually to the 22-yard field goal by Lucas Havrisik that was game’s deciding points.
Woolen called the call “B.S.”
Because he didn’t get his hands into Trammell’s face? Or because it didn’t at all affect a play 40 yards away?
“Both,” Woolen said.
“Sucky penalty.”
Woolen had his second interception of the season Sunday.
But his key penalty was the second time this season the 2022 Pro Bowl cornerback as a Seahawks rookie got called for that foul about that far away from an incomplete pass elsewhere. The previous time, in a game last month, coach Pete Carroll said the coaching point was Woolen can’t get his hands that high up on a receiver’s chest-plate of his shoulder pads to even invite the penalty NFL officials are emphasizing this season.
Yes, those were debatable penalties. And Seattle (6-4) had reasons it lost Sunday and fell one game behind San Francisco atop the NFC West entering their showdown with the 49ers (7-3) Thanksgiving night at Lumen Field:
- Aaron Donald smashing into Smith’s throwing elbow and forcing the Seattle’s quarterback from the game in the fourth quarter.
- Lock with next-to-no preparation with the starting offense all week completing just 2 of 6 passes for 3 yards with that interception that sparked L.A.’s game-winning drive.
- The communications systems failing Smith from play caller Shane Waldron when the QB re-entered the game for Seattle’s final, failed drive.
Yet it was the season-high 12 penalties — debatable or not — that Seattle had for 130 yards that doomed the Seahawks. They included multiple ones that extended drives when the Rams would have punted.
The 130 yards in penalties were the most in an NFL game this season. It was Seattle’s most in five years.
Most ridiculous, the Seahawks gave the Rams 69 of L.A.’s 73 yards on its second drive of the game. One flag was against safety Julian Love for 45 yards on pass interference, needlessly pulling down L.A.’s Tutu Atwell when Stafford’s deep pass was errant, well behind the receiver.
Only a pass breakup on fourth and goal by cornerback Tre Brown away from Atwell in the back of the end zone kept the Seahawks ahead 7-0 at the end of that Rams drive that shouldn’t have been.
After it, captain Bobby Wagner called the entire defense around him at the Seahawks’ bench to talk to them.
“We just needed to stop with the penalties,” Wagner said. “That drive specifically, they made their way down the field just because of all the penalties that we were doing.
“Just trying to make sure that everyone knew that we can’t beat ourselves.’
In the entire first half, the Rams had more penalty yards gifted to them by Seattle (96) than total yards of offense (94). That’s why it was a 13-7 game instead of a Seahawks rout.
Coach Pete Carroll said after his 10th loss in 15 games against Sean McVay since the whiz-kid coach took over the Rams in 2017: “I’m really disappointed, because it feels like we did that to ourselves.”
Thing is, this isn’t new. The Seahawks’ 76 penalties this season lead the NFL. They are on pace to surpass the 106 flags their had last season, which was sixth-most in the league.
The Seahawks’ season-long — decade-long, really — issue with penalties doomed them Sunday.
“We made it really hard on ourselves so many times in this game...the penalties that happened we just out of line for us,” Carroll said.
“Today it really blew up on us.”
This story was originally published November 19, 2023 at 8:24 PM.
