Field Gulls
Did all of that just happen? On the surface, the Seattle Seahawks beating the Los Angeles Rams was far from a crazy thought. Even winning in a shootout, however unlikely, didn’t seem far-fetched. To win a game down 30-14 with under 10 minutes left and then still have to rally from a touchdown deficit in overtime to grab first place in the NFC West (and the NFC as a whole)? To quote former child star Dickie Roberts, that is “nucking futs.”
Winners and Losers time after the Seahawks’ remarkable, improbable, stupendous 38-37 comeback over the Rams to grab control of the division.
Sam Darnold may still be seeing ghosts, but he exorcised some demons
Perhaps the Darnold we saw is the Darnold we should expect. He will gunsling and make some terrible decisions that lead to turnovers. He’ll be panicky in the pocket when coverages are heavily disguised post-snap and the first read is covered. But he’ll also throw lightning strikes to Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the middle of the field, overcome some pressure in his face to make throws on the run, and he just led a signature drive that in itself might have been the biggest moment of his entire NFL career.
Last year, the NFC North and the No. 1 seed could’ve been Minnesota’s and he didn’t show up against the Detroit Lions. We know the story of the prior two starts versus the Rams, including the four-interception game with Seattle. The anger toward Sam was probably at its highest point on that awful interception in the red zone, which looked like the dagger turnover.
But he battled. And battled. And he threw the two-point conversion that put the Seahawks within eight. He threw the touchdown to A.J. Barner to cut the deficit to two. Darnold went 5/6 for 49 yards and a touchdown in overtime, not including the winning throw to Eric Saubert. Are there worries about his high turnover rate and issues in pure dropback situations? Sure. But this was as big a game for him individually as it was for the team, and much like the team, he delivered at the end after an immense struggle through three quarters.
Klint Kubiak also saved his best for last
Getting almost 300 yards after halftime on one of the league’s best defenses is not something I will knock Kubiak for. We saw a successful screen pass to a running back for 46 yards. That, in itself, is a miracle worth putting him in the Winners column. A criticism of this offense was that it’s not built to come from behind; a frontrunner, if you will. Well, they came from behind albeit with a special teams assist, and it allowed Kubiak to call a relaxed overtime script knowing he had all four downs to work with. No, let’s not keep firing offensive coordinators.
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