Not sure I believe what I just saw

I’m still not quite sure how the Seahawks won.

They committed three turnovers and forced none. 

They didn’t manage a single sack of Matthew Stafford, who threw for 457 yards.

Seattle gave up four receptions of more than 40 yards, three of them to Rams receiver Puka Nucua whose 41-yard touchdown catch in overtime put the Seahawks up against the wall.

And yet the Seahawks won.

They won because Rashid Shaheed returned a punt for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

They won because Sam Darnold did not curl into the fetal position even after throwing two passes directly to Rams defenders and causing pretty much everyone who even casually follows the NFL to conclude he’s cursed in big games.

The Seahawks won because Zach Charbonnet had the common courtesy to pick up the football after what appeared to be an incomplete pass, but turned out to be a live ball on the second of Seattle’s three two-point conversions.

They won because this is a goofy, strange sport in which occasionally inexplicable things happen, and that is especially when the Seattle Seahawks are involved.

I say that lovingly.

This is a team whose recent history is full of utterly inexplicable occurrences, many of which have occurred in the north end zone of Seattle’s stadium.

On the one hand, you could look at this game and say the Seahawks won because the Rams missed a field goal and the Seahawks scored on the flukiest two-point conversion you’ll ever see.

On the other hand, you can look at the game and point out that Seattle erased three different deficits, the last one being the most impressive when Darnold completed four of five passes in overtime and then found Eric Saubert to win it on the two-point conversion.

The short-term implication of the game is clear: The Seahawks are alone atop not just the NFC West but the entire conference. If they win at Carolina and San Francisco they will have a first-round bye and they will host a playoff game in the divisional round for the first time since 2014.

The long-term implication? We’ll have to see, but on Thursday night, it sure felt like the Seahawks got an awfully big monkey off their collective back though not before it did a number on Darnold for the second time this season.

The Seahawks trailed 30-14 after Matthew Stafford threw a no-look scoring pass to Puka Nacua with 13:34 left in the game.

According to the Seahawks research, they had trailed by 15 or more points in the fourth quarter in 172 games. They hadn’t won a single one of those games, and that fact seemed unlikely to change given the way Seattle’s ensuing possession ended.

After reaching the Rams 6, the Seahawks faced third-and-6 when Darnold tried to thread a pass to Jaxson Smith-Njigba, who was—it must be said—well-covered on the play. That wasn’t the problem, though. The problem was Darnold failed to see the hulking mass of defensive tackle who had dropped into coverage just as Darnold failed to see Josh Wallace, the Rams nickel corner, squatting on a slant route midway through the third quarter.

Each resulted in a forehead-slapping interception. The first was returned by Wallace to the Seattle 1, setting up a Rams touchdown on the ensuing play. The second interception prevented Seattle from cutting into a 16-point deficit, and in that moment, there was a consensus the Seahawks needed a new quarterback. Darnold simply didn’t have it in big moments. Or maybe it was the Rams, specifically, who caused him to short-circuit. Whether it was the defense schemed by Chris Shula or the helmets they wore, something about that team caused him to short-circuit.

I’m not sure how much attention people were paying as the Rams went three-and-out on the following possession, punting th e ball to Shaheed for a return that play-by-play announcer Al Michaels barely acknowledged:

And just like that, it was as if Darnold’s interception never happened, and when he threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to tight end A.J. Barner on Seattle’s next drive, it allowed Seattle to tie the score thanks to that inexplicable two-point conversion that will be added to the annals of “weird things that have happened in the north end zone at Lumen Field” along with Tony Romo’s bobbled snap and Golden Tate’s “catch.”

It would have been a much cleaner story if Seattle had been able to score on any one of the three possessions it had in the final 5 minutes. The Seahawks would have walked off with a victory, and the story would have been Darnold picking himself up off the mat.

That’s not how it worked out, though. Darnold was not able to muster much of anything on those three drives, and the game went to overtime where Seattle won the toss and elected to kickoff.

The Rams possession very nearly ended when Ernest Jones came close to picking off a pass from Stafford ony to have the interception overturned on review. Three plays later, Nacua was running into the end zone on a 41-yard pass and the Seahawks (again) were backed against the wall.

And again, Seattle fought its way off that wall. This time, Darnold was abled to respond. A 17-yard completion to Smith-Njigba. A 21-yard pass to Cooper Kupp, who magnificently dragged his right foot. Darnold completed four of his five passes on the drive, the last a 4-yard scoring throw to Smith-Njigba.

That set up the decisive play: A two-point conversion in which Darnold worked his way through his progressions until he found Saubert wide open in the end zone.

It was an absolutely unforgettable moment. An instant classic. Now we’ll see if it’s part of a march to an even bigger accomplishment.