{"id":457839,"date":"2025-12-19T13:35:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T13:35:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/457839\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T13:35:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T13:35:18","slug":"how-a-bizarre-2-point-conversion-unraveled-rams-no-1-seed-hopes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/457839\/","title":{"rendered":"How a bizarre 2-point conversion unraveled Rams&#8217; No. 1 seed hopes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>SEATTLE\u00a0\u2014\u00a0In a matter of minutes, the home of the Seattle Seahawks went from a painfully quiet Lumen \u201cLibrary\u201d to a rollicking madhouse that sent seismologists scrambling for their ground-motion sensors.<\/p>\n<p>Call it the Sheesh-Quake Game.<\/p>\n<p>In a historic comeback, the Seahawks dug their way out of a 16-point, fourth-quarter ditch to beat the Rams in overtime, <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/static.www.nfl.com\/image\/upload\/v1766120661\/gamecenter\/f8d8eae6-311e-11f0-b670-ae1250fadad1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">38-37<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Oh, the visitors will agonize over some of the bizarre calls, some deserving of further explanation from the NFL. An ineligible-man-downfield call that wiped out a <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/sports\/rams\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Rams<\/a> touchdown when they were a yard away from the end zone? That had people scratching their heads. Then there was that do-or-die two-point conversion that seemingly fell incomplete\u2026 but later was reversed. More on that in a moment.<\/p>\n<p>           <video playsinline=\"playsinline\" loop=\"\" preload=\"none\" title=\"Takeaways from the Rams\u2019 overtime loss to the Seattle Seahawks\" data-video-id=\"0000019b-3627-dc07-afdf-3ffff56f0000\">               <\/video>                 <img class=\"image\" alt=\"\"   width=\"473\" height=\"840\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1766151314_652_\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>             <\/p>\n<ul data-element=\"action-bar-menu\" class=\"flex gap-2 list-none  absolute w-full h-10 top-0\">\n<li data-element=\"action-bar-share\" class=\"flex  w-full h-10 top-0 lg:items-center lg:justify-center \">\n<p> Share via     Close extra sharing options  <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"video-enhancement-title\">Gary Klein breaks down what went wrong for the Rams in their 38-37 loss to the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field on Thursday night.<\/p>\n<p>When the Rams wincingly rewind the video of the collapse, they\u2019ll be peering through the cracks in their fingers.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ve heard of a no-look pass? This was a no-look finish.<\/p>\n<p>As soothing wins go, this was a warm bubble bath for the Seahawks, who secured a playoff berth and assumed the driver\u2019s seat in the race for the <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/playoffs\/machine\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">NFC\u2019s No. 1 seed<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou hear people late in the year have losses, and you hear people come up here and say, like, \u2018Man, this is going to be a good thing for us,\u2019\u201d said <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/sports\/rams\/story\/2025-11-13\/cooper-kupp-first-game-against-rams\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Seahawks receiver Cooper Kupp<\/a>, a onetime Rams hero. \u201cIt\u2019s much better to be up here right now saying this is going to be a good thing for us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kupp atoned for his first-half fumble with a successful two-point conversion in the fourth quarter \u2014 the first of three in a row for the Seahawks \u2014 and a 21-yard reception on the winning drive in overtime.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you find a way to get a win when you do turn the ball over three times, you do end up down 16 points, or whatever it was, in the fourth quarter, just finding ways to win games when the odds are against you and things aren\u2019t going right \u2014 finding a way to fight back \u2014 it\u2019s going to be a good thing for us,\u201d Kupp said. \u201cA good thing for us to draw on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Rams are sifting through the debris of a different lesson. It was a reminder that this charmed season, with <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/sports\/rams\/story\/2025-11-24\/matthew-stafford-playing-great-level-rams-super-bowl\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Matthew Stafford<\/a> in line to win his first <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/sports\/rams\/story\/2025-11-09\/rams-san-francisco-49ers-matthew-stafford-nfl\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Most Valuable Player honor<\/a>, can come crashing down at any moment. There\u2019s no more smooth glide path to <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/sports\/story\/2025-02-09\/super-bowl-lx-2026-date-location-channel\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Santa Clara for the Super Bowl<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>As good as it was for most of the game, picking off <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/sports\/story\/2025-11-14\/sam-darnold-resurgence-with-seahawks\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sam Darnold<\/a> twice and sacking him four times, the Rams defense failed to hold up when it counted most. Shades of the three-point loss at Carolina.<\/p>\n<p>Darnold will have a story to tell. He exorcised a lot of demons. The Rams sacked him nine times in the playoffs last season when Darnold was playing for Minnesota, and intercepted six of his passes in two games this season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not great when you have interceptions and turnovers, you want to limit that,\u201d said Darnold, the former USC star. \u201cBut all you can do is fight back. For us, I was just going to continue to plug away.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Darnold came through when it counted, completing five passes on the winning drive, then finding the obscure tight end Eric Saubert \u2014 his fourth option \u2014 wide open in the end zone on the triumphant conversion.<\/p>\n<p>            <img class=\"image\" alt=\"Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold looks to pass against the Rams in the first half Thursday.\"   width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1766151317_339_\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>         <\/p>\n<p>Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold looks to pass against the Rams in the first half Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>(Lindsey Wasson \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n<p>The second of the three conversions was the game\u2019s most controversial moment. The Seahawks needed it to forge a 30-30 tie with a little more than six minutes remaining in regulation.<\/p>\n<p>Darnold fired a quick screen pass to his left, trying to get the ball to <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/sports\/ucla\/story\/2022-10-19\/ucla-running-back-zach-charbonnet\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Zach Charbonnet<\/a>. Rams defender <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/sports\/rams\/story\/2025-11-22\/rams-pass-rushing-stars-new-fearsome-foursome\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jared Verse<\/a> jumped the route and knocked down the pass. Everyone thought the play was dead, including Charbonnet, who casually jogged across the goal line and picked up the ball as it lay in the end zone.<\/p>\n<p>That proved critical because officials \u2014 after what seemed like an eternity \u2014 ruled that Darnold had thrown a backward pass and the ball was live when Charbonnet picked it up. Therefore, a fumble recovery and successful conversion, tying the game.<\/p>\n<p>Asked later if it felt like a backward pass, Darnold had a half-smile and said, \u201cUm, yeah. It felt like I threw it kind of right on the side. I\u2019m glad Charbs picked it up, and that turned out to be a game-changing play.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Was that designed to be a backward pass?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt just happened to be backwards,\u201d he said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t necessarily talked about. We were just trying to get it in down there on the goal line.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Seahawks were lined up to kick off when officials announced that, upon review, the previous play was successful. Suddenly, the most improbable of come-from-victories was within reach.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier in the fourth quarter, when the home team was trailing, 30-14, the Amazon Prime crew had to do some vamping to keep viewers engaged. Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit told some Kurt Warner stories from the \u201c<a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/sports\/nfl\/la-sp-rams-greatest-show-on-turf-20181025-story.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Greatest Show on Turf<\/a>\u201d days. Hey, it had to be more interesting than this game.<\/p>\n<p>Michaels delivered an obscure stat: When leading by 15 points or more in the fourth quarter, the Rams were 323-1.<\/p>\n<p>Informed of that, Seahawks running back <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/sports\/rams\/story\/2023-09-20\/rams-trading-running-back-cam-akers-vikings\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cam Akers<\/a> \u2014 once shown the door by the Rams \u2014 had a wry response.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow, they\u2019ve lost two,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Celebration in one locker room. Silence in another.<\/p>\n<p>Do you believe in meltdowns?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEATTLE\u00a0\u2014\u00a0In a matter of minutes, the home of the Seattle Seahawks went from a painfully quiet Lumen \u201cLibrary\u201d&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":457840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[20698,1582,276,209474,55399,103424,33353,134496,2961,224,5337,17946,3546,90726,7138,1262,7149,209473,6620,14164],"class_list":{"0":"post-457839","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ball","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-charmed-season","12":"tag-conversion","13":"tag-end-zone","14":"tag-fourth-quarter","15":"tag-good-thing","16":"tag-la","17":"tag-los-angeles","18":"tag-losangeles","19":"tag-pass","20":"tag-people","21":"tag-ram","22":"tag-rams","23":"tag-sam-darnold","24":"tag-seattle-seahawks","25":"tag-sheesh-quake-game","26":"tag-time","27":"tag-way"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115746500951195194","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}