Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald saw his team convert a pair of two-point plays on their way to coming back from 16 points down to tie the Rams in the fourth quarter on Thursday night and he went for the hat trick in overtime.
After Sam Darnold’s touchdown pass to Jaxon Smith-Njigba brought them within one point with 3:17 to play in extra time, the Seahawks picked up a win when Darnold scanned the field and found tight end Eric Saubert for the game-winning points. After the game, Macdonald said it was a situation that he and offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak had planned for and explained his thought process in the moment.
“Well, it was something we had talked about really throughout the season and then really particularly for this game because of the playoff situation,” Macdonald said, via a transcript from the team. “You know, do you play for the tie and lock up a playoff seed. I just felt great about our play and I trusted our guys. To Klint’s credit, he was really confident and then the players ultimately make it happen. Once we got that drive going it was pretty clear what we were going to do.”
A tie would have clinched a playoff spot, but it would have made it more difficult for the Seahawks to win the division and it never felt like a real option for the Seahawks to go that route in overtime. They chose to kick after winning the toss, which meant that they’d know just what they needed to win once they got the ball and suggested that Macdonald would go that route under any circumstances. The amount of time left on the clock when they scored meant the Rams would have plenty of time to position themselves for a game-winning score in the final seconds, so there was every reason in the world for the Seahawks to leave their offense on the field to win the game.
That’s just what they did and it will go down as one of the most memorable victories in franchise history.
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