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The Seattle Seahawks tied the Los Angeles Rams in the fourth quarter off one of the strangest plays you’ll ever see … and yet another reminder to play through the whistle.
Down 30-28 with 6:23 left in regulation, following Sam Darnold’s touchdown pass to A.J. Barner, Jared Verse tipped away Darnold’s screen pass to Zach Charbonnet on Seattle’s two-point conversion attempt.
At least, that’s what it looked like.
However, replays showed Darnold’s pass was actually a backward pass and because Charbonnet picked the ball up in the end zone and the whistle hadn’t blown, it counted as a two-point conversion. Replays clearly show the ball was traveling backward from between where Darnold released it and Verse tipped it away.
Charbonnet’s seemingly nonchalant action ended up being a huge shift.
The Seahawks were down 30-14 just moments before this touchdown, but Rashid Shaheed took a punt back 58 yards, the Seattle defense forced a three-and-out, and then Darnold led a quick touchdown drive. Then this play happened, completing a wild sequence that tied things up.
“Very interesting,” Rams coach Sean McVay said. “Didn’t get a clear explanation of everything that went on just because of some of the timing of it … [I’ve] never seen or never been a part of anything like that.”
The was the last score of the fourth quarter, but far from the final twist in an overall wild game. After missing a late field goal, the Rams scored first in overtime and kicked an extra point to go up 37-30. The Seahawks answered right back with a touchdown of their own and then converted the game-winning two-point conversion — this one a much more traditional pass play from Darnold to Eric Saubert.
The Seahawks had been down 30-14 in the fourth quarter but converted three two-point conversions — the first one a Darnold pass to Cooper Coup — to aid in the remarkable comeback. In the process, Seattle became the just the eighth team to convert three two-point conversions in a single game and the first since the Dallas Cowboys in 2020. Furthermore, the Seahawks became the first team ever to win a game on an overtime two-point conversion, and they also slid into the driver’s seat in the race for the top spot in the NFC.
