Although the NFC Championship had many compelling moments, the game came down to one key play.
Rams ball. Fourth and four from the Seattle six. Down by four points, 31-27. With 4:59 to play.
Setting aside for now whether the Rams should have kicked the field goal and taken their chances down 31-30, they opted to go for it. Meeting with reporters after the game, coach Sean McVay acknowledged that, before the snap, he was running down the sideline and preparing to call a timeout.
“I thought about it,” McVay said. “Didn’t decide to do it. Obviously, it didn’t work out for us.”
On the play, running back Kyren Williams ran toward the left of the end zone. He had two defenders on him.
“They kind of lucked into having two guys peel on Kyren right there,” McVay said. “I know that that can’t be part of their design, so . . . fortuitous bust by them.”
He later explained that the Seattle defense had shown a cover-zero blitz. Two of the blitzers dropped into coverage and picked up Williams.
“I can’t imagine that’s what they were really trying to do,” McVay said.
The Seahawks ultimately dropped eight into coverage on the play. Even with Williams blanketed (perhaps accidentally) by two defenders, no one was open.
And the Rams didn’t get the ball back until they had too far to go (93 yards) and not nearly enough time to get there (25 seconds, with no timeouts).
