🏈🏈🏈🏈
NFC Championship Game
Los Angeles Rams
at
Seattle Seahawks 31, Los Angeles Rams 27
Okay, so I got the NFC Championship Game wrong as well. Since these two franchises had three meetings, and each one was close and exciting, it does not feel like I was way off base.
This one had a lot of offense from both teams.
It proved to be a back and forth affair. Since the first two meetings were also very entertaining and competitive, this really was no surprise. Yet, the Seahawks seemed to have an opportunity to out the game away. Hanging onto a 31-20 lead, the defense actually stopped the Rams on offense. Rams players were running off the field, until a yellow flag came in on a taunting penalty on Seattle cornerback Tariq Woolen. He had gone to the Rams sideline and began flaunting the defensive stop in their faces, before the referees stepped in and gave him a 15-yard penalty, which was enough for the Rams to pick up the first down. Their offense came back on the field and, this time, scored a touchdown, closing the margin to 31-27 as the third quarter was winding down.
Talk about a mental error. Maybe Woolen might think twice next time before figuratively opening his mouth to rub it in an opponent's face. Frankly, that was dumb. An unforced error, if you will.
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford completed 22 of 35 passes for 374 yards and three touchdowns. Running back Blake Corum picked up 55 yards on 9 carries. In all, the Rams offense produced 479 total yards and 26 first downs. A productive day, all in all.
Yet, the Rams also had that one critical turnover. Also, they were abysmal on third down, earning a first down only once in eight tries.
The Seahawks offense was almost as productive. Quarterback Sam Darnold completed 25 of 36 passes for 346 and three touchdowns. Running back Kenneth Walker III collected 62 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries. Overall, Seattle's offense produced 396 total yards and 24 first downs while hanging onto the ball for just under 32 minutes.
Now, the Seahawks head to the Super Bowl for the fourth time in franchise history. They won one, but lost the other two. In their last appearance, they suffered a crushing defeat to the New England Patriots of all teams, when they were famously seemingly about to score a touchdown, but opted to have quarterback Russell Wilson throw a risky pass instead of going for the seemingly much safer run by running back Marshawn Lynch. Wilson's pass was intercepted by New England cornerback Malcom Butler, which effectively iced the win for the Patriots. It seemed to me that the Seahawks as a franchise never fully recovered from that defeat.
However, this is the most successful season that the team has had since that fateful Super Bowl disaster. After an incredibly impressive regular season, they crushed the 49ers in the divisional round and outlasted the Rams in the NFC Championship Game, putting back in their first Super Bowl since the infamous loss the last time. They have a chance to finally recover from it now, and to possibly take home the second Lombardi Trophy in franchise history against the same New England Patriots franchise that denied them that in Super Bowl XLIX.
Disastrous or not, the Seahawks and Patriots put on a tremendous show in that one. It was close and entertaining and remained interesting and tense right from the first quarter. Truly one of the few Super Bowls to live up to the billing.
Let's hope it's half as exciting as that first Super Bowl meeting between these two franchises proved to be.
My pick: Inaccurate
No comments:
Post a Comment