Seahawks, doomed by turnovers and penalties, fall to Rams in OT

SEATTLE — Boye Mafe stood at the 30-yard-line for a good 30 seconds staring at the video board in disbelief.

He wasn’t alone.

Who could believe all the twists and turns it took for the Los Angeles Rams to emerge as a 26-20 overtime winner over the Seahawks Sunday at Lumen Field?

In a game that consisted of numbers of “what just happened?” plays and a combined 20 penalties — and a handful more that were declined — the Rams made the one final play that really mattered as Matthew Stafford hit Demarcus Robinson in a 39-yard touchdown with 4:57 left in overtime to win it for L.A.

The loss was the fifth in six games for the Seahawks heading into their bye week and drops them to 4-5 and last in the NFC West.

L.A. got the ball after stopping the Seahawks on a fourth-and-goal at the Rams 16 when the Seahawks got the opening kickoff of the overtime period and moved quickly into scoring position.

Kenneth Walker III was stopped for no gain on third down. And with a field goal meaning that the Seahawks would have to stop the Rams to win, Seattle decided to go for it. Walker was stopped for no gain and the Rams took over.

And this time a Seahawks defense that hung tough all day seemed to give in as Stafford was 3 for 3 for 79 yards in the overtime.

The Seahawks seemed dead in the water when they took over at their own 27 with 1:54 remaining and no time outs in regulation.

A sack for a loss of 14 on the first play seemed ominous.

Smith threw downfield to Cody White, who caught the ball at the sideline as Rams cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon mistimed his jump. White had no one behind him had he been able to stay in bounds.

Smith ran for 11 to take it to the L.A. 48. On the next play, Rams’ Darious Williams dropped an interception over the middle. Then came a 5-yard pass to Barner and an incompletion.

On fourth-and-5, Smith lofted a fade route to Jaxon Smith-Njigba over the head of Rams cornerback Cobie Durant to the 14.

On the next play, Smith again looked to Smith-Njigba and hit him for a TD with 51 seconds left to tie the game.

The Rams had taken the lead on the biggest of the many head-scratching plays in the game, a 103-yard interception return of a Smith pass by Kamren Kinchens.

The return, beat by one yard, was the longest previous against the Seahawks, a 102-yarder by Gary Barbaro of Kansas City in 1977.

That came after the Seahawks had moved to the Rams' 6 with a first-and-goal. Smith was pressured on the play and threw into the end zone as he was being hit with the ball floating into the hands of Kinchens, who wove his way down the field.

The Seahawks went three-and-out on their next series and the Rams seemed set to take control. But a Seahawks defense that played as salty as it has all season forced a three-and-out.

The Seahawks appeared to force the break it needed to get back in the game as receiver Cody White, called up off the practice squad Saturday to add depth with DK Metcalf sidelined, burst up the middle to block the punt of Rams backup Ty Zentner.

That gave the Seahawks the ball at the Rams’ 19. They moved to the 4 where on second down, Smith tried to hit tight end AJ Barner out of the backfield.

Barner was held up by Los Angeles defensive end Braden Fiske — the Seahawks would argue he was illegally held — and with the timing disrupted, the ball went straight into the hands of Kinchens for an interception at the 7.

Still, the Rams could not put the game away on offense.

The Seahawks forced another three-and-out to get the ball back with 4:28 left.

A holding penalty on Michael Jerrell helped kill that drive and the Seahawks punted.

A holding penalty on the Rams helped kill their drive and the Rams punted, giving the Seahawks the ball at their own 27 with 1:54 left and no time outs remaining.

The Rams dominated the third quarter to turn a 13-3 halftime deficit into a 13-13 tie, scoring on drives of 75 and 62 yards.

The Rams moved easily the first time they had the ball, scoring on a 1-yard pass from Stafford to Damarcus Robinson to make it 13-10. The TD was set up by a pass interference penalty by Josh Jobe that placed the ball at the 2.

The Seahawks held the second drive — in which the Rams had a second-and-goal at the one — to a field goal. A stop of Kyren Williams for a loss of two yards by former Ram Ernest Jones IV proved critical.

For most of the first half, the Seahawks offense couldn’t get out of its own way, two mishaps on snaps helping kill drives and another ending in an interception when a pass went off the hands of Smith-Njigba.

But the defense, playing maybe its best half of the season when considering the opponent, kept them in it, holding the Rams to just 14 yards rushing on eight carries and continually pressuring Stafford at key times, holding him to 12-of-22 for 133 yards.

The Seahawks used two touchdowns in a span of 46 seconds in the final minute of the first half to take the lead at the half.

Free plays on snaps when the Rams were offsides played key roles in both.

One resulted in the Seahawks first touchdown, a 30-yard pass from Smith to Tyler Lockett.

The TD came on third-and-7 after LA’s Kobie Turner was flagged for going offsides. Lockett sprinted wide open past Rams cornerback Darious Williams — who appeared to hesitate — down the right side at the snap, making an easy catch for the score.

That gave the Seahawks a 6-3 lead with 51 seconds left in the half.

The Rams tried to counter, moving to their own 44 with 33 seconds left.

From there, the Rams tried to take a deep shot, Stafford throwing to Puka Nacua in man coverage on Riq Woolen. But Woolen outleaped Nacua for the ball and controlled it as he hit the ground.

Going from bad to worse for the Rams, Nacua threw a punch at Tyrel Dodson. Dodson appeared to be throwing a block on Nacua as Woolen had gotten up to run, and Nacua took exception.

A holding penalty moved Seattle back to the 30 and it seemed maybe the half would end there. On the next play, two Rams jumped offsides.

Given another free play, Smith hit Smith-Njigba deep downfield for a 46-yard gain to the 24.

The Seahawks stayed aggressive, and two plays later — on a play with 11 seconds left on the clock — Smith stepped up in the pocket and found Smith-Njigba again wide open in the middle of the end zone for a touchdown to make it 13-3 with five seconds left in the half.

Included in their first-half follies were two mishaps on shotgun snaps by Connor Williams that did not result in turnovers but did result in losses of 21 and 23 yards.

Both went off Smith’s hands, the second coming on as the play clock was winding down and Smith may not have had his eye on the ball.

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