Rams Top Seahawks, Snapping Seattle's Home Win Playoff Streak
The Los Angeles Rams survived injuries to quarterback John Wolford and defensive tackle Aaron Donald to pull off an upset over the Seattle Seahawks in Saturday's wild-card matchup.
L.A.'s 30-20 victory snapped Seattle's 10-win home playoff streak, the third-longest in the league. The Rams will advance to the divisional round.
Despite All-Pro Donald missing most of the second half due to a rib injury, the Rams' stingy defense came up big, holding Seattle to 278 total yards and scoring on a 42-yard interception.
"We’re like glue. We stick together," Darious Williams, who returned the pick-six, said. "We believe in each other, we trust each other, and we go out and play for each other."
Wolford got the starting nod with Jared Goff recuperating from surgery on his fractured thumb, an injury suffered less than two weeks ago. However, Wolford's outing ended prematurely after sustaining a neck injury early in the first quarter. He was later transported to the hospital as a precaution.
Goff came into the game in relief, tossing 9 of 19 passes, 155 yards and a touchdown.
Jared Goff threw for 155 yards, the most by any player off the bench in a playoff win since Jay Fielder’s 172 for the Jaguars in their 62-7 win over the Dolphins in the 1999 Divisional Round.
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) January 10, 2021
That game was Dan Marino’s last career game. pic.twitter.com/HQXduTlCaL
Russell Wilson, however, struggled. The Seahawks quarterback completed just 11 of 27 passes for 174 yards, two touchdowns and a single interception. Wilson was sacked five times, twice by Donald in the first half.
The most notable play from Seattle came when Wilson found DK Metcalf for a 51-yard touchdown late in the second quarter.
RUSS & DK BACK AT IT.
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) January 9, 2021
Great play by Russell Wilson that results in a DIME TD pass to DK Metcalf.
(via @NFL)pic.twitter.com/r3SCEVGgo8
With Saturday night's victory, Sean McVay improved to 37-0 as a head coach when leading at halftime. The head coach confirmed that Wolford "was in the locker room smiling" after the game.