SEATTLE – Matthew Stafford postgame admitted that, pre-snap, he didn't know he would be throwing the ball on arguably the most important play of Sunday's game.
"But sometimes those things happen," the Rams quarterback said. "You get out clean and D-Rob does a hell of a job winning at the point and then holding him off and then catching it."
That clean look translated to the game-winning, walk-off touchdown – a 39-yarder to wide receiver Demarcus Robinson to lift the Rams to a 26-20 win over the Seahawks.
Wide receiver Cooper Kupp said the intent of the play is to "be able to get the edge clean for Matthew," and "give him a chance to make a play and do something sweet." Kupp sealing the edge was what drove Stafford's decision to make that throw to Robinson.
"After I see it, I kind of just made myself available," Kupp said. "That ball is very rarely thrown to that route. D-Rob did a great job off the line of scrimmage, and when he set that angle high, I just couldn't believe it when I saw Matthew flip his hips. I said, 'Oh, he's about to let this thing go.'"
Just as impressive as the pass was Robinson's one-handed grab at the end, though he wasn't doing it for style points.
"I was just trying to hold the guy out because he (Seahawks cornerback Riq Woolen) was kind of catching up," Robinson said. "Woolen's pretty fast, so he was catching up to the ball. Because, you know, the ball takes a little distance for it to get to me. So he was catching up. So I was like, 'alright, let me just stick my arm out,' and he was starting to hold on to my arm, so I only had one arm to try to make a play."
"When I threw it, you know, the body language from D-Rob, I was like, 'oh no, I under threw it,' I thought I might have under thrown a dish from his body language," Stafford said. "He did such a great job holding him off."
It was a fitting end to a game-winning drive that began with a pair of explosive completions by Stafford: An impressive 24-yarder to wide receiver Tyler Johnson, followed by a 16-yarder to wide receiver Tutu Atwell. Stafford said Johnson did a good job of getting in front of Woolen, and said he "didn't have any other options" on that throw, the timing of which narrowly avoided an interception by an incoming Seahawks defender. Stafford also praised Atwell for the great job he did of separating from his defender on that deep comeback route.
It was also a rewarding end for a Los Angeles defense whose 4th-down, redzone stop in overtime launched that drive, after having to make up for some of the challenges endured by the offense in the first half and parts of the second half.
"It's our turn, man," Robinson said of the offense's mindset when it got the ball in overtime after that stop. "The defense did a great job giving us a stop, giving us the ball back. It's our turn to go put points on the board. It was either score get three points and end the game, or not leave it up to the kicker. So we was trying to just get a touchdown so it could be over with."
