How Seahawks handled overtime strategy vs. Rams

RENTON — Thursday night’s 38-37 win over the Los Angeles Rams was the 45th overtime game in Seahawks’ history. They are 18-26-1 in OT contests.

It was the first under the new format approved by the NFL before the season that aligns the regular season rules with those the used in the playoffs.

The rules allow for each team to get the ball at least once even if the first team scores a touchdown (a defensive TD on the first series ends the game).

The new format created two decisions for coach Mike Macdonald — whether to kick or receive once the Seahawks won the coin toss, and whether to kick the PAT or go for two once they scored to close within 37-36 after the Rams scored on their first possession.

Going for two at the end might have seemed a no-brainer since a tie was as good as a loss for the Seahawks in terms of trying to win the NFC West and getting the No. 1 seed in the conference.

Macdonald indicated after the game and during his radio show on Seattle Sports 710 and in his day-after-game news conference that he did give it some thought.

To recap, the Seahawks won the toss after the game went to overtime tied at 30.

They elected to kick, the reasoning being that when they got the ball they would know what they needed to do and could play accordingly.

Macdonald said that decision was far from a slam dunk. Some around the league favor getting the ball first and being able to take most or all of the 10 minutes off the clock — the latter scenario being the only one in which both teams would not be guaranteed a possession.

There’s also the thought that it’s an advantage to get the ball third, after which any score wins the game.

“Rule of thumb is that it’s dang near a coin flip nowadays, so it’s really a preference on how you want to handle it,” Macdonald said of deciding whether to take the ball or kick off. “We have our reasons on why we want to take the ball second, and we reserve the right to change our philosophy based off of certain things that are going on.”

Macdonald said he and his staff, specifically director of football analysis and special situations Brian Eayrs, go over overtime scenarios each week.

Macdonald said it was already decided that kicking off to start OT “was going to be our strategy going in.”

The Rams took just 3:33 to score on a 41-yard Matthew Stafford pass to Puka Nacua and grab a 37-30 lead.

The Rams could have elected to go for two and assured they could not lose the game on the Seahawks’ possession. Missing on the two-pointer would mean Seattle needed just a TD and PAT to win, and few teams would likely go for two when scoring first.

One advantage for the Seahawks was being in four-down mode the rest of the way knowing it had to score a TD.

The Seahawks had just one third down on the nine-play drive for a TD on a Sam Darnold 4-yard pass to Jaxon Smith-Njigba to make it 37-36.

The tiebreaking scenario means the Seahawks were undoubtedly leaning toward going for two if they scored. But some players said they weren’t totally sure what Macdonald planned to do.

“It was in the back of my mind after we scored” right tackle Abraham Lucas said. “I was like, ‘I wonder if he’ll kick it, just tie it up, and call it that.’ But knowing Mike, Mike’s going to go for it all. I’m just happy that we were able to get it done.”

Macdonald said on his radio show that it wasn’t until Darnold’s 21-yard pass to Cooper Kupp took the ball to the L.A. 16 that he verbalized his strategy.

“Once Coop made that catch, I gave (offensive coordinator) Klint (Kubiak) the head’s up that’s what we were going to do,” Macdonald said.

That allowed Kubiak to begin thinking about which two-point play the team might call.

The only reason to play it safe there is that a tie would have clinched a playoff spot.

But with 3:13 remaining on the clock, and the way the Rams were moving the ball, that would hardly have been a sure thing.

Macdonald noted the team’s injury situation on defense, with safeties Coby Bryant and Nick Emmanwori and cornerback Riq Woolen all sidelined at the time.

“We’re down three guys in our secondary,” he said. “We’re kind of scrambling to figure out what we can call. … So you either tie the game and maybe you get a three-and-out and you get a chance to kick the field goal or you lose the game. Seemed like a lot of downside.”

The Seahawks needed just two yards to gain a lead on the division and the No. 1 seed.

“Well, yeah, that’s part of the whole thing,” he said of weighing what was at stake. “You’re trying to get into the playoffs. Then do you secure your spot in the playoffs, or do you risk not getting in the playoffs. But the upside is pretty dang high. We chose to go for it.”

The Seahawks got it when Darnold took a shotgun snap and had time to read his progressions from right, where Kupp and Smith-Njigba were lined up but well covered, to the middle of the field, where backup tight end Eric Saubert emerged wide open.

Darnold fired the pass just past the outstretched hand of Rams defensive end Kobie Turner — Macdonald noted Friday how close the pass was to getting tipped — to Saubert for the winning points.

One reason Saubert got so open is that he helped left tackle Josh Jones block end Jared Verse. That caused cornerback Emanuel Forbes Jr. to hesitate and give Saubert space to peel off Verse and curl into the front of the end zone.

Once Saubert peeled off, Jones was left one-on-one with Verse.

Macdonald called Jones — who was filling in for an injured Charles Cross — an unsung hero for keeping Verse away from Darnold just long enough.

“Yeah, you need the extra click,” Macdonald said. “To get all the way to Sauby in his progression and Sauby actually had a chip on No. 8 (Verse) there to get the play started as well. So, it was teamwork and Josh did a great job coming in for Charles. Not playing after a while and not getting full speed reps all week, maybe it took him a little bit to get his feet wet, but once he did, I thought he thought he did a great job.”