Sean Mcvay Says Seahawks 'lucked Into' Pivotal 4th-down Stop In Nfc Championship, Calls It A 'fortuitous Bust'

Like the back-and-forth regular season series between the NFC West rivals, Sunday's NFC championship game between the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks came down to the wire. 

The Seahawks secured their 31-27 victory thanks in part to a late fourth-down stop in the red zone that kept the Rams from taking a lead. Rams coach Sean McVay was asked about the failed fourth down in his postgame news conference. 

He believes that the Seahawks got a bit lucky on the pivotal play as two defenders covered the primary target, running back Kyren Williams.

'Fortuitous bust'

“That was a situation where we just kind of came up short," McVay told reporters. "They kind of lucked into having two guys peel on Kyren right there. I know that can’t be a part of their design. It’s a fortuitous bust by them."

McVay quickly pivoted to crediting the Seahawks for their win.

"They’re an excellent team," McVay continued. "You don’t take away anything. They earned the win, and they’re NFC champs for a reason."

The play in question was a fourth-and-4 from the Seattle 6-yard line with 4:59 remaining. The Rams trailed 31-27 and would have taken a late lead with a touchdown. Instead, Matthew Stafford threw incomplete to tight end Terrance Ferguson, who was covered tightly by cornerback Devon Witherspoon. 

The Seahawks took over on downs and ran most of the remainder of the clock down on their ensuing possession. 

Was it a 'bust?'

Williams was designed as the primary target on the play for a swing pass out of backfield. He lined up to the left of Stafford, who was in shotgun formation. Williams ran to the left flat at the snap and was immediately picked up by safety Julian Love, who appeared initially to be rushing Stafford. 

Linebacker DeMarcus Lawrence also pulled back and dropped into coverage of Williams. Stafford looked first in Williams' direction, then looked elsewhere when he saw that he faced double coverage. 

He opted to target Ferguson in the back of the end zone, and the pass stood little chance thanks to Witherspoon's coverage. 

Stafford had nowhere to throw

To be fair to Stafford, he didn't have any good options. With Love joining Lawrence on Williams, the Seahawks rushed only three and dropped eight in coverage. There was nowhere clean for Stafford to throw. 

Was Love's assignment to rush Stafford, or did he improvise and drop back to cover Williams when he saw the running back's route? It's not clear from watching the play. 

In the end, it does not matter. Whether he improvised or disguised a pass rush with the intent to cover Williams, Love and Lawrence cut off Stafford's primary target, and a blanketing Seattle defense did the rest to limit his options. 

Stafford does a lot of things well, but he's not a threat to run in that situation. And the Seahawks covered all their bases to secure their spot in the Super Bowl against the New England Patriots.