Coe: Seahawks secondary recovers on way to Super Bowl

SEATTLE — The Seahawks secondary totally redeemed itself.

It would be a stretch to say that, early on, there were a few dumb moments — and a couple of dumber ones — but the play was short of stellar. Then, suddenly, the back end of the Seahawks defense proved that what they’ve done all season was no fluke.

Super Redemption.

They shut down the pesky Rams offense for over 14 minutes. And now they’re headed to the Super Bowl after a thrilling 31-27 win over the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship game at Lumen Field.

“We could have played a lot better game,” said Seahawks cornerback Devon Witherspoon, who finished with six tackles and two critical pass breakups. “We had a lot of self-inflicted wounds. We’ll go back and watch the tape, and get ready to correct it for sure.”

For stretches of Sunday’s game, Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford (374 passing yards, three TD passes), with head coach Sean McVay dialing up his best plays, appeared unstoppable.

Covering Puka Nacua and Davante Adams comes with its share of issues. Witherspoon and fellow cornerback Riq Witherspoon added a few of their own into the mix.

Witherspoon seemed at war with his cleats early on, falling down on three occasions while chasing Rams receivers. Riq Woolen, beaten badly on a couple of times, handed the Rams a gift with a brutal, senseless penalty in the third quarter as McVay was about to send out punter Ethan Evans.

Had Seattle lost this game and fallen into the forgettable bucket of conference title game losers, Woolen’s penalty would be long remembered as one of the worst in team history.

It would be talked about around the Pacific Northwest for decades.

Minutes before the meltdown, the Seahawks took a commanding 31-20 lead after Sam Darnold’s TD pass to Cooper Kupp with 4:57 to go in the third quarter.

The Rams picked up two first downs, including a 35-yard catch-and-run from Adams. The 6-1, 204-pound receiver outmuscled the smaller Witherspoon, who slipped to the ground just before Adams caught the ball.

What followed was one brilliant play surrounded by three awful ones by Woolen.

After Adams’ big gain, Woolen gave the Rams another first down with an illegal contact penalty. LA wound up in a third-and-12 situation due in part to a 10-yard illegal hands to the face penalty against Rams left tackle Alaric Jackson.

Stafford looked for Nucua to bail him out, as his star receiver had done all night to the tune of nine catches for 165 yards. The 37-year-old quarterback stepped away from the pressure brought by Ernest Jones IV and Uchenna Nwosu and threw downfield to Nucua. Woolen stepped in front of Nucua and nearly intercepted the ball. He put two hands on it, but Nucua ripped downward just enough to make sure the ball fell to the turf.

Though he couldn’t haul it in, the statement was made, and the Rams would be forced to punt from midfield.

Until Woolen decided to let more than his game do the talking. He circled around an official who was issuing ignored warnings and directing Woolen away from the Rams sideline. Woolen rounded the ref and spoke demonstrably toward the LA bench.

Then the referee’s flag landed on the ground, and Woolen’s hands went to his head in disbelief.

Taunting. 15 yards. Automatic first down, and the Rams were back in business.

Woolen looked sick, but not as sick as the 68,773 fans in attendance.

“Riq’s done a tremendous job for us,” Macdonald said. “Yeah, you’re frustrated in the moment about what’s happening, but he just made an emotional decision. But we got to pick him up. That’s not the time to get upset, you got to go play the next play.”

The next play, Woolen bit on Nucua’s move inside, and then chased the receiver helplessly to the pylon marking the front corner of the end zone for a 34-yard TD.

In two plays, instead of a punt to the Seahawks holding a 31-20 lead, it was 31-27 Rams with 2:13 to go in the third.

Safety Julian Love, the secondary’s voice of reason, worked to get his teammates back on the rails pointed toward Levi’s Stadium for Super Bowl LX.

“I just tried to reinforce the message that, listen, obviously don’t do that,” Love said. “It’s not smart. But it happened. What do we do now? We have 15 minutes left to punch our ticket.”

They figured it out, and the ticket was punched.

Woolen reeled himself back into the game, and the Rams failed to score another point.

“I don’t see it as a bounce-back moment, I just think it brought us closer together,” Seahawks linebacker Derick Hall said. “That’s what we’ve been talking about all year — staying close, staying connected.”

LA threatened again, driving to the Seahawks 6. On third-and-goal, Stafford struggled to find a receiver before heaving a sidearm pass to receiver Konata Mumfield. Witherspoon popped him as the ball arrived, and the ball fell to the blue end zone turf. Stafford tested Witherspoon again on fourth down, but the 6-foot, 185-pound cornerback knocked the ball away from tight end Terrance Ferguson.

Seattle ball, and Darnold and the offense did the rest.

“That’s him,” Macdonald said of Witherspoon. “We actually didn’t even execute that play well on fourth down, but he just covered (Ferguson) forever and just refused to let his guy catch the ball.

“That’s who he is. It’s who he is every day. Incredibly proud of him.”

Moments later, legendary Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor spoke to the team and the fans prior to the George Halas NFC Championship trophy presentation. Chancellor knows something about Super Bowls. And thanks to the rebound of this year’s iteration of the Seattle secondary, this team will have its chance.

This story originally appeared at www.emeraldcityspectrum.com