Rams a Bit Better Than Average
He had caught merely seven passes this season, none for a touchdown, but St. Louis tight end Cameron Cleeland felt eerily calm when he grabbed the pass that launched the Rams to the second round of the playoffs.
“It’s one of those plays you’re waiting your whole entire life to make,” he said. “I practiced it 100,000 times as a kid. And I lead the league in practice-Friday TDs.”
Those Friday catches didn’t count, but his grab of a slightly high pass from Marc Bulger on Saturday resonated throughout the NFL.
That 17-yard pass play with 2:11 left in the game -- his only catch of the NFC wild-card game against Seattle -- provided the winning margin in the Rams’ 27-20 victory over the Seahawks before a stunned crowd of 65,397 at Qwest Field. The Seahawks’ NFC West title was rendered meaningless after their third loss this season to the Rams, the first 8-8 team to win a playoff game.
“Most people are in shock this is over. This is a dream,” Seahawk quarterback Matt Hasselbeck said. “We were going to win this game.”
They might have if not for the catch by Cleeland, an eight-year veteran who grew up about an hour away in Mount Vernon, Wash.
“This is very surreal,” said Cleeland, a University of Washington alumnus. “I didn’t see anything except the ball, and I said, ‘I’d better hang onto this sucker.’ ”
He hung on. Following his lead, the Rams persevered through a last push by the Seahawks that ended with a pass from Hasselbeck sliding through the hands of Bobby Engram in the end zone on fourth and four from the St. Louis five-yard line, with 27 seconds to play.
The Seahawks had taken the lead for the first time early in the fourth quarter, 20-17, on a drive capped by a 23-yard touchdown pass to Darrell Jackson, but the Rams -- helped by two defensive penalties -- pulled even on the ensuing possession with a 27-yard field goal by Jeff Wilkins with 8:07 left.
The Seahawks were stopped on their next possession, setting the stage for the seven-play, 76-yard touchdown drive that ended with Cleeland’s catch. Seattle then marched to the Ram 11 before Jimmy Kennedy penetrated Seattle’s injury-depleted offensive line and sacked Hasselbeck for a loss of six yards. On second down, Hasselbeck threw over Jackson’s head, but on third down, with 33 seconds left, he passed to Engram for 12 yards.
With the ball at the five, Hasselbeck had ample time to make a play.
“Matt moved in the pocket. I was trying to locate him and he was trying to find me,” Engram said. “We just didn’t connect.”
Said Hasselbeck: “I thought I had a chance to run it in for a touchdown but I saw someone coming at me, I don’t know who, and I thought I wasn’t fast enough. I saw Bobby coming across and I threw it a little too hard and made it a little tougher than it had to be and it came out of his hands.
“I wish I had it back. That one play could have done it for us.”
Instead, their playoff nightmare continued. They’ve lost six postseason games since a first-round victory over the then-Los Angeles Raiders on Dec. 22, 1984.
“We should have won today and we didn’t,” strong safety Michael Boulware said.
The Rams advanced to next weekend’s divisional playoffs at Atlanta or Philadelphia, depending on the outcome of today’s Green Bay-Minnesota game. If the Packers win, the Rams will face the Eagles; if the Vikings win, St. Louis will play the Falcons.
“Everyone is 0-0, even the Steelers, who had the best record in the NFL,” Ram receiver Shaun McDonald said. “We stepped up today and made plays. We’re developing as a team and getting better. Teams can’t double on Torry [Holt] and me.”
The Seahawks pointed to penalties, to McDonald’s 31-yard catch on third and two that sustained the Rams’ decisive drive, and to calls they disputed and lost, such as their claim that Holt’s first-quarter touchdown should have been waved off because his arm hit the ground.
Ultimately, those mattered less than their inability to counter the resourcefulness and balance of the Rams, who had been 2-6 on the road.
Each quarterback threw two touchdown passes, but the Rams completed passes to seven receivers who averaged 17.4 yards a catch, while the six Seahawks who caught passes averaged 12.6 yards a reception. Jerry Rice, who extended his record to 29 playoff games, had no receptions and wasn’t in the game on the final play.
“I still feel like I have a lot of football in me,” said the 42-year-old Rice. “It’s tough when you want to win so bad and end up a little short.”
The Rams had scored on their first possession, a diving catch by Holt. The Seahawks challenged it, but officials ruled that although the ball had touched the ground it had never moved and that Holt had maintained possession.
The Seahawks came back with a field goal with 2:08 left in the first quarter, ending a nine-play, 46-yard drive. But the Rams expanded their lead to 14-3 on a drive that ended with Marshall Faulk’s walking one yard into the end zone.
Seattle cut the lead to 14-10 when Engram caught a 19-yard touchdown pass, and made it 14-13 on Josh Brown’s 30-yard field goal, but Wilkins matched that with a 38-yard kick.
Hasselbeck’s 23-yard touchdown pass to Jackson gave the Seahawks some hope, but the Rams wrote an ending that was all too familiar to the Seahawks.
“We’re going to be an even better team next week,” Cleeland said.
But there’s no next week for the Seahawks.
*
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
Three up and three down
The NFC wild-card playoffs have two sets of division rivals facing off for the third time this season: Seattle and St. Louis, Green Bay and Minnesota. The Rams won Saturday, their third victory over the Seahawks. Green Bay hopes to make it 3-0 against Minnesota when the Packers play host to the Vikings today. Since the 1970 merger, the sweeping team has won the third game 11 of 16 times.
*--* SEASON REGULAR SEASON 2-0 OPPONENT PLAYOFF WINNER TEAM 1982 Miami Dolphins New York Jets Dolphins, 14-0 1983 Seattle Seahawks Los Angeles Raiders Raiders, 30-14 1986 New York Giants Washington Redskins Giants, 17-0 1989 Houston Oilers Pittsburgh Steelers Steelers, 26-23 (OT) 1991 Kansas City Chiefs Los Angeles Raiders Chiefs, 10-6 1992 Kansas City Chiefs San Diego Chargers Chargers, 17-0 1993 Los Angeles Raiders Denver Broncos Raiders, 42-24 1994 Minnesota Vikings Chicago Bears Bears, 35-18 1994 Pittsburgh Steelers Cleveland Browns Steelers, 29-9 1997 Green Bay Packers Tampa Bay Packers, 21-7 Buccaneers 1997 New England Patriots Miami Dolphins Patriots, 17-3 1998 Dallas Cowboys Arizona Cardinals Cardinals, 20-7 1999 Tennessee Titans Jacksonville Titans, 33-14 Jaguars 2000 New York Giants Philadelphia Eagles Giants, 20-10 2002 Pittsburgh Steelers Cleveland Browns Steelers, 36-33 2004 St. Louis Rams Seattle Seahawks Rams, 27-20 2004 Green Bay Packers Minnesota Vikings today
*--*
Source: nfl.com
