MATTHEW STAFFORD PASSED for 365 yards and a touchdown to power the Los Angeles Rams to a 26-17 victory over the Seattle Seahawks, who lost star quarterback Russell Wilson in the second half with an injured finger.
Seattle’s Wilson left Thursday’s contest after he injured the middle finger on his throwing hand in the third quarter. Wilson tried to play after getting his finger on his right hand taped but threw just one more pass before leaving the game for good.
Quarterback Stafford completed 25 of 37 passes, including 12 completions to Robert Woods which netted 150 yards in the NFL West Division clash in front of a crowd of 68,700 at Seattle’s Lumen Field.
“We were able to finish drives off by throwing the ball to get it down there, and then running it in. There is no better feeling than that,” said Stafford, who also hurt his finger but was able to stay in the game.
Darrell Henderson rushed for a game-high 82 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries for the Rams, who improved to 4-1 on the season.
Wilson completed 11 of 16 passes for 152 yards with one touchdown and one interception as the Seahawks fell to 2-3.
Wilson has started 149 games in a row and has never missed a game in his decade-long career.
He hurt the finger on a long throw to Tyler Lockett, jamming it on Rams defender Aaron Donald on the follow through. Wilson held up his finger and showed his teammates that he couldn’t move it.
The Seahawks were forced to turn to backup Geno Smith, who had only thrown nine passes since 2019. But Smith had an immediate impact, completing five of his first six attempts, leading to a touchdown.
The Seahawks’ Jason Myers kicked a 32-yard field goal with 2:45 left in the fourth to make it 23-17.
Seattle got the ball back with just over two minutes to play, but Smith was intercepted on the next play by Los Angeles safety Nick Scott after Seattle’s receiver, Tyler Lockett, was tripped up.
Los Angeles’ Matt Gay rounded out the scoring by kicking a 47-yard field goal with 24 seconds left.
“We are an aggressive offense that has the confidence to capitalize on plays,” said Rams coach Sean McVay. “I wanted to keep ball in Matthew’s hands and we count on those guys (Woods and Henderson) to come through.”
The strangest play of the game came courtesy of Seahawks kicker Michael Dickson, of Australia, who executed a double punt to prevent the Rams from getting good field position.
With the Seahawks trailing 16-7 and facing fourth-and-14 at their own 21-yard line, Dickson had his initial punt blocked by Jamir Jones.
But Dickson quickly located the bouncing ball, grabbing it on the run then delivering a perfectly executed running kick similar to Aussie rules which he grew up playing in his native Australia.
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