Darnold and Stafford shine in high-class QB duel
Sam Darnold threw for three touchdowns, the Seahawks’ “Dark Side” defense came up with a critical fourth-down stop, and Seattle advanced to the Super Bowl, beating the Los Angeles Rams 31-27 in an electrifying NFC championship game on Sunday.
Led by second-year coach Mike Macdonald and Darnold – an eight-year veteran playing for his fifth team – the Seahawks reached their fourth Super Bowl in franchise history, and their first in 11 years. Seattle lost that most recent appearance to New England, their opponent in two weeks at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
With Los Angeles facing fourth-and-four at the Seattle six, coach Sean McVay elected to go for it and Matthew Stafford’s pass was broken up in the end zone by Devon Witherspoon. The Rams didn’t get the ball back until there were 25 seconds left on the clock, and Puka Nacua was tackled inbounds near midfield on the final play.