Geno Smith threw four touchdown passes, including a 16-yarder to Noah Fant with 3:19 remaining, as the Seattle Seahawks completed their season with a 30-25 victory against the NFC West champion Los Angeles Rams on Sunday afternoon in Inglewood, Calif.
The Seahawks (10-7) finished with the same record as the Rams (10-7), but the division was decided last weekend because Los Angeles had the edge in the strength-of-victory tiebreaker. The Rams will get the No. 4 seed in the NFC playoffs.
Smith completed 20 of 27 passes for 223 yards. Zach Charbonnet and Kenny McIntosh combined for 108 yards rushing, with Fant and fellow tight end AJ Barner each making five receptions and scoring once.
The Rams rested several starters, including quarterback Matthew Stafford. Jimmy Garoppolo, making his L.A. debut, was 27-of-41 passing for 334 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.
Garoppolo threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Johnson with 12:43 remaining, but he misfired on a two-point conversion attempt that would’ve tied the score.
The Rams’ Joshua Karty kicked his fourth field goal, a 38-yarder with 7:29 left, to give Los Angeles a 25-24 lead — its first of the game.
A limping Smith led the Seahawks on an eight-play, 70-yard drive for the decisive score, with Fant making a leaping catch before being upended at the goal line.
Garoppolo guided the Rams to Seattle’s 9-yard line in the closing minute, but his pass on fourth-and-3 fell incomplete.
The Seahawks led 17-13 at the half as the teams traded scores.
Smith opened the scoring with a 4-yard touchdown pass to Jake Bobo.
Karty kicked a 37-yard field goal with 37 seconds left in the first quarter to make it 7-3.
Seattle extended its lead as Smith avoided the rush and threw a 20-yard scoring strike to DK Metcalf.
Garoppolo tossed a 6-yard TD pass to Tyler Higbee to pull the Rams within 14-10.
Jason Myers kicked a 56-yard field goal for Seattle, and Karty answered with a 58-yarder on the final play of the half.
Karty added a 57-yarder midway through the third quarter to pull the Rams within 17-16.
The Seahawks responded with a 4-yard TD pass from Smith to Barner with 3:00 left in the third to make it 24-16.
Second-year Seahawks receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba made four catches to equal Tyler Lockett’s franchise single-season record of 100 set in 2020. Defensive lineman Leonard Williams had two sacks to become the first Seahawk with double-digit sacks (11) for one season since Frank Clark (13) in 2018.
–Field Level Media
