With the game - and a Super Bowl berth - hanging in the balance, the Los Angeles Rams found themselves facing a critical 4th-and-4 from the Seattle Seahawks' 6-yard line in the NFC Championship. Down 31-27 in the fourth quarter, Sean McVay put the ball in the hands of Matthew Stafford, trusting his veteran quarterback to deliver in a pressure-cooker moment.
But what unfolded was a defensive masterpiece from Seattle. Stafford dropped back, expecting a standard four-man rush.
Instead, he saw a sea of defenders - nine Seahawks dropped into coverage, with the pass rush thinning out to just two. Stafford scanned, scrambled, and ultimately fired a desperation throw into the back of the end zone.
Seahawks rookie corner Devon Witherspoon was there to shut the door, swatting the ball away and sending the Lumen Field crowd into a frenzy. The Seahawks would go on to punch their ticket to Super Bowl LX.
Since then, that fourth-down play has become a flashpoint - not just for fans, but for the coaches and players involved. Rams head coach Sean McVay has since suggested that Seattle got a little lucky.
In his eyes, the play didn’t break down because of a brilliant scheme or execution, but rather due to what he called a “fortuitous bust.” Specifically, McVay implied that Seahawks edge rusher DeMarcus Lawrence wasn’t supposed to drop into coverage, but did so by mistake - inadvertently taking away one of Stafford’s primary reads.
Lawrence, though, isn’t buying that narrative - and he’s not shy about saying so.
The veteran pass rusher, who joined Seattle this season after a long run in Dallas, pushed back strongly on McVay’s take. According to Lawrence, what looked like a busted play to McVay was actually the product of sharp defensive awareness - the kind that comes from years of studying formations, tendencies, and tells.
In this case, the tell was the Rams’ running back. As Lawrence explained, the back released too quickly into the flat, signaling to the defense that he was Stafford’s hot read - the first option in a quick-throw scenario. That sudden release tipped off the Seahawks' defense, allowing Lawrence to adjust on the fly.
“The back was too fast,” Lawrence said. “If it was a regular design and the back wasn’t his hot, the back would’ve waited to see if Julian [Love] was gonna rush first and then flare out.
But he didn’t wait. That was definitely an indicator - like an ‘Oh s***’ moment.
If the back is flaring out that fast, that means that’s his hot, so [Stafford] is going to the back first.”
That’s not a busted assignment - that’s high-level football IQ.
What McVay seems to be missing here is that Seattle’s defense didn’t just execute a play-call - they read, reacted, and adapted in real time. That’s what great defenses do.
And that’s what makes players like Lawrence and Julian Love so valuable. They’re not just executing Macdonald’s scheme - they’re elevating it with their awareness and instincts.
This wasn’t about luck or a miscue. It was about a defense that understood the moment, read the formation, and made the right adjustment on the fly. That’s the kind of situational awareness that separates good defenses from great ones - and it's a big reason why Seattle is heading to the Super Bowl.
McVay’s frustration is understandable. Fourth-and-goal with the season on the line is a tough moment to relive, especially when it ends in heartbreak.
But chalking it up to a defensive mistake does a disservice to what Seattle accomplished on that play. The Seahawks didn’t stumble into a stop - they earned it.
And now, with that chapter closed, the focus shifts to the next challenge. The Seahawks are headed to Super Bowl LX, where they’ll face the New England Patriots in what promises to be a heavyweight showdown.
As for that fourth-down stand? It’ll live on as one of the defining moments of Seattle’s NFC title run - not because of a busted play, but because of a defense that played smart, fast, and together when it mattered most.