With the playoffs out of reach, all that was left for the Seattle Seahawks were moral victories, but they did achieve them! Seattle ends the 2024 season with a 30-25 victory over the Los Angeles Rams, and earned several key milestones along the way in the process.
The Seahawks ended the year 10-7, making this their first season with double-digit wins since the 2020 campaign. It also means Mike Macdonald became the first head coach in franchise history to win 10 games in his first year as top man. Seattle also tied the franchise-best road record by going 7-1 away from home this year. While a trip to the postseason would have been preferable to all of this, there is still plenty of positives for the Hawks to hang their hats on.
As I predicted earlier Sunday morning, the Rams were absolutely going to make the Seahawks earn it. Seattle going in as 7.5 point favorites felt like fool’s gold to the max, and it turned out to be the case. The Seahawks, despite dominating most of the first half, struggled in the second, and needed yet another heroic comeback from an injured Geno Smith to escape with a win.
Seattle’s defense melted down ever since the opening two punts from the Rams. After those two, LA scored 10 points, threw an interception, then proceeded to score on four-straight drives. They eventually took a 25-24 lead with under five minutes to play.
Smith then engineered an eight-play, 65 yard drive to regain the lead. Smith found tight end Noah Fant for his 4th passing touchdown of the day, which became a career-best for the veteran quarterback. It is only fitting he had four touchdown passes on a day when he also set a new single-season Seahawks passing yard record at 4,320 yards.
Still, things weren’t going to be done there. After a failed two-point conversion play, the Rams had a chance to embarrass Seattle with a game-winning drive. LA made it all the way to the Seahawks’ nine-yard line where they faced a 4th-and-3. Backup Jimmy Garoppolo, who passed for 334 yards, threw his final ball of the game too low and it was broken up.
The Seahawks now head into another offseason filled with plenty of questions and difficult decisions to be made. But for one last moment before all that begins, the team can revel in victory before preparing for the 2025 campaign.
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