Hawks still rule West

ST. LOUIS – Josh Brown kicked the game-winning field goal, Lofa Tatupu made an all-important interception late in the game, and Deion Branch was making so many plays that you’d have thought it was Super Bowl Sunday.

But when Seattle Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck stepped up to the podium Sunday afternoon, he mentioned one name before any of theirs.

“All I can say is thank God that we’ve got Ed Hochuli out there, who knows the rules,” Hasselbeck said, referring to the head official at Sunday’s game with the St. Louis Rams.

In what might have been the most bizarre game yet of a relentlessly crazy rivalry, the Seahawks escaped with a last-second victory Sunday due not only to key plays at important times but also to a little-known NFL rule.

Brown kicked a 54-yard field goal as time expired to give Seattle a 30-28 victory over the rival St. Louis Rams on Sunday, but that game-winner would not have been possible if not for the call that preceded it.

The ruling came after Hasselbeck spiked the ball to stop the clock with four seconds left in an effort to set up the game-winning field goal. A flag was thrown on the play because one of Seattle’s receivers was not on the line of scrimmage, meaning the Seahawks had only six players on the line (seven are required, by NFL rules). Rams players and coaches began celebrating, thinking that a 10-second runoff would take place, as per league rules for certain offensive penalties called in the final minute of either half.

But the illegal formation call was not subject to such a runoff. Instead, Hochuli walked off a 5-yard penalty, and there were still four seconds left on the clock.

Brown came onto the field and nailed a 54-yarder to win the game as time expired.

Asked for an explanation of the rule, Hochuli told a St. Louis-based pool reporter that clock runoffs are subject to some – but not all – offensive penalties in the final minute.

“The 10-second runoff people are familiar with is a false start, or when the players never get set before the ball gets snapped,” said Hochuli, a 17-year veteran of NFL officiating. “This is not a 10-second runoff situation. … The (offense) was all set. They were set for a full second. They were just in an illegal formation.”

The no-runoff rule is so obscure that not even the 777-page “NFL Record & Fact Book,” which is published annually, made any reference to it.

That the Seahawks were even in position to win on a controversial decision was almost as amazing as the way the game finished.

Seattle fell behind 21-7 at halftime and looked dead out of the water heading into the final 30 minutes of play.

“We were very flat in the beginning of the game,” wide receiver Deion Branch said. “That’s not what you should look like coming off a bye, especially after the performance we had two weeks ago. That wasn’t what we were supposed to look like.”

Thanks to a spirited halftime speech by head coach Mike Holmgren – “I’ll keep it PG, but he said: ‘Play better,’” defensive end Bryce Fisher said – the Seahawks came out and dominated for most of the second half. By scoring 20 unanswered points, Seattle took a 27-21 lead into the two-minute warning.

But the Rams tied the score when Marc Bulger connected with Torry Holt on a 67-yard touchdown pass with 1:44 left, then took a 28-27 on the ensuing point-after kick. The seesaw of momentum had tilted back toward the home team, and Seattle had less than two minutes, and no timeouts, as it tried to mount one final rally.

Thanks to three Hasselbeck completions, and a nifty 9-yard run by fullback Mack Strong, the Seahawks were in position to kick the game-winning field goal from about 50 yards away.

But with 17 seconds left, Seattle handed the ball to Strong one more time, gaining a yard while keeping the clock moving. Hasselbeck hurried the team to the line of scrimmage, got set, and fired the ball into the turf with four seconds left on the clock.

A flag was immediately thrown, and Rams coach Scott Linehan led a sideline celebration. The fans soon followed, believing that the penalty would result in a 10-second runoff and thereby conclude the Rams’ 28-27 victory. But after a short meeting with the other officials, Hochuli addressed the crowd and told them that no runoff would occur.

“It seems like there’s always something when you play here, always a controversial call somewhere down the line,” Seahawks linebacker Julian Peterson said. “I’m just glad it didn’t backfire on us this time.”

Even though the ruling went in Seattle’s favor, it was still up to Brown to kick the game-winning field goal. Brown delivered for the fourth time in his career, only this time it came from farther than ever.

“Fifty-four yards,” Brown said when asked what made this game-winner more significant than the others. That’s not a chipper, a gimme or an in-between. This is a 50-50 shot. We think it’s a 90 percent shot, because we work on it. But that’s what makes it special.

“And, we beat the Rams. They’re a monkey that sometimes jumps on our backs. It’s good to knock them off again.”