SEATTLE -- The Los Angeles Rams offense wanted to go for it. Coach Sean McVay listened.
The Rams faced third-and-1 from their 42-yard line, leading the Seattle Seahawks 33-31 with 1 minute, 52 seconds to play Sunday at CenturyLink Field. Todd Gurley took a handoff, but an official measurement determined he gained only inches -- not enough for a first down, which would have effectively ended the game.
Quarterback Jared Goff and the Rams offense jogged to the sideline as the punt team took the field, ready to rely on their defense to stop Russell Wilson and the Seahawks offense a final time, with 1:39 remaining in the game.
But Seattle coach Pete Carroll called a timeout, and 30 seconds later, everything changed.
Goff and McVay huddled on the sideline.
Would they dare go for it in their own territory with 1:39 remaining, knowing that Seahawks kicker Sebastian Janikowski earlier made a 52-yard field goal and could be given an opportunity to kick a game winner?
"We had a lot of time to decide and [McVay] was kind of going back and forth," Goff said. "I was off, I thought we were punting. I went back on the field just to talk the official about something, and as I'm turning around the offense was running back on and I go, 'All right, I guess we're going for it.'"
Said right tackle Rob Havenstein: "We wanted to go for it. ... We just kind of started moseying on back out to the field like, 'All right, let's do this, we're going to go ahead and get this.'"
Earlier in the game the Rams had been stopped short of a touchdown on the 1-yard line. And in this situation, stopped short on third down.
So facing fourth-and-inches, McVay called for a quarterback keeper.
The 6-foot-4, 222-pound Goff dove over center John Sullivan and right guard Austin Blythe and he picked up a first down.
"We talk about attacking, and our guys, you can see they believe and wanted to go for it," McVay said. "And when you have your players believe, you want to put the trust in them, and they delivered."
Goff jumped to his feet and pumped his fist before he took a knee for the final two plays to end the game as the Rams improved to 5-0.
"It was all riding on that one play," Goff said. "We got a really, really good jump on them up front and really just fell forward."
Said McVay: "Everybody believes in being aggressive. It was a little bit of a whirlwind. But everybody is on the same page once we made the decision, it's final, and fortunately you guys don't have to kill me about it and it worked."