A two-play sequence gave Seattle an 11-point lead. Neither play came from household names.
Two consecutive plays, delivered by two unlikely Seattle heroes.
In Sunday’s NFC championship game between the Seahawks and the Rams, a two-play sequence proved monumental. Neither came from household names.
Early in the third quarter, special teams player Dareke Young jumped on a muffed punt, giving Seattle the ball back in the red zone after a stop from the Los Angeles defense. On the next play, quarterback Sam Darnold connected with receiver Jake Bobo on a 17-yard touchdown pass, giving Seattle a 24-13 lead.
It didn’t put the game out of reach, but it gave Seattle a cushion it quickly found out it would need. Los Angeles answered with a four-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that took under three minutes, pulling the Rams back within four points.
Seattle went on to win the game, 31-27.
“It was a big moment for us,” Young said through a cloud of victory cigar smoke in the Seattle locker room after the game. “The momentum swung in our direction and we had our foot on the gas for the rest of the game.”
Bobo, who played at UCLA, is in his third season with Seattle. A popular player during Seattle’s preseason slates, he only caught two passes during the 2025 regular season. He was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Seahawks after the 2023 NFL Draft.
“There’s always a plan in place, even though you don’t always necessarily know what’s going on,” Bobo said of his approach with limited opportunities during the season.
Darnold stood tall in the pocket and took a shot from a Rams defender after delivering the touchdown pass to Bobo.
“I owe Sammy a couple of beers for the shot that he took,” Bobo said, laughing. “So much respect for him standing in there and taking that. We got the coverage we were hunting. If (Jaxon Smith-Njigba) wasn’t there, I knew it was gonna come to me over the middle. I was just very thankful, happy to contribute.”
Young, meanwhile, was a seventh-round Seattle pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. He also had two receptions at receiver during the 2025 regular season and has four career receptions.
He redeemed himself for a mental error earlier in the game. In the same situation in the first half, he overran Rams’ punt returner Xavier Smith, who muffed the punt but fell on it. The second time around, it was Smith again who muffed the punt. This time, Young was in front of him and pounced on the loose ball.
“I knew that I messed up on the first one, got down there too fast,” he told The News Tribune. “I wasn’t under control and I peeled off to the side to allow him to catch the ball because I didn’t want to run into him. The next punt after that, I made sure I faced him up.
“I was able to get a recovery if he did muff it. It felt great, and it felt even better seeing Bobo going out there and score a touchdown right after.”
Jaxon Smith-Njigba on teammate Jake Bobo’s touchdown:
— Jon Manley (@manley_tnt) January 26, 2026
“Bobo is a bad boy.”
Said he’s “super happy” for him @thenewstribunepic.twitter.com/kT1CRdxmvl
Smith-Njigba said he was “super happy” for Bobo, seeing all the work he puts in at practice every day, despite the volume of targets not being what he’d probably like.
“Bobo is a bad boy,” he said. “He get open, he catch the ball, he does his job. Super happy for him. More than deserving. The work he puts in day in, day out, more than deserving. Super happy for him. We all trust Bobo in this building to get the job done. If the ball’s coming his way, we know he’s gonna catch it.”
Safety Nick Emmanwori said the two-play sequence was “huge” and knew special teams would play a role in the game’s outcome.
“Them coming up like that, Bobo scoring a touchdown, that’s how you put teams away and that’s what we did,” Emmanwori said.
Seattle advances to the Super Bowl after winning two games at Lumen Field in the NFL playoffs. The Seahawks will face the New England Patriots, who defeated the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship game.
Category: General Sports
