Earl's Clutch Chop Helps Hawks Seal Win, Top Spot in NFC - The Official Web Site of Earl Thomas

Earl Thomas’ All-Pro NFL career has always been marked by the way he plays, not specific plays he makes, but in Sunday afternoon’s regular season finale with his Seahawks in need of a stop, ET III made what may go down as the defining play of his NFL tenure.

Seattle was leading St. Louis 20-6 at the time, just over six minutes from locking up the NFC West crown, the No. 1 seed in the conference and home-field advantage through the playoffs, but the Rams were threatening to make it a one-possession game, with the ball inside the Seattle 10.

On 3rd-and-goal from the 6, St. Louis quarterback Shaun Hill found running back Bennie Cunningham on a screen pass and Cunningham appeared ticketed for six. But Earl rushed over from his safety position, met Cunningham just shy of the goal line and as the Rams running back tried to reach the ball out and break the plane, ET III chopped it out of his hand.

Earl’s sensational forced fumble not only stopped St. Louis from scoring, it gave the ball back to Seattle because the ball then bounced through the end zone and out of bounds for a Seahawks touchback. The stop served as a turning point in the fourth quarter, allowing Seattle to take more time off the clock and eventually salt away a 20-6 victory over the Rams.

With the victory the Seahawks (12-4) won the NFC West over Arizona (11-5) and moved into a three-way tie atop the NFC with Dallas and Green Bay. As holder of the best conference record of the three (10-2), Seattle locked up the top seed in the conference, sending the road to the Super Bowl through CenturyLink Field for the second straight season.

Earl finished the afternoon with a team-high 12 tackles, but all anyone could talk about afterward was the game-changing play at the goal line that short-circuited St. Louis’ comeback attempt.

“That was a colossal play,” said fellow Legion of Boom member Richard Sherman. “It just shows who he is as a person, as a player, his effort, his unwavering commitment, his unwavering effort every play to the last inch, till there’s only an inch left.”

Outside linebacker K.J. Wright missed the play when it happened live, but had clearly heard all about it by the time he spoke to reporters Sunday evening.

“I didn’t see it,” he said. “But that just shows you how great Earl is. He plays to the last minute, the last second of each and every play, and I can’t wait to see it on film.”

Teammates on the offensive side of the ball were just as impressed. Russell Wilson, one of the players closest to Earl on the team recalled speaking to No. 29 about anticipation and execution and was proud of the way his teammate did both on the crucial play.

“You think about Earl Thomas’ play,” Wilson said after the game. “He and I, we were talking about visualizing and making great plays. I kept telling him to keep visualizing, keep being there. Sure enough, he makes that play there.”

The game was a defensive battle from the start, and early on Wilson and the offense struggled to execute against the strong St. Louis defense.

After three-and-outs to start the game from each side, the Rams struck first with an 11-play drive that reach the Seattle red zone. But the Hawks stopped them outside the 10 and forced a field goal to make it 3-0 St. Louis. The score remained that way into the second quarter after the Seahawks went for it on 4th-and-5 on the subsequent drive and failed to convert.

After that turnover on downs, the Seattle defense stepped up with a quick three-and-out to close out the first quarter and the Hawks offense returned to the field to start the second. From there, Wilson marched the Seahawks back into Rams territory, but on 3rd-and-8 from the St. Louis 42, his deep pass intended for Paul Richardson was intercepted by Rams defensive back Marcus Roberson, who returned it to their own 40.

The Hawks defense again came up with a quick stop to ensure the Rams couldn’t capitalize on the turnover, but just two plays into the subsequent Seattle drive, Marshawn Lynch fumbled the ball after a 12-yard gain on a screen pass from Wilson. The ball was recovered by T.J. McDonald, who took it to the Seattle 34, setting the Rams up with great field position and a chance to pull ahead by two scores midway through the second quarter.

Once again, the Seahawks defense came up huge and, thanks in part to a false start penalty, the Rams didn’t net a single yard on the quick three-play drive. They settled for a 51-yard field goal to go up 6-0 with 4:18 left in the half.

The score would remain that way through halftime as the Seattle offense had trouble moving the ball on two more late first half drives. So despite a dominant first half performance from the Seahawks defense, which limited St. Louis to just 66 net yards on 26 plays, the Hawks were down on the scoreboard at the break.

The Seattle offense finally started to click in the second half, however. On the fourth play from scrimmage in the second half, Wilson found Richardson for a 32-yard play that took the Hawks to the Rams 26, deeper into St. Louis territory than they had been in the entire first half. The drive stalled on the next series, but a 42-yard Steven Hauschka field goal cut the Rams lead in half, down to 6-3.

Another three-and-out forced by the Seahawks defense followed, allowing the offense to maintain some momentum as the took the field at their own 31 on the ensuing drive. Wilson again led Seattle into St. Louis territory, but the Rams stopped the Hawks short of the red zone and a sack of Wilson on 3rd-and-4 from the 21 forced Seattle to settle for a field goal that tied the score at 6-6 with 4:50 left in the third.

On their subsequent drive after losing the lead, St. Louis was able to march into Seahawks territory and carried the game into the fourth quarter. But on the very first play of the final frame, from the Hawks 34-yard-line, Hill was picked off by Seattle’s Jordan Hill, who returned to the Seahawks 46-yard-line, setting the offense up near midfield.

Wilson followed by engineering a quick six-play drive to put the Hawks in front for good.

The possession was highlighted by a huge pass play from Wilson to Kevin Norwood for 31 yards to the St. Louis 9-yard-line. The Seahawks then made the most of their first red zone trip of the day as Lynch punched the ball in on the very next play to give Seattle a 13-6 lead with just over 12 minutes left.

With the lead in hand, the Hawks defense turned it up a notch to put the game away.

On the fifth play of the ensuing St. Louis drive, a pass by Shaun Hill intended for tight end Lance Kendricks was picked off by Seattle linebacker Bruce Irvin, who returned the pick 49 yards for a touchdown to put the Seahawks in front 20-6 with 9:50 to play.

Then, on the subsequent St. Louis drive came Earl’s time to shine. First he made three big tackles during the drive to stifle big plays from the Rams. But the desperate St. Louis offense kept executing and moving down the field. With just more than six minutes left in the game and Seattle clinging to a 14-point lead, the Rams were mere centimeters away from making it a one-possession game.

But No. 29 in blue was the difference.

On third down from the six-yard-line, Cunningham caught a short pass and made a move toward the endzone. Seattle cornerback Byron Maxwell went for the tackle but couldn’t quite wrap Cunningham up, as the Rams running back turned the corner looking for paydirt.

That is, until Earl made one of the most incredible plays of the 2014 NFL season.

As Cunningham stretched to reach the ball across the goal line, ET III flew in and swatted at the ball. Though he missed the ball by an inch or two, No. 29 caught Cunningham’s arm on the follow through, forcing the ball out of the running back’s hand just an instant before it crossed the plane. The ball bounced forward and out of the end zone, resulting in a touchback and possession for the Seahawks.

That play #Seahawks S Earl Thomas made was just incredible. How in the world did he knock that loose?

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 29, 2014

Holy cow, what a play by Earl Thomas! Smacks the ball out of Cunningham's outstretched arms just inches from the goal line. Touchback

— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) December 29, 2014

. @Earl_Thomas is fantastic. What a play to essentially seal the one-seed.

— Rich Eisen (@richeisen) December 29, 2014

What a play by Earl Thomas. Body control, awareness and closing speed. All-Pro type play.

— Rob Rang (@RobRang) December 29, 2014

Earl Thomas making plays. Wow. Unreal talent

— Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) December 29, 2014

Earl Thomas had saved the day and put his Seahawks in position to clinch another NFC West title and the top seed in the NFC.

St. Louis mounted one more drive at a comeback, but shortly after they crossed into Seattle territory, the Hawks front seven came up big sacking Hill on two of three plays to force the Rams into a 4th-and-35 that they couldn’t convert, which sealed the game.

Afterward, Seahawks head Coach Pete Carroll mentioned numerous plays by the Seattle defense that helped sway the game, but ET III’s fumble especially stuck out.

“I don’t know if there’s a more fitting play for a guy than Earl knocks the ball out with a sliver of an inch from the goal line with a great effort to knock the thing out, and we get the turnover there as well. What a great play for that guy,” Carroll said. “It’s just a great way to make that statement of how hard he plays this game and how tough a competitor he is, and he never would ever let up. That was an incredible play for us.”

As a unit, the Seattle defense has been on another level and is peaking as the playoffs get set to begin. Over the course of their six-game win streak to end the season, the Seahawks defense allowed just 39 total points and only gave up double-digit points once (14 to the Philadelphia Eagles). On Sunday, they allowed St. Louis to accumulate just 245 total yards on offense Sunday and forced three turnovers, the final one being Earl’s instant-classic play.

After the game, Earl took no praise, nor did he show any surprise in the team’s dominance.

“This is who we are,” he said. “You’ve got to stay true to who you are, and we proved that. We expect to dominate. We hear people talking about ‘You shouldn’t have expectations.’ Yeah, we have expectations.”

NEXT UP

Earl and the Seahawks (12-4) ended the regular season in as strong a position as they possibly could have, which earned them a first-round bye in the playoffs through next weekend’s Wild Card Round.

They will host a divisional round game on January 10th at CenturyLink Field, though their opponent will not be determined until the conclusion of the final game of the Wild Card between the NFC No. 3 seed Dallas Cowboys and NFC No. 6 Detroit Lions. If Detroit wins, the Hawks would host the Lions. However, if Dallas wins, Seattle would host the winner of Saturday’s game between the No. 4 Carolina Panthers and No. 5 Arizona Cardinals.

Whoever they face next, the Hawks are confident knowing the road to the Super Bowl goes through CenturyLink Field and the 12th man. Kickoff of the Divisional Round is scheduled for 5:15 p.m. ET on Saturday, January 10th and the game can be seen on FOX.