Riq Woolen’s ill-advised taunting penalty nearly foils Seahawks’ bid for Super Bowl berth

SEATTLE (AP) — An alternate reality exists in which Riq Woolen’s name becomes infamous for countless Seattle sports fans.

Thankfully for those aficionados, such isn’t the case on account of the Seattle Seahawks’ 31-27 win over the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC championship game that clinched the franchise's fourth Super Bowl berth. Still, that didn’t keep Woolen from taking ownership for an ill-advised taunting penalty.

With the Seahawks leading 31-20 late in the third quarter on Sam Darnold’s 13-yard TD pass, Woolen was flagged for taunting after breaking up a pass to Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua on third-and-12, giving Los Angeles a first down.

On the next play, Stafford threw at Woolen again, and Nacua beat him in the corner of the end zone for a 34-yard touchdown.

“Even though I made a great play, I wasn’t great for my team,” Woolen said, “and I’ve got to be better with that and celebrate with the team. The next play, they scored a touchdown, and that wouldn’t have happened if I had just celebrated with the team.”

Wooled jawed with the Rams’ bench, and continued to after repeated efforts by the covering official to have him turn away and go to his own bench, referee Clay Martin said in a pool report. When Woolen chose not to walk away, that’s what prompted the flags rather than it being something that the Seahawks cornerback specifically said.

Though Woolen, who was called for two other taunting penalties this season, took ownership for the mishap, it still incited some frustration on the Seahawks’ bench in the immediate aftermath. Linebacker Ernest Jones said it took a handful of seconds for he and his teammates to cool down.

For Seattle’s sake, it was a good thing the Seahawks’ defense promptly got on the same page considering what ensued on Los Angeles’ next drive.

The Rams had their longest drive of the game, going 14 plays and 84 yards while burning 7:24 off the clock. Los Angeles even had a 2nd-and-4 at the Seattle 6 before the Seahawks forced two incompletions from Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford to generate a turnover on downs.

“We just told each other you’ve got to keep going, keep playing,” defensive lineman Byron Murphy II said. “We have Riq’s back no matter what. No matter if it’s a positive or negative thing, you’ve just got to keep going.”

When Rams coach Sean McVay elected to go for it on 4th-and-4, Stafford’s pass was broken up in the end zone by Devon Witherspoon. As the raucous fans at Lumen Field celebrated, it was a fitting end to an emotional roller coaster of a sequence for Woolen, coach Mike Macdonald and the Seahawks.

“He just made an emotional decision and we got to pick him up,” Macdonald said. “That’s not the time to point (the finger), get all upset. You’ve got to go play the next play and score and go rebound back and go back. Riq came back and played well the rest of the game. So I mean, it literally is like ‘12 As One’. Just keep picking each other up.”

What allowed the Seahawks to quickly move on was indeed a group effort. But, it was also because of safety Julian Love stepping in as the self-proclaimed “glue guy” of the defense. Love recognized that while Woolen’s infraction was the byproduct of a “poor decision,” it was not going to benefit the Seahawks if his teammates held him accountable in an aggressive way.

And so Love stepped in, and in the process ensured that Woolen’s name wouldn’t go down in Seattle sports history for all the wrong reasons.

“I said ‘don’t do that again, obviously. But I love you, and you’re gonna make plays for us,’” Love said. “That’s how we approach what’s next.”

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