Seattle safety Earl Thomas would tell you it was the officials. Teammate and wide receiver Doug Baldwin might suggest that the Percy Harvin trade had something to do with it. But the Rams -- thanks in large part to fearless special teams -- deserve full credit for beating the Seahawks Sunday.
The fake punt with two and a half minutes to go -- from the Rams' own 18-yard line -- sealed the victory:
But it was Stedman Bailey's punt return midway through the second quarter that might have been the most insane play of Week 7.
In case you haven't seen it, focus on Bailey, who is at the top of the screen, all alone. He quietly hauls in the punt and sprints untouched 90 yards to the end zone. Teammate Tavon Austin, at the bottom of the screen, provides the misdirection as he pretends to make a play on the ball. Except, of course, it's some 40 yards on the other side of the field.
During the week, Rams special teams coach John Fassel noticed that Seahawks punter Jon Ryan almost always kicked the ball left when trying to pin the opposition deep. And that led to the creation of "Mountaineer," which the play came to be known because it featured two former West Virginia players, Bailey and Austin.
"From watching the tape, I would know exactly where the ball would land," said Bailey, who had never returned a punt going back to high school. "For me to catch it, it was just my receiver skills and catching the ball over my head. I turned around, secured it and just started running."
More amazing: every player on the Seahawks' coverage team fell for it.
"It seemed like my guy was thinking about going to the left, so I really had to overplay to the right and he ended up following," said Rams special teamer Chase Reynolds. Their guys just kind of followed the herd, I guess."
Rams coach Jeff Fisher added more background on the play.
"The key is that Tavon and Cody (Davis) really oversell that the ball is going," he said, according to the Seattle Times. …The team is expecting the ball to come down to their left, our right. And so when they saw Tavon running over, they probably thought it was miss-hit.
"The downside was he doesn’t catch it, the ball goes in the end zone, it’s a touch back or it’s downed. The upside was we felt like if he was able to field it, then we had a chance to probably put points on the board."
As for why Fisher opted for the fake punt deep in his own end with time winding down, it's pretty simple, really.
"You guys saw the flow of the game," he said. "We were having a hard time stopping Russell (Wilson). There was too much time left on the clock right there and I didn't want to give the ball back to him."
