Los Angeles Rams

The Seahawks' fake punt up 3 TDs on the Rams was the most fascinating play of the season

Published Dec. 16, 2016 11:56 a.m. ET

Dieter Kurtenbach

Either Pete Carroll has no chill or the Seattle Seahawks' Jon Ryan is one bold punter, because late in the fourth quarter, up three touchdowns on the hapless L.A. Rams and deep in Seahawks territory, Ryan faked a punt and ran for 33 yards and a first down, effectively ending a game that was pretty much already over.

Ryan also nearly botched the entire play with an incredible bobble and recovery.

And he was knocked out cold at the end of the run.

From the premise to the loose ball to the helmet-to-helmet hit, the play gave us a lot to digest — it is without question the most fascinating play in the NFL this year.

The fake

First, let's take into account that when the ball was snapped, the Seahawks were on their own 27-yard line. They led by 21 points. And while yes, they only needed 2 yards for the first down, there was a little more than 5 minutes left in the game and the Rams were playing with their backup quarterback (who might be an upgrade over Jared Goff, but that's a different story).

Everything about this situation says that it's a pretty audacious, and perhaps even classless move to run a fake punt, but that's exactly what Ryan did — taking advantage of the Rams' total lack of preparedness to run right up the middle.

Ryan picked up the first down and had to be running as fast as he had ever run in his entire life. No one was going to catch him for a while. He was a hero — not only to punters and special teams players everywhere, but also to an America that's in desperate need of one.

Things were going great.

Until they weren't.

The bobble

Once the punter moved past midfield, his body rejected the reality of the situation and Ryan began to fumble the ball. And he didn't just put the ball on the ground, like a normal ball carrier, either.

No, this turned into an incredible bit of physical comedy — a silent movie trope for a national television audience to see unfold in real time.

Ryan bobbled the ball to the side, in front of him, and then way above his head.

The look of horror on the punter's face was truly something to behold.

You can feel the panic.

Don't mess this up, Jon!

The horror. Oh, the horror.

Then relief.

You got it, just go down and it'll all be over.

And then...

The hit

There's not much Troy Hill could have done. The Rams special teamer was going down to tackle the punter, whose attention was solely on regaining possession of the ball and not, well, the trained sport assassins in white who were poised to hit him as hard as they possibly could in retribution for the embarrassment that unfolded.

But as Ryan went down, on his own, to secure the ball once again, his head lined up with the path Hill was taking to tackle him.

You can easily imagine what happened next.

Ryan was knocked unconscious by the hit. He was out cold. The ball came loose, but he already was down on the play. (A challenge would uphold this ruling.)

Ryan was able to walk off the field under his own power and was evaluated for a concussion (Newsflash: He's definitely concussed).

The 33-yard run was 9 yards longer than Todd Gurley's longest run this year. It gained more than five of the Rams' drives Thursday night. It was the 65th longest run in the NFL this season.

It was shocking and bold and scary.

What other play in the NFL this year can say the same?

(Get well soon, Jon!)