⚡ LATEST UPDATE: Seahawks hand out the game ball to their clock-management ace after his clever timeout usage single-handedly secures victory ⚡. DH
The Seahawks spoiled Philip Rivers’s big comeback on Sunday.
After Rivers led the Colts offense on a go-ahead field goal drive that put Indianapolis on top with less than a minute to play, Sam Darnold and the Seattle offense marched right back down the field to drill a kick of their own to win the game.
The kick was the cherry on top of a career night for Seahawks kicker Jason Myers, who scored all 18 of his team’s points on the night with makes from 47, 52, 46, 32, 30 and 56 yards out.
Myers undoubtedly got a game ball for his performance against the Colts, but another notably less heralded figure was also awarded a game ball for his contribution on Sunday—head research analyst Brian Eayrs.
It was Eayrs who made the call on when the Seahawks started using their timeouts as the Colts were on their final drive of the game.
Seattle started preserving the clock as soon as Indianapolis crossed midfield. It was crucial that the Seahawks didn’t start calling timeouts until the Colts were clearly settling for a field goal, as their three timeouts were only enough to preserve clock on a single series’ worth of downs.
While midfield might have been a bit far out for most, between the impressive leg that kickers have shown across the NFL this year and the conservative playbook the Colts were leaning on with Rivers under center, Eayrs made the bet that Indy would be settling for a field goal sooner rather than later. He was right.
As soon as the Seahawks stuffed Colts running back Jonathan Taylor for no gain on first down from midfield, Seattle fired off their first timeout. Indy followed with a short pass and another mostly stuffed run, with Seattle quickly calling timeout after both plays, and kicked their go-ahead field goal with 47 seconds left on the clock.
The Colts’ lead was short-lived, as five plays and 29 seconds of game time later, the Seahawks retook the lead with a kick of their own.
After the game, coach Mike Macdonald was quick to shout out Eayrs for making the call that helped save the game.
“It’s kind of a function of, is this declared as the last possession,” Macdonald said after the game, via Gregg Bell of The News Tribune. “You’re trying to find a way that if it doesn’t go your way you have a chance to come back and win.
Brian Eayrs did a phenomenal job managing it. Really decisive. I give him a lot of credit. I gave him a game ball in the locker room, because he really put us in a position to still have a chance to win the game.”
There’s a lot of different ways a person can contribute to a win in the NFL. While it’s the players on the field that make the magic happen, it’s calls like the one Eayr
