SI

Zach Charbonnet Didn’t Realize He Was Making One of the Most Important Plays of NFL Season

Biggest play of the night was unlike any we’ve seen before.

Kyle Koster

Zach Charbonnet's commitment to picking up footballs paid off for the Seattle Seahawks.
Zach Charbonnet's commitment to picking up footballs paid off for the Seattle Seahawks. / Amazon Prime
In this story:

The Seahawks pulled off a remarkable comeback against the Rams on Thursday Night Football to take control of the NFC West and put themself in position to earn the conference’s only bye. Overcoming a 16-point deficit in the fourth quarter required many things to go right and for Seattle to make all kinds of clutch plays down the stretch. By far the weirdest, and perhaps important, was running back Zach Charbonnet casually picking up an unattended football in the end zone after what appeared to be an unsuccessful two-point conversion.

After someone decided the officials on the field and in the replay center should take another look at the seemingly meaningless move, the Seahawks were appropriately given the game-tying points as Sam Darnold’s pass was clearly moving backward when it was deflected by a Rams player into the end zone, making it a live ball. Seattle went on to prevail in overtime on another, more normal two-point conversion.

Of the many strange things about the play, which could go down in Seahawks’ lore if they are able to hang on for the NFC West crown, Charbonnet’s decision to even bother scooping the ball up is among the most important. It didn’t appear like he was particularly rushed or excited to bend down and grab it, which makes sense because in the moment it seemed pointless.

So why did he do it? Turns out it’s just another example of good coaching.

“I had no idea, but I’m always taught to pick up the ball,” Charbonnet said postgame.   

That simple action had likely been drilled into him by Mike Macdonald, though no one would dream that it would pay off to this extent.

It’s just amazing how everything about the way the ball bounced had to go right for Seattle to even be in position to capitalize. It had to fly back toward the end zone. Charbonnet had to go over in that direction because there was a chance it was going to be picked off and taken the other way for points. Of course, everyone else on the field had to think the play was over.

More NFL on Sports Illustrated

FREE NEWSLETTER. SI BTN Newsletter. Start off your day with SI:CYMI. dark

feed

FREE NEWSLETTER. SI BTN Newsletter. Start off your day with SI:CYMI. dark

Published
Kyle Koster
KYLE KOSTER

Kyle Koster is an assistant managing editor at Sports Illustrated covering the intersection of sports and media. He was formerly the editor in chief of The Big Lead, where he worked from 2011 to '24. Koster also did turns at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he created the Sports Pros(e) blog, and at Woven Digital.

Home/NFL