‘I can’t imagine anybody thinks that plays like that should be counted as conversions’

The most ridiculous two-point conversion ever results in the Seahawks tying it up vs the Rams.

Rules analyst Terry McAulay was all over it for Prime Video. 🏈🎙️ #NFL #TNF pic.twitter.com/BI8HEGwt1c

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 19, 2025

No one watching Thursday night’s game thought the Seattle Seahawks successfully converted their two-point try when Sam Darnold’s pass down the line was deflected by Los Angeles Rams outside linebacker Jared Verse. It clearly looked like an incomplete pass, and everyone on the field stopped with the belief that the play was over – especially after a whistle was blown.

But after nearly 2 minutes, officials decided to review the play to see if it was a backwards pass instead of an incompletion. As we all know now, it was deemed a backwards pass and a successful conversion when Zach Charbonnet casually picked the ball up in the end zone.

That tied the game at 30 and has become the most controversial play in a long time.

Sean McVay was puzzled by the play after the Rams’ 38-37 loss, saying he’s never seen anything like it in all his time around the game of football. During a call with reporters on Friday, he elaborated further on what he was told by the league.

“It’s a technicality issue,” he said. “What they said is, ‘You can’t advance a fumble under two minutes on two-point plays or on fourth downs. That’s the thing. Because they said it was a backwards pass, that’s how it was able to be advanced. I think we would all be in agreement, and I have a total appreciation for the layers in the semantics of all the rules, especially being on the competition committee. There’s a lot of empathy and difficult spots that some of our officials and everybody’s in, but I do believe that is not something that we want in the game.”

McVay is understandably frustrated that the play worked in the Seahawks’ favor, despite Seattle doing nothing right to actually convert that two-point try. He’s also not happy that after nearly 2 minutes, officials decided to review the play, even with both teams on the field preparing for the ensuing kickoff.

And normally, a fumble can’t be advanced inside of 2 minutes or on fourth down or two-point attempts, but because it was ruled a backwards pass and not a fumble, the Seahawks were able to advance it.

“When you’re able to review a two-point play, you split hairs on, all right is it a forward pass? Is it a backwards pass?” he continued. “When you reject it, they casually pick it up, which you always do that. The whistle is already blown dead, mind you. Then they wait a 1:50 in real time to then go back and say, ‘We’re going to review this.’ Then it ends up getting called a two-point play. By rule, because it was considered a backwards pass and not a fumble, they were able to advance that.”

McVay is on the NFL’s competition committee, so he has a front-row seat to rules discussions – just as he did this offseason when the Tush Push was such a hot topic. He expects plays like the Seahawks’ fluke two-point conversion to be another talking point in the upcoming offseason and believes everyone will agree with him that plays like that don’t belong in the sport.

“I do not believe that anybody would be in disagreement that those are not the plays we want in our game,” he said. “That was not their intent. They were trying to throw a lateral screen. It got batted down and it was not a successful conversion but by letter of the law, it was. Those will be things that we’ll discuss. I do know this, those aren’t the kind of plays that you want to have people converting on. That’s not something that I can imagine anyone would argue with me on that. I would feel the same way if it benefited us too.”

If this play had occurred in the 1 p.m. ET window of a meaningless game on Sunday, perhaps it may not have gotten the attention that it did in prime time – not to mention, the biggest game of the year. But regardless of when the play happened or the importance of the matchup, McVay doesn’t think anyone wants to see bizarre plays like that one impact a game.

“When situations and circumstances arise like that, those will be things that I guarantee you will be addressed and conversed over to try to eliminate plays like that for being able to happen, while totally acknowledging and being aware that there are a lot of layers to it where it’s not exclusive to those plays because there are other things that you’re saying, ‘All right, it opens up a can of worms with that,’” he said. “That’s something that I have gotten exposure to behind the scenes on the competition committee that there’s a lot of empathy for. What I will say at the end of the day is I can’t imagine anybody thinks that plays like that should be counted as conversions. I know I would feel that way even if I was a beneficiary and the roles were flipped and that benefited us last night. I can honestly say that.”

It seems like the two big issues are that the play was reviewed in the first place, particularly after a long delay. And that a backwards pass can be advanced on a two-point conversion but a fumble can’t.

That’s a strange technicality to be in the rulebook, and while it probably has never come up before, it had a serious impact on Thursday’s game, and consequently, the race for the No. 1 seed.