Seahawks WR Cooper Kupp Weighs in on Controversial Final Play vs. 49ers

If not for a Jaxon Smith-Njigba drop on third down, the Seattle Seahawks wouldn’t have had to rely on a miracle fourth-down conversion to Cooper Kupp to try and save their eventual 32-29 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.

But the Seahawks needed that final play to go in their favor, and without a camera angle that could conclusively see whether Kupp extended the ball beyond the first-down marker before going out of bounds, it didn’t.

The ruling on the field was that Kupp was short, and they didn’t have enough evidence to overturn it.

“I knew it was close, but yeah, clearly it was short,” Kupp said after the game. “So, just not enough there, and you’ve got to find a way to get that fourth down.”

Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold found Kupp about four yards away from the first-down marker. Kupp slipped a tackle and accelerated to the line to gain, where he was met by multiple 49ers defenders. 

Kupp slid towards the sideline and tried to extend the football, but all the horizontal angles of the play made it difficult to tell if the ball crossed the marker before or after it was over the sideline.

Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald was asked about his thoughts on the play, and he was brief.

“I don’t know,” Macdonald said. “They said he was short, so you’ve got to live with it.”

The 49ers took over on downs, and they were able to kneel it out from there. The Seahawks only had one timeout remaining, and the game clock was under 50 seconds.

It’s a play that will undoubtedly live in infamy in the storied Seahawks-49ers rivalry that has already brought heaps of wild games. Seattle won the big ones that mattered last season, and San Francisco has once again won the first matchup of the season between the two teams.

The Seahawks fell to 3-2, losing two of their last three games. San Francisco advanced to 5-0, and they currently lead a tightly contested NFC West that also houses the Los Angeles Rams (2-2).

Week 6 will be critical for the Seahawks, as they’re on a short week before facing the Denver Broncos (3-2) on Thursday, Oct. 15. Seattle will have to quickly recover emotionally from a difficult, close loss.

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