The record-setting exploits of Greg «the Leg» Zuerlein and the sneaky touchdown pass from punter Johnny Hekker would have been nothing special Sunday if not for the game-saving interception of one of the most unassuming Rams, cornerback Bradley Fletcher.
Fletcher picked off a pass from Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson with a minute left in the game, preserving the Rams’ 19-13 victory over the Seahawks on Sunday at the Edward Jones Dome.
«All 11 want to be the guy to make the final play,» Fletcher said. «I was able to have that opportunity, and we were able to get the win today. «
The Seahawks got the ball at the Rams’ 20-yard line with 3 minutes, 9 seconds left and had moved 45 yards in eight plays. Wilson targeted tight end Anthony McCoy, who had caught a 5-yard pass on the previous play but appeared to lose his footing, leaving Fletcher in prime position.
«I just came off my Cover 2 play and saw the ball coming in my direction,» he said. «And I wanted to go catch it. We had to make a play.»
Fletcher grabbed it, wrapped the ball in his arms and fell to the ground.
«Just being smart,» he said. «I knew if I stayed down, the game was over. Don’t risk anything. And we could go ahead and think about Arizona,» the Rams’ opponent Thursday.
Along with the relief and congratulations from his teammates came the good-natured ribbing that follows a victory. Fletcher has had chances at interceptions in the last few games. But each time he couldn’t hang on.
«I commend Bradley,» linebacker Jo-Lonn Dunbar said. «He’s been bugging me for the last couple of weeks. Every time he gets his hands on the ball, he drops it. So, I’m happy he made a play. It was a huge play for us. «
Rookie Trumaine Johnson also got the first interception of his NFL career Sunday, in the second quarter, on a pass intended for Doug Baldwin.
«When I hit him, the ball kind of popped out,» Johnson said. «My instincts took over, and it came straight to me. The next thing you know, the ball was in my hands.»
The turnover led to the Rams’ lone touchdown, on the fake field goal-pass from Hekker to Danny Amendola.
«What we have in the secondary and feeding off each other has got the makings of something special,» said cornerback Cortland Finnegan, whose string of games with an interception was snapped at three.
The unit seems to be jelling now.
At times in his four-year career Fletcher has gotten lost in the shuffle. A third-round pick in 2009 out of Iowa, he played in seven games his rookie year before suffering a season-ending knee injury.
Fletcher started 15 of 16 games in 2010 and pulled down four interceptions but played just four games last year before tearing his ACL in practice during the bye week.
Just as he was recovering this spring from his second knee surgery in three years, the Rams drafted a pair of cornerbacks, Johnson and Janoris Jenkins. Then, Fletcher missed time in training camp because of a rib injury. But if he worried about finding his place in a crowded, young secondary, he didn’t let on Sunday.
«I want to be able to help the team in any way I can: special teams or on defense,» Fletcher said. «I was just happy to be able to help today.»
His Rams teammates saw redemption in his game-saving interception, though, all kidding aside.
«It’s awesome,» defensive end Chris Long said. «That’s why you battle through all the things you battle through as a player. There’s a lot of lows as an NFL player. But he’s taken those things in stride, and then to come out and there’s moment’s like that — that makes all that fighting that he’s done worth it. I’m really happy for him.
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