#hail-mary-technique

#hail-mary-technique

"Everybody a little bit more locked in," Harris said. "Everybody's staying a couple more hours after meetings and things like that. Cleaning up things, making sure everything's dotted. That's what comes with playoff football."

The wide receiver has played out of his mind this season. He roasts every defensive coverage and has morphed into a three-level threat: beating man-coverage quickly off the snap, showing fearlessness to attack the middle of the field and stretching away from deep coverage. Klint Kubiak, the Seahawks' offensive coordinator, has channeled the entire Seattle offense through his star receiver. Smith-Njigba lines up everywhere: out wide, in the slot, in the backfield. From any of those looks, he's a matchup nightmare.

Look, Nix certainly wasn't perfect Saturday. Yeah, he was 26-for-46 for 279 yards and three touchdown passes. Yeah, he threw the go-ahead touchdown pass with 55 seconds left in regulation. And yeah, he made a couple of really pretty deep throws in overtime that were flagged for pass interference to set up Wil Lutz's game-winning field goal. But there were absolutely stretches of this game where it looked like Nix was a bigger part of the problem than the solution.

"If there's one person, two people that aren't executing to the best of their abilities, he's going to find that crease," Rams veteran linebacker Troy Reeder said. "And they have a unit as a whole that does a really good job of getting him started in his returns. ... You just want to contain this guy, and not let him make a play that could change the game."

According to Guiness World Records, the fewest net passing yards allowed in a game came when the Dallas Cowboys held the Denver Broncos to 35 at Super Bowl XII following the 1977 season. Broncos quarterback Craig Morton completed four of 11 passes in the first half for 39 yards and four interceptions. After Morton started the third quarter with four more incomplete passes and a sack, he was replaced by Norris Weese, who completed four of 10 passes for 22 yards.

SANTA CLARA - The 49ers' plan at wide receiver this season was draped in maroon and gold. The Niners were supposed to ride into this postseason on the backs of two Arizona State products, a Tempe two-step atop the wide receiver depth chart designed to torment defensive coordinators from Seattle to Philadelphia. Brandon Aiyuk (Arizona State 2018-19) was the established star, the alpha, the $30-million man.

The crowd inside Gillette Stadium, as it would be for some much more important home games in January, went absolutely berserk. It was a sign of things to come for Henderson, who as the Patriots' speed compliment to running back Rhamondre Stevenson in the backfield, is uncatchable when he finds so much as a crease. He scored touchdowns on four runs of 50-plus yards this season, which is tied for the most by a rookie in NFL history.

Sam Darnold was a game manager Sunday evening and is fine with it. A system quarterback who reached the pinnacle of his profession at Levi's Stadium. He probably feels a lot like Peyton Manning did 10 years ago when his arm was hanging by a thread and the Denver Broncos beat Carolina 24-10 in Super Bowl 50 at Levi's. Or Tom Brady in Super Bowl 53 when the New England Patriots beat the Los Angeles Rams 13-3.