SEATTLE (AP) Jason Myers has quietly been a big part of the Seattle Seahawks’ success this season.<\/p>\n
He was the only reason they won Sunday.<\/p>\n
Myers kicked a franchise-record six field goals, including a 56-yarder with 29 seconds left, and the Seahawks outlasted 44-year-old quarterback Philip Rivers and the Indianapolis Colts 18-16 without scoring a touchdown.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hit it well,\u201d Myers said. \u201cA little slice there, but once I got it up, I knew (I) hit a really strong ball.\u201d<\/p>\n
Myers has converted 24 of his last 25 field goals, with the only miss a 61-yard try on Nov. 16, and he leads the NFL with a career-best 154 points.<\/p>\n
He also converted from 47, 52, 46, 32 and 30 yards, and the Seahawks (11-3) needed every one of them to beat Rivers, who hadn’t thrown a pass in an NFL game in nearly five years. Seattle extended its winning streak to four games.<\/p>\n
Indy trailed for just 1:58 and went ahead 13-3 on Rivers\u2019 first touchdown pass since the Colts\u2019 27-24 loss to the Buffalo Bills in the playoffs on Jan. 9, 2021. He connected with Josh Downs on third down for an 8-yard score.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was exciting,\u201d Rivers said. \u201cShoot, it was exciting to take a 13-3 lead. But first off, our play that we kind of had all week in the red zone in that area on that down and distance on that hash, we practiced in the exact same spot this week. So, when things go like that, they fire you up. Obviously, you throw in the fact that it\u2019s been 1,800 days since throwing a touchdown or interception for that matter. So, yeah, both of those boxes were checked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Desperate to salvage their season after Daniel Jones suffered a season-ending torn Achilles tendon, the Colts (8-6) turned to Rivers, a grandfather who\u2019d been coaching high school football and was a semifinalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n
Rivers also led the Colts into position for Blake Grupe\u2019s go-ahead, 60-yard field goal with 47 seconds left. He finished 18 of 27 for 120 yards with the touchdown and an interception, with the pick coming on his final pass as he tried to force the ball down the field in the closing seconds. Coby Bryant made the interception, his career-high fourth this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe actually played pretty well,\u201d Bryant said. \u201cThey got the ball out fast, we knew that, on screens, and we knew about the run game as well, too. So, we had to respect everything and just play our ball.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indianapolis has lost four straight and five of six to fall out of playoff position in the AFC.<\/p>\n
The Seahawks, who had won their previous two games by a combined score of 63-9, grinded this one out.<\/p>\n
Rashid Shaheed returned Grupe\u2019s kickoff 28 yards to the Seattle 37, and Sam Darnold connected with Shaheed twice for 25 yards to set up Myers. The game-winning drive was Darnold\u2019s third this season and 13th of his career.<\/p>\n
Darnold finished 22 of 36 for 271 yards in Seattle\u2019s first victory without a touchdown since Dec. 26, 2024, when the Seahawks beat Chicago 6-3.<\/p>\n
Seattle remained tied with the Los Angeles Rams atop the NFC West, and the rivals meet Thursday night for the division lead.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt gives us a lot of momentum,\u201d offensive lineman Grey Zabel said. \u201cIt\u2019s obviously a lot easier to celebrate a tough win than it is to try to come into the locker room and pick our spirits up after a loss. I\u2019m glad we have Jason Myers on our squad.\u201d<\/p>\n
NFL receiving leader Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who was held below 100 yards in each of the last two weeks, had seven catches for 113 yards, including a 39-yard catch to set up Myers\u2019 fifth field goal, which put the Seahawks ahead 15-13.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means a lot,\u201d Smith-Njigba said. \u201cTaking care of my body and making sure I\u2019m here for my teammates, that\u2019s what I want to do. Honestly, I could care less about any stat right now. I just want to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
NFL rushing leader Jonathan Taylor had 25 carries for 87 yards, his most since he had 244 on Nov. 9 against Atlanta, when Indy was still riding high. The Seahawks were happy to hold him to 3.5 yards per carry.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was big,\u201d linebacker Ernest Jones IV said. \u201cWe knew coming in they were going to try to lean on his arm, the whole game. We knew they were going to try to use him a bunch. So, we knew coming in to just make sure we stop him. If anything, all 11 heads to the ball, and let\u2019s hit him hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shaheed had just four catches for 34 yards in his first four games with the Seahawks after they acquired him from New Orleans. Over the last two games, he has combined for 12 catches and 141 yards – including seven receptions for 74 yards Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe came in clutch, that\u2019s what we expect for him to get open, and he does that,\u201d Smith-Njigba said. \u201cHe runs great routes and he\u2019s somebody we rely on and we can depend on him, so it\u2019s awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
Colts: Offensive lineman Bernhard Raimann injured an elbow in the second quarter and did not return.<\/p>\n
Seahawks: LB Derick Hall injured his hand in the first quarter and returned in the second quarter. T Abe Lucas injured his right arm\/shoulder in the second half but returned.<\/p>\n
Colts: Host San Francisco on Monday, Dec. 22.<\/p>\n
Seahawks: Host the Rams on Thursday night.<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
AP NFL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nfl<\/p>\n
\n Copyright 2025 STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEATTLE (AP) Jason Myers has quietly been a big part of the Seattle Seahawks’ success this season. He…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":334594,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[349,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-349411","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-nfl","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/334594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}