Denied by inches last year, Jacob Hollister gets his NFC West winning touchdown in 2020

Last year, Jacob Hollister was inches short of the goal line against the San Francisco 49ers. Turnover on downs and the 49ers get the #1 seed while the Seattle Seahawks had to eventually travel to Green Bay for the Divisional Round.

This.

Photo by Michael Zagaris/San Francisco 49ers/Getty Images

Close.

Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images

And even on Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams, he had a potential touchdown (and at the very least a big play) on a wheel route in the opening half. Russell Wilson missed him.

Hollister, whom you may recall was the subject of trade rumors at the deadline, remained on the roster and he was the man who fittingly confirmed the Seahawks’ status as the kings of the NFC West for the first time since 2016.

Great touch and anticipation from Russell Wilson and Hollister did the rest by beating Troy Hill to send Seattle to victory and the Rams to the wild card... or perhaps no playoffs at all depending on next week’s results.

Seattle only gave up a 2020 seventh-rounder to acquire Hollister from the New England Patriots, but he initially started his 2019 campaign on the practice squad. When Will Dissly went down, Hollister was called up and performed quite well and unexpectedly finished 3rd in team receptions (41) on 59 targets. This year, Jacob has had his time divvied up more with Will Dissly healthy all year and Greg Olsen added as one of the main offensive offseason signings. As a result, his target share is down but that doesn’t mean he’s not a valuable asset on a team that has a plethora of competent to excellent receiving talent.

The Seahawks could’ve gone to DK Metcalf or Tyler Lockett on what was the game-deciding third down. Instead, Schotty dialed one up for Hollister one more time and hit the jackpot.