Tom Krasovic: San Diegan’s big kickoff return sparks Seahawks, who look stout

The Seattle Seahawks’ recent trade for San Diego’s Rashid Shaheed has indeed perked up their Super Bowl chances.

Shaheed’s 100-yard kickoff return Sunday made Atlanta Falcons defenders look sedated.

The former football and track star with Mt. Carmel High School in Rancho Penasquitos caught the second-half kickoff, darted through a pod of Falcons and jetted to the end zone.

The touchdown broke a 6-6 tie; Seattle then rolled, winning 37-9.

Shaheed’s thunderclap recalled Percy Harvin’s Super Bowl touchdown that I brought up last month, in praising Seahawks talent man John Schneider for getting Shaheed from the New Orleans Saints.

Twelve years ago, Harvin took the second-half kickoff 87 yards on a carpeted field in New Jersey. The touchdown fueled Seattle’s rout of the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 48. Harvin had to improvise fast, once he gathered the bouncing ball at the 13. His quick move shook two Broncos who almost beat him to the boundary.

On Atlanta’s carpet, Shaheed caught the kickoff on the goal line as he ran toward the right sideline. Tracking the sideline, he leaned inward near the 15 and burst through a fast-closing lane near the 30.

The last man waiting?

Kicker Zane Gonzalez.

He may have felt a whoosh. All told, the return covered 122 yards.

Though Shaheed reached 20.8 miles per hour, he still had speed in reserve, having hit 21.7 mph three months ago, per Next Gen Stats, on an 87-yard reception.

The NFC-leading Rams (10-3) will study Shaheed’s recent TD with consternation.

Because of the Nov. 4 trade, the Seahawks have become a tougher foe in the race for the NFC’s top seed and only playoff bye.

Atop the conference, the Rams (10-3) hold the head-to-head edge over the Seahawks (10-3) with the Packers (9-3) one game back.

The Rams’ 21-19 victory over the Seahawks, three weeks ago, in Shaheed’s second game with Seattle, gave them the tiebreaker.

The Seahawks will try to answer Dec. 18 at their noisy home.

Schneider got Shaheed by parting with fourth- and fifth-round picks in the 2026 draft. He had paid a lot more for Harvin, getting him from the Minnesota Vikings in 2013.

Shaheed has caught 12 TD passes since joining the Saints in 2022 as an undrafted free agent out of Utah’s Weber State, where a severe knee injury in his final season took him off some NFL draft boards.

As a punt returner, the position where he earned All-Pro honors in 2023, he has gone for two career scores. He has a rushing TD, too, and the one kickoff-return score.

The Seahawks-Rams duel is a tight one. Among all NFL teams, the teams stand first and second in point differential, Seattle leading 161 to 152. The only game between them came down to the final play, an unsuccessful 61-yard kick by Seattle’s Jason Myers, a Mater Dei Catholic High School grad.

A clear victory, though, came in the recent trade window.

The Rams’ addition, cornerback Roger McCreary, suffered a groin injury in his first defensive snap with L.A.

McCreary, 25, has been on injured reserve since Nov. 26.

Shaheed, meantime, has injected playmaking into several facets of Seattle’s attacks. More than a super-fast sprinter, he’s a loose mover with good football vision and instincts. He’s accustomed to adjusting to a high number of mental challenges, having played with seven different quarterbacks who started for the Saints across his two-plus seasons. In that second game with the Seahawks, he made the final kick possible by catching Sam Darnold’s pass and calling timeout with one second left on the game clock.

“His humble nature, his hard work in the classroom, practices and the weight room — there’s just not enough I can say about him,” John Anderson, who was Shaheed’s coach when the player led Mt. Carmel to a CIF-San Diego Section championship game, told me in 2023. “Great teammate. He comes from a great family. His parents are tremendously supportive, in academics and athletics.”