Before Sunday's matchup, Seahawks receiver Tyler Lockett had played exactly zero snaps in the preseason, sat out much of training camp and on Friday's injury report was listed as questionable.

But by the way he played, you would never know he missed any time at all. Lockett showed that he still can come up big time in clutch moments and make grabs that would have to thinking "how did he do that?"

"For sure it's frustrating because I felt like I let my teammates down," Lockett said on the time he missed during the offseason and preseason. "Because you're not able to go out there and grind with them the same, but at the same time what I've learned is you can always learn and always grow whether you're playing or not. Sometimes you see things in a different perspective when you're out… it is tough not being able to practice."

He ended Sunday night with 77 receiving yards and came up with one of the most important catches of the game – a nine-yard catch on a third-and-six play to help seal the game. And for helping to put the game away, Lockett was given one of the game balls.

"In order to win in the NFL you got to close games out," head coach Mike Macdonald said. "You're welcome to do that on offense as much as you want. Definitely a point of emphasis on how we're going to win football games. It's just blatantly obvious that he deserved that ball. Happy for him. He earned it."

After the game Lockett said the help from other receivers on the field is what helped him to be able to make that play.

"There was a chance that ball was going to come to me just based on the play that (Ryan) Grubb set up. But I don't think I would have been able even to try to catch that ball if it wasn't for DK (Metcalf). DK was the one setting the match, and I had to be able to set my guy up so that DK (Metcalf) could kind of get in the way. But if he didn't get in the way to slow him down a little bit, it would have been tough to catch that ball."

Quarterback Geno Smith praised Lockett on him ability to make plays in tough situations.

"Tyler Lockett, again, one of my best friends and one of the best players in this game. He's so clutch. Just think about all the catches he's made in clutch situations. Time and time again, week after week, he's the guy who is going to show up. I was talking to Grubb about that this week. Wait until you see Lockett on game day. It's a completely different player. He is out there getting in fights with D-linemen and doing all those things. That big time third down catch really sealed the game for us, that last one. That's who he is and that's why we love him. We are going to continue to rely on him and he's always going to show up in those moments."

Adding, "That's who he is. Big time players make big time plays in big games. I remember hearing that when I was a kid. Tyler Lockett is the epitome of that. Any time there is a play to be made he's going to play the game."

Lockett said being able to go out, despite not playing in the preseason, and make plays like he did Sunday was exciting.

"It was fun man," Lockett said. "Geno has trust in all of us as receivers. When our name is called, he expects us to be able to make the play. There's gonna be times where you go a quarter or two without a catch and for us we've learned how to play through a lot of that stuff. We've learned how to play together, we've learned how to support one another and do whatever we feel is necessary to help this team."

And besides making big time plays, Lockett notched 8,000 receiving yards, joining the like of Seahawks Legend Steve Largent as the only two players in franchise history to hit that mark.

"I give God all the glory," Lockett said on hitting the milestone. "I think it was crazy because last year, I saw I was (about) five yards away. And you're kind of just wondering, like, 'Am I still going to be on the team, or they're going to move on from me?' I was just thankful that they even kept me on the team. And, just being able to get to 8,000 yards is a blessing because not too many people even play this game for a long time. And I definitely give God all the glory and just really thankful for everything he's done for me thus far in my life."

Largent gave kudos to Lockett before Sunday's matchup saying, "Number one, and most importantly in my book, he's a great guy, he's got a great heart, heck of a team player and catches balls in tough situations all the time. I really admire him as a person. He's really a great football player. I love watching him play."