When the Seahawks scored Sunday’s only and game-winning touchdown, 47 seconds remained. And while things were dire for the Panthers, they may have done things differently on their final series if they had all three of their timeouts.

Yet by rule, they were charged a timeout for an injured player with less than two minutes left. But according to the Panthers, safety Roman Harper wasn’t hurt.

“Roman was fine,” head coach Ron Rivera shared on Monday. “The doctor said, ‘What happened?’ He said, ‘I tried to dislodge the ball, it was a big hit. I was actually just laying there for a second, and the referee thought I was hurt.'”

Harper laid a solid shot on tight end Luke Willson at the goal line, and while the veteran safety may have been woozy, he also claimed his slow rise from the turf wasn’t injury related.

“I was pissy,” Harper said. “It’s part of the game, part of my emotions. I was just trying to make a play.”

Unfortunately for the Panthers, Harper was a second too late. Willson slipped past rookie safety Tre Boston, who missed breaking up a perfect pass from quarterback Russell Wilson by just inches.

“I hate I wasn’t over there a little bit more for Tre, trying to help him out,” Harper said.

“I just tried to give (Willson) everything I’ve got, which obviously wasn’t enough. He made the catch, touchdown, and that’s all she wrote.”

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