The Seattle Seahawks scored their first points of Sunday's game against the Los Angeles Rams when Russell Wilson and Jimmy Graham hooked up on a 4-yard touchdown pass. Graham was isolated one-on-one with a defensive back, Wilson lobbed a jump ball into the end zone and it worked. Finally.

That was something the Seahawks and their fans have been waiting almost two-and-a-half seasons to see.

"Yeah, we really have," coach Pete Carroll said. "We've worked on it a lot, and just for whatever reason, there's only been a couple of them with the time that we've been here. So hopefully we can do that some more."

Graham's red-zone production with Seattle has been underwhelming based on expectations that accompanied his arrival in a 2015 trade with the New Orleans Saints. In 63 games from 2011-14, he was one of the NFL's most productive players in the red zone, with 50 receptions for 35 touchdowns.

Those expectations were only solidified by the way Graham dominated defenders near the goal line during his first offseason practices with Seattle. He was unstoppable during one OTA session in particular, when he caught several touchdown passes on jump balls from Wilson and made most of them look easy.

It hasn't been that easy since. Graham entered Sunday with eight touchdowns in 31 games with the Seahawks. Five of those eight touchdowns came in the red zone, and none were on jump balls like the one he caught Sunday in the second quarter of Seattle's win over the Rams.

Graham was split out wide left and got a one-on-one matchup with rookie safety John Johnson, who's listed at 6-foot-1, 204 pounds. Johnson didn't have much of a chance to make a play on the ball once Graham used his 6-foot-7, 265-pound frame to box him out.

"We were looking to find Jimmy there and the matchup, and obviously give him a chance to go make a great play," Wilson said. "He's arguably the best tight end in the National Football League and one of the best to ever play the game, so we want to give him opportunities to make those plays."

Graham has come alive, with 17 catches for 170 yards in the past three games. His minimal impact in the first two games raised anew what has been a recurring concern that he's a poor fit for Seattle's offense, which is a bit unfounded.

Graham's 923 receiving yards last season ranked third among NFL tight ends. That total, as well as his 65 receptions, was the most by a tight end in Seahawks history. Graham produced those numbers a year after suffering a torn patellar tendon, a devastating injury that has sunk other players' careers. And when he went down in Week 11 of the 2015 season, he was on pace to finish with a similar number of receptions and yards as he did the next year.

Graham was never going to catch as many passes for as many yards as he did in New Orleans. That wasn't realistic, considering he was going from a pass-first offense to a more balanced one in Seattle.

But his touchdown numbers in general, and his impact near the goal line in particular, have fallen short of expectations.

That hasn't been all Graham's fault. This season, for instance, the Seahawks have targeted him three times inside the 5-yard line, according to play-by-play notes. The first was in Week 1, when officials might have erred in not flagging the Green Bay Packers for pass interference against Graham. Two weeks later, he got a favorable matchup with a much smaller Tennessee Titans defensive back, but Wilson's throw went over his head and out of the end zone.

Those two finally connected on a similar play Sunday.

"It was great to see that," Carroll said. "We've been hoping to get that done, and we'll continue to work that. Obviously, Russell threw the ball perfectly this time. Earlier in the year, we missed it, but we won't miss very many of those."