Bobby Wagner leaped over the line of scrimmage, swatted Dan Bailey’s field goal attempt and sparked the Seattle Seahawks onward to two late touchdowns.
Whether what Wagner did was entirely legal, he frankly did not care.
“I’m not stressing about that. I made the play. They called what they called,” Wagner said. “There’s times in games where things happen all the time. I’m not stressing on it. It was a big block and we’ll definitely take it. It was amazing.”
Photo: AFP
Wagner’s block midway through the fourth quarter on Monday was the catalyst in a 21-7 win over the Minnesota Vikings that pushed Seattle to the brink of a playoff berth.
Chris Carson followed the blocked kick with a two-yard touchdown run with 2 minutes, 53 seconds left, and Justin Coleman capped off the Seahawks’ fourth straight victory with a 29-yard fumble return for a touchdown 18 seconds later.
What was an ugly and mostly forgettable first three quarters turned into a Seattle party in the fourth as the Seahawks (8-5) moved to the brink of wrapping up a wild-card spot in the National Football Conference (NFC). One win in Seattle’s final three games — including matchups with lowly San Francisco and Arizona — should be enough to put the Seahawks into the post-season.
“It’s really about the defense. I loved the way they played, they played so hard and so spirited,” Seattle coach Pete Carroll said. “It was almost poetic after last week’s game that Bobby would get to block the field goal, and he pulled it off and did it. That was an incredible play.”
Minnesota (6-6-1) twice had scoring chances in the fourth quarter when it was still a one-score game, but were turned away each time. Minnesota’s chances of winning the NFC North took a major hit with their second straight loss, but the Vikings still hold the No. 6 spot in the NFC.
“Part of it is being better on third downs. We haven’t really done a good job there. Part of it is being better in the red zone,” Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said. “We had the ball on the two-yard line and didn’t score.”
Much of the conversation centered on Wagner’s block of Bailey’s 47-yard attempt with 5:38 left and whether it was legal. Wagner’s jump through a gap in Minnesota’s offensive line was fine, but it appeared that he used his teammates to gain leverage, which allowed him to come through and block the kick. A flag was initially thrown, but was picked up by the officials.
Wagner said he attempted it four times in practice without a problem, but acknowledged it could be tough to pull off the play during the fourth quarter of a tight game.
“When I did it in practice, I was pretty fresh,” Wagner said.
Zimmer said he asked for an explanation of what happened, but was not given one. He was told he could not challenge.
“Quite honestly, I didn’t see what happened. I was told what happened,” Zimmer said.
Seattle took possession and Russell Wilson immediately scrambled 40 yards deep into Minnesota territory. Five plays later, Carson scored and Seattle finally had a cushion.
Two plays after that, Jacob Martin sacked Minnesota’s Kirk Cousins and the ball popped to Coleman, who weaved his way for the clinching touchdown.
Cousins threw a six-yard touchdown pass to Dalvin Cook with 1:10 remaining, but Seattle recovered the onside kick.
“I feel like in all of our losses, we, as an offense, are so slow,” Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen said. “Our defense is keeping us in games, and we’re not pulling our side of the bargain.”
Wilson had one of the worst passing games of his career, completing 10 of 20 attempts for a career-low 72 yards and a baffling interception late in the first half, one of the many mistakes by Seattle that allowed Minnesota to hang around.
However, Seattle’s ground game was outstanding against one of the better run defenses in the NFL. The Seahawks finished with 214 yards rushing, led by 90 yards from Carson.
Sebastian Janikowski hit field goals of 37 and 35 yards to account for all of Seattle’s scoring until the closing minutes.
“If you run it 40-something times, you ought to win. That was pretty good,” Carroll said.
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