A playoff win apparently makes the pain of a busted nose a lot easier to take.
Seattle Seahawks punter Jon Ryan experienced both Sunday afternoon in Minnesota, face-planting on the frozen turf after a botched snap during his team’s eventual 10-9 win over the Vikings.
Ryan poked fun at his banged-up face in a tweet the day after the win, and the jokes kept coming Wednesday in his meeting with reporters.
“It really didn’t hurt,” Ryan said, via Seahawks.com. “It probably helped that it was frozen for four hours. It didn’t hurt, doesn’t hurt now. … And I’m too dumb to feel pain is the other half of that.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8-DIl3be9A
The punter’s failed attempt to pick up a first down highlighted a disastrous 45-minute stretch for the Seahawks, who failed to score a point during the first three quarters of the wild-card round matchup. Seattle eventually rallied, though, getting a touchdown and a field goal in the fourth quarter and earning a trip to the divisional round after the Vikings’ Blair Walsh shanked a 27-yard kick in the final minute.
“It was one of those plays you hope never happens,” Ryan said of his eventful 3-yard run. “Low snap. I believed when I got it, if I would have kicked it, it would have been blocked, so I thought it was the right decision. It opened up, then you’ve just got to trust your instincts. As an athlete, you never second-guess your instincts, and my instinct was to run it up the middle, then when it closed off, I did my best hurdling attempt.
“Maybe run left, run right would have worked better, but as I tell all the Monday morning quarterbacks, this isn’t ‘Madden.’ I couldn’t just press L2 and jump outside. I’m a middle-aged white guy, it doesn’t quite work that way.”
Thumbnail photo via Bruce Kluckhohn/USA TODAY Sports Images
