Seattle Seahawks punter Jon Ryan will not be remembered as the kicker who most impacted last Sunday’s wildcard playoff game against the Vikings. That extra special special teams distinction falls on Minnesota’s Blair Walsh, who missed a game-winning field goal from 27 yards out. But Ryan is still answering to what went wrong on his muffed punt early in the game.
You should see the other guy. pic.twitter.com/VFNSNehcu9
— Jon Ryan (@JonRyan9) January 11, 2016
In a story on the Seahawks website, Ryan’s bruised face was on display, but if his ego had suffered the same fate it had given way to his sense of humor three days after the frigid football game as he said he was “too dumb to feel pain.” But it was the kicker’s nod to reality vs. video game play which caught our attention in particular.
“It was one of those plays you hope never happens,” Ryan said on Seahawks.com, in describing why he tried to run on the broken punt play.
“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.”
For all the middle-aged white guys and everyone else obsessed with “Madden NFL” from EA Sports, Ryan’s answer was, frankly, right on the nose. The game maker even retweeted a mention of the quote.
Outstanding answer from #Seahawks Jon Ryan. #Madden https://t.co/2Sfpok6nJk
— Jamie Thomas (@TSNJamieThomas) January 14, 2016
