Speaker 1: Welcome to Special Teams, a production of I Heart Radio
Speaker 1: Greetings and Welcome inside the Special Teams podcast with Jason
Speaker 1: Smith and Mike Harmon, where every week we look back
Speaker 1: at some special team specific year in sports in the
Speaker 1: middle of our run right now, as we look back
Speaker 1: at some special teams who took place and took part
Speaker 1: in some of the biggest games the NFL, major League Baseball,
Speaker 1: college football, the NBA have seen in the past few years.
Speaker 1: And today we're gonna look back at a game that
Speaker 1: changed the fortunes of two teams following it. And it's
Speaker 1: so good. It has a name, because look, when any
Speaker 1: time a playoff game has a name, you know it's good.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it's fourth and six, which is the title of
Speaker 1: a previous podcast has Sometimes the Music City Miracle. Sometimes
Speaker 1: it's named after a player because you say the name
Speaker 1: and everybody understands. So today we're gonna break down the
Speaker 1: Blair Walsh game. Oh you say that and everybody knows. Yep,
Speaker 1: Blair Walsh missing the field goal. Oh boy ten nine, Yep,
Speaker 1: I get it, I get it. So the Blair Walsh
Speaker 1: game from January two thousand and sixteen, the most recent
Speaker 1: NFL game I think we've broke down, but still so
Speaker 1: much has changed for both of these teams as a
Speaker 1: result of that game. That's why we're doing it here today.
Speaker 1: Our bosses aren't gonna scrub it though, right based on
Speaker 1: their own personal fandom. Well, let's see our boss, Scott
Speaker 1: Shapiro at Fox is a huge Minnesota Vikings fan. But look,
Speaker 1: the Vikings have never won a Super Bowl, So I
Speaker 1: think anytime we talk about the Vikings he'll be okay
Speaker 1: with it. Yeah, they had their shots. Maybe we'll go
Speaker 1: back in the long illustrious history of Near Mrs from
Speaker 1: fran Tarkington. Well, it would give us an excuse to
Speaker 1: do twenty minutes on That's Incredible. Sure, Well I met
Speaker 1: Kathy Lee Crosby John John. Remember that was on the
Speaker 1: same time as Real People. It was like the same show. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but it was great. About the That's incredible is about
Speaker 1: every month they'd have a random dude on with a cobra.
Speaker 1: It's like he gets ratings, people get excited. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: a guy with a sneak let's have him sneak ahead.
Speaker 1: Who was the guy that was in the box right
Speaker 1: to breathe in the box for an hour? And that
Speaker 1: was the big one for that's incredible. He he folded
Speaker 1: himself up into this tiny you know. Uh and and
Speaker 1: and he was he was able to be in a
Speaker 1: box where he breathed for an hour that was completely closed.
Speaker 1: Oh I still remember that. And that was like forty
Speaker 1: years ago. I remember watching that well, I mean, I
Speaker 1: know it was the amazing Yen in Notions eleven. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this guy was on the Reunion special too. You know,
Speaker 1: I actually saw Yen at the l A County Fair
Speaker 1: last year because he performs with with a group that
Speaker 1: does incredible acrobatics. And we're watching this group and it's
Speaker 1: amazing to see l A County Fair. This is where
Speaker 1: you could just walk right up to the stage and
Speaker 1: just you know, sit down. And he's with a group
Speaker 1: of of acrobat performers and I'm going, oh my god.
Speaker 1: And I go, Pam, that looks like the dude from
Speaker 1: Oceans eleven. She was, no, no, it's not a but
Speaker 1: it doesn't it look just like you, ye know where
Speaker 1: the you And so we looked it up and we said,
Speaker 1: oh my god, it is and and he was performing
Speaker 1: on stage County Fair. It was fantastic. I was like,
Speaker 1: and he told Zoe Zoe, this is the guy, and
Speaker 1: now she's just watched The Ocean's eleven movies. My daughter
Speaker 1: in the past, coup loves that. Yeah, she just like me,
Speaker 1: loves eleven, loves thirteen, hates twelve. Well, twelve was clearly
Speaker 1: just a cash grab. They enjoyed playing and hanging out together.
Speaker 1: They knew it would make money, so why not do
Speaker 1: it again on the whole, Like if you didn't know,
Speaker 1: it was part of a trilogy that was really really good. Otherwise, uh,
Speaker 1: twelve twelves okay standalone. You you have to compartmentalize your brain, right,
Speaker 1: you gotta do a little meditation and remember that the
Speaker 1: first one wasn't so great. Yeah, well, and it's also
Speaker 1: you gotta get Oh, Julia Roberts is gonna play herself,
Speaker 1: but she's not Julia Roberts since ye uh you know, okay,
Speaker 1: you know what X, I'm out, I'm out of that. Well,
Speaker 1: that's when you have an extra drink and you forget
Speaker 1: any of it. Well, she also liked the bad guy.
Speaker 1: Al Pacino was a much better bad guy in Oceans thirteen,
Speaker 1: so that's true. She likes him. And what is this
Speaker 1: a Billy Martin I get a chance to make amends,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna do it, but anyway, today's podcast is
Speaker 1: the Blair Walsh game before we get to the NFL
Speaker 1: Wildcard Game, the NFC game that took place in the
Speaker 1: second week of two thousand and sixteen. How did these
Speaker 1: teams get to a game that has become identifiable with
Speaker 1: both franchises. Well, for the Seahawks, you gotta remember, they're
Speaker 1: coming off that big Super Bowl lost New England in
Speaker 1: which they could have given the ball to Marshawn Lynch
Speaker 1: on the goal line. They didn't, and they were living
Speaker 1: with that. So now they've been playing that game over
Speaker 1: and over in their head all off season into this season,
Speaker 1: in which they decide, we're gonna make our team better.
Speaker 1: So going into this year, Pete Carroll decides, we gotta
Speaker 1: do better and we need more offense. They trade for
Speaker 1: Jimmy Graham, they have a couple of great draft picks
Speaker 1: and Frank Clark and Tyler Lockett. Cam Chancellor held out
Speaker 1: didn't report until Week three. Turns out they didn't need him,
Speaker 1: and during the season they make the big trade of
Speaker 1: Percy Harvin to the Jets when the Jets had won
Speaker 1: two games, and it's like, what are you doing. We're
Speaker 1: not We're not going anywhere with person. Why are making
Speaker 1: a trade for Percy Harvin? John is sick? What are
Speaker 1: you doing? You are insane? But this is the ups
Speaker 1: and downs that the Seahawks had to deal with during
Speaker 1: the regular season, and you think that would be enough. Look,
Speaker 1: you bring in a couple of impact players and Graham
Speaker 1: and lock it. You draft Frank Clark, who turns into
Speaker 1: a star. You trade Percy Harvin and for this season.
Speaker 1: The most famous play that the Seahawks had was the
Speaker 1: bat play. It was on Monday Night football against the Lions.
Speaker 1: You probably remember this, uh you and I were on
Speaker 1: air knowing about it on Fox Sports or any Calvin
Speaker 1: Johnson is trying to stretch what would be the game
Speaker 1: winning touchdown on Monday Night, except he gets stripped by
Speaker 1: Cam Chancellor. K J. Wright bats the ball out of
Speaker 1: the end zone and after the game we find out
Speaker 1: it should have been ruled in a lead eagle bat
Speaker 1: and Detroit keeping the football at the one yard line.
Speaker 1: Very famous play, one of the many plays the Seahawks
Speaker 1: have had in that core of the end zone which
Speaker 1: has gone their way. Full of much controversy. It's like
Speaker 1: a sacred burial ground or something. Man, there's some strange
Speaker 1: stuff happening now, so you want to stay away from
Speaker 1: that part of the end zone in big games against
Speaker 1: Fred Gwyn at look Out, a boy needs a father. Um.
Speaker 1: So this was the backdrop of the Seahawks, who had
Speaker 1: a very interesting season looking with with the new additions,
Speaker 1: with this big play, Uh, they lose Jimmy Graham for
Speaker 1: the season in Week twelve he tears Pateller tendon and really,
Speaker 1: Jimmy Graham was It's such a missed opportunity because his
Speaker 1: entire time he spent with the Seahawks, they never figured
Speaker 1: out how to use and they never figured out how
Speaker 1: to turn him into the weapon he was in New
Speaker 1: Orleans and it was one of those times where you say, boy,
Speaker 1: this should have been a lot better for the Seahawks,
Speaker 1: and it just wasn't. Let me do eleven games during
Speaker 1: the years he said, so seventy four targets. You know,
Speaker 1: he was on track to get to at least the
Speaker 1: target number that we've seen in the years prior working
Speaker 1: with Breeze and Company. But the red zone opportunities certainly
Speaker 1: weren't there, and you know. You look at the way
Speaker 1: the Seahawks operated Dunk Baldwin, Tyler Lockett, some of the
Speaker 1: smaller receivers, Percy Harvin before he became a jet and
Speaker 1: well had nowhere to go. Um look, I gotta call it.
Speaker 1: What is uh? Those guys knew how to do the
Speaker 1: little scrape route and find just enough space in the
Speaker 1: end zone. Here. For Graham, he didn't become the same
Speaker 1: level of performer. He ended up being more a decoy,
Speaker 1: except for his final year, when then he was grossly
Speaker 1: overpaid by the Packers. Seattle actually beats Minnesota in the
Speaker 1: regular season. In Week thirteen, they crushed them thirty eight
Speaker 1: seven without Jimmy Graham, without Marshawn Lynch. Thomas Rawls played well,
Speaker 1: but he got hurt the following week. He was out
Speaker 1: for the season. So the Seahawks were a banged up
Speaker 1: team all year. They started out slow. They make the
Speaker 1: playoffs by winning eight out of their last ten. Russell
Speaker 1: Wilson becomes the focal point of the offense. And remember
Speaker 1: you mentioned him. This was the Doug Baldwin year. I mean,
Speaker 1: this is the year where Doug Baldwin something was catching
Speaker 1: three touchdowns a week and you're going, oh my god,
Speaker 1: look at Doug bald and he had fourteen for the season.
Speaker 1: That's like what Calvin Johnson and Julio Jones having their
Speaker 1: best years. Yeah, and he wasn't the guy that was
Speaker 1: generally a deep ball guy, right, you had some of that,
Speaker 1: That's why Lockett came on board. But Doug Baldwin was
Speaker 1: a guy that would create space right and find openings,
Speaker 1: and Russell Wilson just knew to put it in the
Speaker 1: general vicinity. And certainly over the course of this game
Speaker 1: he he got qued a couple of times, but I
Speaker 1: had the opportunity, and you you recognize just what an
Speaker 1: impactful player Baldwin was for a stretch. I don't know
Speaker 1: that he gets his just due on the NFL as
Speaker 1: a whole for how reliable he'd been. But you know,
Speaker 1: not to gloss over. You know how they got on
Speaker 1: a roll that second half That became kind of a
Speaker 1: hallmark of this team, right because the offensive line was
Speaker 1: always in shambles, or so it would seem. So about
Speaker 1: mid season they're like, all right, are we ready? You
Speaker 1: guys got it together? Okay, let's go on a run.
Speaker 1: Because they were four and four at the midpoint, right
Speaker 1: and they and they on this crazy run. They they
Speaker 1: you know, Marshawn Lynch got hurt at the end of November.
Speaker 1: He had abdominal surgery and he was done. You know,
Speaker 1: Rawls comes in and plays well, but now he's done.
Speaker 1: This is a team Dune durn Don durn done. And
Speaker 1: this is a team that has always as as good
Speaker 1: as Russell Wilson is shown to be, he's always been
Speaker 1: part of He was basically the head of the snake
Speaker 1: up until this year. It was well, Russell Wilson's good,
Speaker 1: but it's the running game that's carrying us through. And
Speaker 1: of course, coming off such a highly publicized interception, when
Speaker 1: had you given the ball to Marshawn Lynch, you would
Speaker 1: have won the Super Bowl. It's a it's a different
Speaker 1: world for the Seahawks coming into this playoff going, Okay,
Speaker 1: we're now Russell Wilson driven, Doug Baldwin's turning in. I mean,
Speaker 1: like I said, it's the Doug Baldwin year. So this
Speaker 1: is where we're at as they finished and in six
Speaker 1: and head into the playoffs against the Minnesota Vikings. Now
Speaker 1: for the Vikings, things are much different in the off season.
Speaker 1: It was their last season at TCF Bank Stadium. They
Speaker 1: drafted Stefon Diggs, who turned into a phenomenal player for
Speaker 1: them until they trained him. Uh, this was Adrian Peterson
Speaker 1: coming back to the team after he missed nearly all
Speaker 1: of fourteen due to child abuse allegations. I mean, this
Speaker 1: was the NFL. I mean, now, I can't believe that
Speaker 1: he'd stay in the league. I mean, you're coming up.
Speaker 1: This is team where all the allegations and and and
Speaker 1: basically Adrian Peterson admitting that he would hit his child
Speaker 1: for disciplining him. If that happened, now he'd be gone
Speaker 1: and he'd not be coming back into the league. But
Speaker 1: he was still playing at a high level. And I
Speaker 1: am stunned at this point that he got back in
Speaker 1: the league that easy. You know, In fact, it was
Speaker 1: so it was it was. It was such a fatal
Speaker 1: company that Minnesota restructured his deal prior to the season.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine the flat that the Kings would get
Speaker 1: now if they kept him? If this was two thousand
Speaker 1: and twenty. Yeah, here's a guy who admitted to to
Speaker 1: beating his kid that way. Oh my goodness, and you're
Speaker 1: gonna keep me and not only that restructure is deal
Speaker 1: going into this year, people would stop going to Vikings games.
Speaker 1: It would be it would be the story of look
Speaker 1: at an organization, how they're doing it? With this story
Speaker 1: still so fresh in everybody's mind. Yeah, I mean, there's
Speaker 1: there's so many of those moments for the NFL where
Speaker 1: if you put it in the current climate, you eradicate
Speaker 1: a lot of it. There's outraged Doune and certainly in
Speaker 1: the NFL perhaps in a different state of listening to
Speaker 1: the players, listening to fans, listening to where culture is.
Speaker 1: And Goodell is always going to be crushed for the
Speaker 1: early attempts in terms of conduct policy decisions because he
Speaker 1: was going without a net right and there was nothing
Speaker 1: from tag Liabou. Right, if as long as you were
Speaker 1: available to play, you were good to go. And then
Speaker 1: you try to institute policy, well, how do you do that?
Speaker 1: Because no two cases are going to be the same.
Speaker 1: And then you have the star power of an Adrian Peterson.
Speaker 1: That's a whole other thing, because he's gone on to
Speaker 1: have a couple of really nice seasons in Washington, still
Speaker 1: playing as we get ready for the twenty campaign, and
Speaker 1: you look what he did in, he comes back and
Speaker 1: he rushes for almost fift yards. He's still a beast souls,
Speaker 1: a pro again, star rules right. And the thing is
Speaker 1: for Peterson is that he has this all pro year
Speaker 1: and he carries the Vikings offense. And I don't think
Speaker 1: there was any question after go well we need him
Speaker 1: needed to come back. It's it's just it baffles you
Speaker 1: and you shake your head and you go, man, this
Speaker 1: was just you know, this is just four years ago.
Speaker 1: This is not very longal but but things change in
Speaker 1: an instant and put it in perspective as you go
Speaker 1: into this playoff matchup. The Vikings were thirty first in
Speaker 1: passing yards. Oh, they were terror And that's the thing
Speaker 1: is that they needed every yard to be because Teddy
Speaker 1: Bridgewater just wasn't very good. And I loved Teddy Bridgewater
Speaker 1: coming out of school, and it looked like he was
Speaker 1: gonna take the path of Okay, he's gonna be a
Speaker 1: winning quarterback. He's not gonna throw a lot of touchdowns,
Speaker 1: is not gonna win passing titles, but he's gonna win games.
Speaker 1: But he struggled all year long. He had nine touchdown
Speaker 1: passes through the first fourteen weeks. Nine he had four
Speaker 1: touchdowns in against the Bear. Sorry buddy Week fifteen. Yet
Speaker 1: I mean for a season to throw fourteen touchdowns and
Speaker 1: throw for three thousand yards. Again, this is in the
Speaker 1: era of the quarterback where four thousand yards seasons are
Speaker 1: becoming the norm. Uh. It's amazing to think how Minnesota
Speaker 1: went through this year playing as well as they have
Speaker 1: getting into the playoffs. Besides getting nothing at quarterback. I mean,
Speaker 1: like I said, I love Teddy Bridgewater, but the bottom
Speaker 1: line is he was just never very good, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean and and and they they got by with
Speaker 1: him and got this far with getting basically nothing at quarterback.
Speaker 1: They had one player finished with more than five hundred
Speaker 1: receiving yards that was Digs. Then you had three between
Speaker 1: four hundred five hundred Jerry is right, Mike Wallace and
Speaker 1: Kyle Rudolph Peterson. Then your fifth leading receiver two hundred
Speaker 1: twenty two yards, but on the strength of his legs,
Speaker 1: fourth most rushing yards as a unit uh in the league.
Speaker 1: And somehow they scored at least twenty six points six
Speaker 1: different times during the regular season, including the thirty eight
Speaker 1: point barrage against the Bears. That is just the outlier.
Speaker 1: Everything he had to as a team. They had two
Speaker 1: multi touchdown throwing games. That's it. So the Vikings also
Speaker 1: finished ten and six, and we get set for the
Speaker 1: NFC wild Card Game, in which we have a big
Speaker 1: broken nose catch every bit as good as Odell Beckham's
Speaker 1: one of the most insane plays you'll see in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: And oh, by the way, yes, Blair Walsh and his
Speaker 1: missed twenty seven yard field goal. It's all coming up
Speaker 1: next right here. Special teams Jason Smith and Mike Harmon.
Speaker 1: So we arrive at the NFC wild Card playoff game
Speaker 1: between the Seahawks and the Vikings, the third coldest game
Speaker 1: in NFL history, with the windshill factor minus twenty five degrees.
Speaker 1: And one of the best parts of this game is
Speaker 1: that Bud Grant, long time Vikings head coach, legend Super Bowls,
Speaker 1: he comes out for the coin toss in a hat
Speaker 1: and a polo shirt and he's eighty eight years old
Speaker 1: and he comes out going this is what it was
Speaker 1: like in Minnesota because when he was the coach in
Speaker 1: the seventies and the eighties, they played outdoors and they
Speaker 1: used the snow and the and the elements to their advantage.
Speaker 1: He comes out, he's eighty eight and he's just kind
Speaker 1: of hatting a polo shirt like, Hey, I just got
Speaker 1: done playing golf. I'm here for the coin toss. All
Speaker 1: the montages of all the shirtless people in the crowds,
Speaker 1: and then as the captains go out, there's Bud Gray.
Speaker 1: What a boss? What a boss? Bud Grant what I
Speaker 1: want to move right? So here's the game, and obviously
Speaker 1: with this weather, you know, scoring is gonna be at
Speaker 1: a minimum. Again, no Marshawn Lynch for the Seahawks, who
Speaker 1: hadn't played in a while after abdominal surgery. So this
Speaker 1: was gonna be done on the strength of the Seahawks
Speaker 1: defense and Russell Wilson. It's a zero zero first half.
Speaker 1: Nobody is surprised at this. The first big play of
Speaker 1: the game turns on a bobble snap on a punt.
Speaker 1: John Ryan bobbles the snap, doesn't think he can get
Speaker 1: the ball off the punt off, so he tries to
Speaker 1: run for the first down. He kind of gets up
Speaker 1: ended and because you know punters, they have face masks
Speaker 1: that don't cover their whole face, he lands on his
Speaker 1: face short of the first down. With the broken nose.
Speaker 1: I mean that that's the big play of the first half,
Speaker 1: is that he bobbles a snap, runs falls on his face,
Speaker 1: breaks his nose. It turns into a field goal of
Speaker 1: the three nothing lead from Minnesota, all because of a
Speaker 1: bobble snap, and you know, John Ryan's going, man, wish
Speaker 1: I had that better face mask. That so bad every
Speaker 1: time I've watched that replay. Not only does he have
Speaker 1: the opportunity to get the punt off right because the
Speaker 1: the last man coming in gets knocked to the ground,
Speaker 1: so Ryan's got plenty of time to reset. Then he
Speaker 1: suddenly decides he's Superman. What does he think He's got
Speaker 1: a somersault and still be land on his feet and
Speaker 1: finish off the first down run like it's it's one
Speaker 1: of the worst decisions. This guy had a nice, long career,
Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of positivity. As they always
Speaker 1: say with an interception, man, he'd like to have that
Speaker 1: one back, and if you want to, if you want
Speaker 1: a great before he was a star moment. You know
Speaker 1: who was rushing the punter on that play, him feeling yeah,
Speaker 1: he's the guy that gets knocked down. It's like, okay,
Speaker 1: you would never even think Adam. Why is Adam feeling
Speaker 1: rushing the putter? The guys were the best receivers in
Speaker 1: the NFL. But this is before he was a star.
Speaker 1: He was on the punt team. He was rushing the punter.
Speaker 1: But if you watch the like it's classic because well
Speaker 1: he gets knocked down, which we would have been the
Speaker 1: thing to give Ryan his edge to to actually get
Speaker 1: a punted off, rushed, but at least get it out
Speaker 1: of the territory and hope for a role. Instead, he's
Speaker 1: the guy coming up behind and pumping his fist like
Speaker 1: he made a huge play. It's like, no, No, trust
Speaker 1: Nick trucked him. He tried to jump him, and he
Speaker 1: gave him the w W E stound back body drop,
Speaker 1: although he didn't complete the rotation and landed on his face.
Speaker 1: Jason trust Nick from Ohio Northern University. There you go.
Speaker 1: I say this because my cousin went to Ohio Northern
Speaker 1: and was there at the same time he was. We
Speaker 1: might hear some more about him a little later. Uh So,
Speaker 1: it's a three nothing game at halftime. Again, it's the cold,
Speaker 1: it's teams not being able to move to football. It's
Speaker 1: a really good Seahawks defense. It's a really good Vikings defense,
Speaker 1: and the big highlight of the third quarter, Doug Baldwin
Speaker 1: makes a one handed catch every bit as good as
Speaker 1: Odell Beckham Jr. And the famous catch that turned him
Speaker 1: into a superstar. He did use his other hand at
Speaker 1: the very end to hold on to the football, but
Speaker 1: this was also in the middle of the field where
Speaker 1: he's got to worry about getting killed if he goes
Speaker 1: up for the ball like this. I mean, Odell Beckham
Speaker 1: caught the ball on the sideline. He knew nobody else
Speaker 1: is gonna hit him. Doug Baldwin is thinking, I go
Speaker 1: up for this ball like this, I'm gonna get crunched.
Speaker 1: So he does use his other hand. But this is
Speaker 1: some kind of catch by Doug Baldwin. And you know,
Speaker 1: if the Seahawks had a longer run in the playoffs
Speaker 1: because of this, then you look back at this play
Speaker 1: is almost like a fourth and twenty six type play
Speaker 1: for the Eagles, you know, as we talked about in
Speaker 1: podcast a few weeks ago. But you know, this play
Speaker 1: gets lost history. But this is some kind of catch
Speaker 1: by Doug Baldwin. Yeah, he goes up with one arm
Speaker 1: and he's trying to make sure he knows where Harrison
Speaker 1: Smith is because he's coming over one more step and
Speaker 1: he's blowing them up right, not only probably separating the ball,
Speaker 1: but probably a shoulder or the face mask or many
Speaker 1: other things. But this was also another play and indicative
Speaker 1: of what happened over the course of the game, is
Speaker 1: that Russell Wilson was high, right, there were there were
Speaker 1: a couple other that throwing the throw said that throwing
Speaker 1: the football. Make sure you say it that. I was
Speaker 1: immediately waiting for a laugh from our normal technical producer
Speaker 1: on the show going no. So that's that definitely, like
Speaker 1: he was just high and overthrowing receivers and putting them
Speaker 1: in harm's way. Right. One of the things for Russell
Speaker 1: Wilson as his careers developed is, you know, he's a
Speaker 1: guy that's operational efficiency at its finest, and on this
Speaker 1: day there were just a number of balls where he
Speaker 1: almost got Baldwin and the other receivers killed. So this
Speaker 1: play right here is the first of what's going to
Speaker 1: wind up being a couple of big highlights for the Seahawks,
Speaker 1: but they couldn't turn it into points. And we go
Speaker 1: to the fourth quarter, the Vikings shutting out the Seahawks
Speaker 1: nine to nothing on the strength of what three Blair
Speaker 1: Walsh field goals. People forget about that he was three
Speaker 1: for three going into the fourth quarter. He was responsible
Speaker 1: for the only points in the game. So the Vikings
Speaker 1: had shut the Seahawks out nine nothing going to the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter. And then the play of the game comes
Speaker 1: and it's a typical and quintessential Russell Wilson play. In fact,
Speaker 1: if you say to me at the end of his career,
Speaker 1: someone said to me, listen, I don't know anything about
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson, tell me what he was like, I would say,
Speaker 1: watch this play right here. This is Russell Wilson nine nothing,
Speaker 1: Minnesota leading, and the Seahawks are driving. Now there's still
Speaker 1: ways away from the end zone. And you know, look
Speaker 1: they've been driving okay in between the forties, but you
Speaker 1: know the Vikings have not broken on defense. The snap
Speaker 1: goes through Russell Wilson's hands, all right, and he's not
Speaker 1: ready for it. He kind of loses it trying to
Speaker 1: grab it on his shoulder pad. He gets it back
Speaker 1: sixteen yards behind the line of scrimmage, right, And how
Speaker 1: many times you've seen this play with Russell Wilson now
Speaker 1: over the years, but this is the quintessential play. Five
Speaker 1: Vikings defenders go after him because they're all able to
Speaker 1: get by their blockers because they see the ball all
Speaker 1: the way down. They can take a wide run around
Speaker 1: and and get to the ball. Meanwhile, the blockers, you know,
Speaker 1: don't know they're gonna let them get around because they
Speaker 1: don't know why they're running around. It's oh man, the
Speaker 1: ball got way by Russell Wilson scrambled. He's got five
Speaker 1: defenders closing in on him, and Wilson does kind of
Speaker 1: a quick step and he scrambles right. And what happens
Speaker 1: on plays like this is if you can't get to
Speaker 1: that ball a guy like Russell Wilson, when you're talking
Speaker 1: about five defenders who are now chasing him, that's only
Speaker 1: six guys in the field, and a couple of them
Speaker 1: aren't the line of scrimmage. So there's gonna be somebody
Speaker 1: who's gonna be wide open, and it's Tyler Lockett. Lockett
Speaker 1: catches the ball for a first down middle of the field,
Speaker 1: makes a nice move and runs all the way down
Speaker 1: to the four yard line. This play changed the game
Speaker 1: because the Seahawks would go in for a touchdown and
Speaker 1: cut it to nine to seven, and suddenly the Seahawks
Speaker 1: have life. This one play did it. And this is
Speaker 1: the deep play that you can look at it and say,
Speaker 1: this is Russell Wilson's career in a nutshell. This play
Speaker 1: right here. Yeah, the quick slide to corral the ball, Uh,
Speaker 1: extend the play and you could see as Locket turns
Speaker 1: up field to run. You got lin Voald Joseph with
Speaker 1: his hands on his hips like, we did everything right. Yeah,
Speaker 1: what are you gonna do? We did everything right. We pursued,
Speaker 1: we chased, Wilson took a hitt as he got rid
Speaker 1: of the ball, and there's Lockett's standing all by himself.
Speaker 1: And then, as we alluded to a little bit earlier,
Speaker 1: Doug Baldwin doing his thing, scraping at the goal line,
Speaker 1: finding the end zone and putting them on the board.
Speaker 1: But yeah, for Russell Wilson, one of those This is
Speaker 1: the Canton highlight reel with the voiceover guy, booming voice
Speaker 1: that's gonna be like, all right, and here was the
Speaker 1: beginning of a legend. No, it's more like this, the
Speaker 1: booming voice saying, and Russell Wilson, like the chauffeur of
Speaker 1: a large limousine, content to let the pounds do the driving,
Speaker 1: and then it's the really high Elson. Now he fumbles
Speaker 1: a snapp in sixteen years back in the line of
Speaker 1: scom game said looking, oh my god, he's found a guy.
Speaker 1: Oh it's gonna be a first addic could get in
Speaker 1: the end zone water play like, that's what would go.
Speaker 1: It would be the whole Can we go back and
Speaker 1: find you gotta be Kidney. The ball comes straight back
Speaker 1: Wilson and now he's free. But the Vikings still have
Speaker 1: the lead here in the fourth quarter. But something happens
Speaker 1: that has always dogged Adrian Peterson throughout his career. On
Speaker 1: the ensuing possession, camp Chancellor forces up Peterson fumble. He
Speaker 1: has always had those issues. Seattle converts it into a
Speaker 1: go ahead field goal. So suddenly the Vikings, who had
Speaker 1: this game was nine nothing. You're saying, we're playing out
Speaker 1: the last fifteen minutes. Wilson has the big play, Peterson fumbles,
Speaker 1: and suddenly now the Vikings are chasing down ten none
Speaker 1: with just a few minutes left. This is a huge
Speaker 1: reversal of fortune, and the fans in the stands are
Speaker 1: just stunned and they're looking at each other's hands on
Speaker 1: their heads, going what just happened to us? We just
Speaker 1: allowed We kept them off the scoreboard the entire first
Speaker 1: three quarters. Now they got ten in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: We're losing. And Adrian Peterson, the man with the strongest
Speaker 1: hand shake you'll ever experience in your life, man where
Speaker 1: he tries to break your soul and he does. I
Speaker 1: I should staring you in the face. You know, before
Speaker 1: this all came up with his child endangerment and what
Speaker 1: happened like when he was in the midst of his career,
Speaker 1: when he was like in his mid twenties, and I
Speaker 1: was at espn SP's red carpet. It was always my
Speaker 1: gig being on the red carpet of the SPS. And
Speaker 1: I get to interview a lot of players and Adrian
Speaker 1: Peterson comes by and you know, you shake hands. How
Speaker 1: are you doing? He shakes my hand and he tries
Speaker 1: to break it and go, oh my god. And I said, dude,
Speaker 1: that's a hard shake. He goes, That's how I do.
Speaker 1: It's how I do. You know, I gotta shake hands,
Speaker 1: Gotta shake hands that way. I'm like, okay. So a
Speaker 1: year goes by and the SPS red carpet. Next time
Speaker 1: Adrian Peterson comes walking by again, I'm like, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: talk to him, and I go, hey, Adrian, come over ESPN.
Speaker 1: He goes, yeah, sure, I go, I've been waiting. You
Speaker 1: shook my hand last year. But he goes, I've been
Speaker 1: waiting all year for this. I go yeah, and he
Speaker 1: gives me an extra squeeze, extra hard squeeze, and I go, oh, man, dude,
Speaker 1: come on, I was waiting all year for this. He goes,
Speaker 1: I'm stronger. I said, I yeah, you're right. Okay. So
Speaker 1: that was that was my the hard handshake from Adrian Peterson.
Speaker 1: I felt like my knuckles cracking while he was shaking
Speaker 1: my hand. Yeah, I remember that from his rookie year.
Speaker 1: And then like you, it got stronger every time you'd
Speaker 1: run into him. So that's certainly the case. Like still
Speaker 1: going but forty eight fumbles in his career on what
Speaker 1: about touches uh and here just really well done by Chancellor,
Speaker 1: much like we talked about the punch out on Calvin
Speaker 1: Johnson Manton Man on the spot. So the Vikings trail
Speaker 1: tend nine but Teddy Bridgewater gets the Vikings down the
Speaker 1: field pretty easily and all it's needed now. In the
Speaker 1: final seconds is a oney seven yard field goal from
Speaker 1: Blair Walsh, who had a great college career at Georgia,
Speaker 1: but as a senior had his weakest year. He was
Speaker 1: twenty one out of thirty five on field goals, which
Speaker 1: is not a great percentage. Still though, because of what
Speaker 1: he did how strong his leg was, he gets drafted
Speaker 1: by the Vikings in the sixth round and two thousand
Speaker 1: and twelve. He is terrific from long distance right away
Speaker 1: and becomes a pro bowler night in the summer. He
Speaker 1: was that good he signed an extension to become one
Speaker 1: of the top five highest paid kickers in the NFL
Speaker 1: four years and fourteen millions, so he just gets paid.
Speaker 1: He comes into the two thousand and fifteen season and
Speaker 1: he continued to be good. But the problem with Blair
Speaker 1: Walsh it wasn't his length, because he could make field
Speaker 1: goals from anywhere. It wasn't kicking in the first three
Speaker 1: and a half quarters. It was in the clutch. During
Speaker 1: his career, Blair Walsh was never consistent making field goals
Speaker 1: in the final minutes. In the final minute, with a
Speaker 1: chance to tie the game, give his team the lead,
Speaker 1: his field goal percentage was and it didn't matter where
Speaker 1: it was from. This wasn't all He couldn't make the loan.
Speaker 1: He just couldn't make them in the clutch, and that
Speaker 1: was a bugaboo that followed him. Still, you gotta think
Speaker 1: twenty seven yard field goal, He's gonna make this and
Speaker 1: send the Vikings onto the next round. Yeah, first career.
Speaker 1: I mean you look, he's an eighty two percent field
Speaker 1: goal kicker. Uh, thirty five from long range? Uh, anything
Speaker 1: inside thirty miss one. Uh, and then you got the
Speaker 1: mid range what thirty seven of forty nine. All the stats,
Speaker 1: including eventually showing up as a member of the Seahawks,
Speaker 1: But just the the idea that in those waning moments
Speaker 1: and this one and the more you look at it
Speaker 1: and go back and watch the game tape, uh, some
Speaker 1: things leading to uh, the eventual hook and and what
Speaker 1: we're talking about a miss. This was no ordinary miss
Speaker 1: Jason Smith. No, no, no, no, no, no. This never
Speaker 1: had a chance at this point. Specifically, he's two out
Speaker 1: of five on field goals in the final minute to
Speaker 1: give his team the lead. And so you know that
Speaker 1: this is a guy that has problems in the clutch.
Speaker 1: He misses this one. As you said, it doesn't have
Speaker 1: a chance. Laces were actually in on this holder Jeff
Speaker 1: Locke didn't have the laces where it should have been,
Speaker 1: and he misses the kick, which you know you have
Speaker 1: to have the laces out because of ace venture a
Speaker 1: pet detective in and Ray Finkel, and the laces weren't
Speaker 1: out Dan Marino, and so we've known for twenty five years.
Speaker 1: You know what, I gotta have the laces out when
Speaker 1: you're kicking a field goal. But still head coach Mike
Speaker 1: Zimmer says he's gotta make it. Blair Walsh took all
Speaker 1: kinds of responsibility for it after the game was over.
Speaker 1: But my goodness, this kick just shocked everybody because this
Speaker 1: was it's a gimme, He's gonna make it. The vikings
Speaker 1: are going on and the Seahawks are going home and
Speaker 1: they're gonna rue that Super Bowl even more because of this.
Speaker 1: But the kick misses and everybody is stunned. Look, the
Speaker 1: announcers were trying to build up all kinds of momentum
Speaker 1: towards this by saying, Hey, Richard Sherman could be on
Speaker 1: this side here. You gotta watch for him because the
Speaker 1: person on the edge has to pick who to block.
Speaker 1: Richard Sherman could be the guy coming in from the edge,
Speaker 1: and you're watching this saying, Okay, you're just trying to
Speaker 1: give me some drama because it's a twenty seven yard
Speaker 1: field goal, you know what, trying to kick one from
Speaker 1: forty seven yards. You're just trying to give me some
Speaker 1: drama on this play. Well, but that's part of the
Speaker 1: laces in. It's like, all right, it's twenty seven yards.
Speaker 1: Just hammer at home. But the third field goal of
Speaker 1: the game, Sherman barely missed it and he stood there
Speaker 1: looking at his hand, going how did I miss it? So? Uh,
Speaker 1: he'd almost gotten one earlier. Uh, so I gotta think
Speaker 1: to some degree there was a bit of a hooking
Speaker 1: sensation knowing uh, and strategy, knowing that he had to
Speaker 1: get it off because Sherman was getting to jump. So uh.
Speaker 1: The announcers, I think we're on top of it. And yes,
Speaker 1: part of it is getting there and sell cell cell,
Speaker 1: get you to the edge of your seat. But you
Speaker 1: know what, we've seen strange things. Seven yard field goal. No,
Speaker 1: I get it, and I think you're right about that.
Speaker 1: But the thing is that was a forty seven yard
Speaker 1: order where Okay, a lot of things have to happen.
Speaker 1: You gotta kick it lower, you know, you gotta get
Speaker 1: more distance on it. This is an extra point. This
Speaker 1: is you're not You're not gonna do it. But hey,
Speaker 1: this is what happens to Blair Walsh. Why does he
Speaker 1: miss field goals like this in the final minute? Does
Speaker 1: he think too much? It's that's what you gotta do
Speaker 1: to be a successful field goal kicker in the NFL.
Speaker 1: You can't miss kicks like this or you're not going
Speaker 1: to have a job. And it's stunned me that he
Speaker 1: actually kept him around after this game, because sometimes a
Speaker 1: kick is just so devastating that you have to move on.
Speaker 1: And you know, hey, I I give the Vikings a
Speaker 1: lot of credit by keeping Blair Walsh on the team
Speaker 1: for a while, even though you knew the next time
Speaker 1: he missed a big field goal he was gonna get
Speaker 1: cut and you were postponing the inevitable. So he's just
Speaker 1: cat number for the next year if signing that new deal.
Speaker 1: They were going through his contract. But we can't can't.
Speaker 1: We can't cut him because we gotta eat all that
Speaker 1: money for a kicker. No chance in hell. But no,
Speaker 1: but that that's a great point you make about look
Speaker 1: Sherman got there. But still it's a twenty seven yard
Speaker 1: field goal. And this, like I said, he missed one
Speaker 1: from that distance in his career. Uh So the game
Speaker 1: ends shockingly, The Vikings go home, The Seahawks go on.
Speaker 1: What was life like next for Blair Walsh? What was
Speaker 1: like like next for the Vikings who actually turned out
Speaker 1: to not be the same after this game, Not just
Speaker 1: Blair Walsh, All that more coming up next, Keep it
Speaker 1: right here. The future is where things get really interesting
Speaker 1: for both of these teams. Special Teams Podcast Jason Smith,
Speaker 1: Mike Harmon. Blair Walsh misses the twenty seven yard field goal.
Speaker 1: Seattle moves on to face the Carolina Panthers in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: The Vikings go home. Blair Walsh, who said it took
Speaker 1: him three weeks to reconcile the kick with him himself,
Speaker 1: you know, staying away from everybody and staying out of
Speaker 1: the limelight in the spotlight took him three weeks to
Speaker 1: actually be at peace with missing that kick. I remember
Speaker 1: he got letters from kids in school who wrote inspirational
Speaker 1: letters to him. Hey, I'm so sorry. You missed this
Speaker 1: field goal, and he was so touched by it he
Speaker 1: went and visited one of the classes that sent him letters.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think that's a really cool thing that
Speaker 1: he did. But you as sure there were probably some
Speaker 1: other letters that came in that weren't so positive. I'm
Speaker 1: sure there were. I'm sure. I mean, he was already
Speaker 1: out of a job. That's too soon for Ragnar come by.
Speaker 1: Ragnar is probably rooting against the Vikings at that point. Well,
Speaker 1: didn't he change teams? Wasn't that part of a Fox minute?
Speaker 1: Was riding his motorcycle around going hey, we lost donuts
Speaker 1: in the end zone? What's going on? At one point,
Speaker 1: wal said he didn't remember anything about the game, like
Speaker 1: he had blocked it out, And that happens a lot
Speaker 1: with people when you have such a bad memory or
Speaker 1: something happening, like I gotta block it out. I can't
Speaker 1: keep thinking about this, So it's gonna consume me and
Speaker 1: ruin my life. What's gonna happen? Uh? But here's where
Speaker 1: things change in a way that you wouldn't expect. So
Speaker 1: for the Vikings, this is how things got crazy. You
Speaker 1: would think that, all right, Bridgewater Peterson is back. They
Speaker 1: have a good team and we're gonna move on and
Speaker 1: build on this. By the end of twenty sixteen, the
Speaker 1: following season, Bridgewater, Peterson, and Walsh were all gone from
Speaker 1: the Vikings. They you thought they had a really good
Speaker 1: young nucleus they were gonna go, they were all gone.
Speaker 1: Teddy Bridgewater tors a c L in the preseason and
Speaker 1: an injury that knocked him out for well over a year.
Speaker 1: He would never start another game for Minnesota. They had
Speaker 1: to trade for Sam Bradford. They got so desperate. Adrian
Speaker 1: Peterson gets hurt, tears his meniscus and an l c
Speaker 1: L sprain. He tried to come back in December of
Speaker 1: twenty six ten, but couldn't. Wasn't the same guy. The
Speaker 1: Vikings decide we're gonna get out from under his contract
Speaker 1: and the eighteen million dollars we owe him in February,
Speaker 1: so they're both gone. Your quarterback, you're running back. You
Speaker 1: are now starting over at those two key positions. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: Blair Walsh, he stayed with the team. I don't know
Speaker 1: how they did it. As I said, sometimes mistakes you
Speaker 1: just have to move on. But it was admirable. But
Speaker 1: like I said, it just postponed the future. He made
Speaker 1: it to week ten against Washington. He had missed four
Speaker 1: extra points and four field goals to that point. He
Speaker 1: missed a big extra point against Washington and they waved
Speaker 1: him after that and said we got to get off
Speaker 1: of this ride. And really it was inevitable. It was okay,
Speaker 1: unless he makes every field goal on every extra point,
Speaker 1: you're gonna move on from at some point. So this
Speaker 1: was where they let him stay to hope that it
Speaker 1: worked out. But you know, really, did you see it
Speaker 1: ending for Blair Walsh and he differently in Minnesota? No,
Speaker 1: this was how it was gonna go. No, and that
Speaker 1: was inevitable. You look at the workload split with no
Speaker 1: Peterson there. Bradford comes in, a guy who gets to
Speaker 1: my thinking, Uh so fairly judged just because he was
Speaker 1: the last to cut the huge novelty check before playing
Speaker 1: it down in the NFL. That's not his fault, man,
Speaker 1: that's the way the rules were. Yeah, he's got aware
Speaker 1: that throughout his history. I'm sure he sleeps pretty well
Speaker 1: like Hugh from breaking bad on a pile of the money.
Speaker 1: But this is one of those dividing lines and bringing
Speaker 1: Walsh back again. Other than the money part of things.
Speaker 1: In total cash earnings was four point four million sixteen.
Speaker 1: We're looking at like one point two when it's all
Speaker 1: said done, so not a prohibitive amount of money in
Speaker 1: terms of releasing him. And one would have thought that
Speaker 1: after the terrible ending to the would be playoff run,
Speaker 1: that you would have cut and just said, all right,
Speaker 1: we need better karma around here. And then they bring
Speaker 1: in Kai for Bath to kick after that. And while
Speaker 1: we watched his career as well, that had its ups
Speaker 1: and downs along the way. But yeah, the starting of
Speaker 1: a new era there in Minnesota, so the Vikings were
Speaker 1: starting over. And now it didn't end quite this way
Speaker 1: for Blair Wallls. We have one of those you know
Speaker 1: at the end of the horror movie, you think the
Speaker 1: killer is dead, but oh no, he comes back like
Speaker 1: very quickly at the end. Uh. That's kind of what
Speaker 1: we have for Blair Walsh. But first, that's what happened
Speaker 1: with the Vikings the next season. What about the Seattle Seahawks, Right,
Speaker 1: they come off winning this game, they would lose the
Speaker 1: next week in the playoffs to Carolina, a very famous
Speaker 1: game in which they got down thirty one nothing at
Speaker 1: halftime you're thinking, okay, this is over, but they roar
Speaker 1: all the way back, nearly find a way to pull
Speaker 1: it off, and they lose thirty one four. This turned
Speaker 1: out to be Marshawn Lynch's final game at the time
Speaker 1: for the Seattle Seahawks before he came out of retirement
Speaker 1: years later to come play for them. Uh. He retired
Speaker 1: during the Super Bowl and seen with the cleats over
Speaker 1: a telephone wire picture on social media, which we all remember.
Speaker 1: This was a big change for them because you saw
Speaker 1: over the course of this season into two tho in sixteen,
Speaker 1: this became Russell Wilson's team. Wilson nearly brought the Seahawks
Speaker 1: all the way back in this game against Carolina, and
Speaker 1: it was the Seahawks finally realizing, Okay, now we're Russell
Speaker 1: Wilson driven. All right. You know, look Lynch marched to
Speaker 1: a different drum and and okay, you know, but he's
Speaker 1: kind of his own, you know, entity out there. We
Speaker 1: needed him, but now we have to turn things over
Speaker 1: to Russell Wilson. And it was a change. And what
Speaker 1: we've seen now is Wilson become a yearly m VP
Speaker 1: candidate and the way the Seahawks pushed their business their
Speaker 1: yearly Super Bowl threats because of Russell Wilson. Right, we
Speaker 1: went to running back by committee pretty much every year since. Right,
Speaker 1: You'll have a guy who's the hot hand for a while,
Speaker 1: but they kind of use him up there in Seattle.
Speaker 1: All right, all right, he's gonna get hurt, and the
Speaker 1: next guy's gonna roll up, and he's gonna get hurt,
Speaker 1: and the other guy's gonna come back in because he's
Speaker 1: ready to go. And sometimes we've got a third guy
Speaker 1: at the ready. Meanwhile, our offensive line is a work
Speaker 1: in progress still about mid season, and then we settle
Speaker 1: on our five guys. You know, it's much like the
Speaker 1: the pyramid that uh, the woman used on Dance Moms, Sorry,
Speaker 1: quarantine time hanging out with the girls, Like all right,
Speaker 1: these are gonna be our cards, and over here, number
Speaker 1: one center, you're still there. The only constant was Russell Wilson, Right.
Speaker 1: Even the wide receivers, you'd find new stars. Doug Baldwin
Speaker 1: for a while was that guy, but he was never
Speaker 1: as good as he was that year. Right, No, that
Speaker 1: was the monster year. But you know, at least he
Speaker 1: was the reliable and then lock it picks up uh
Speaker 1: some more, and then you've had a number of other
Speaker 1: receivers and tight ends. You know, as as you started.
Speaker 1: We're not gonna do a preview here, uh as you
Speaker 1: roll through, but you know, an important cog in the
Speaker 1: machine as well. So for Russell Wilson, one of the
Speaker 1: game's big names and stars. And yeah, it's all when
Speaker 1: Marshawn Lynch and the Skittles checked out, Uh, the ending
Speaker 1: of an era there, you know, honestly, you know, look,
Speaker 1: he he came back to play after that. I think
Speaker 1: he had such a bad season as far as health wise.
Speaker 1: He was so banged up mentally physically. He just needed
Speaker 1: to get away. And this happens to players where they
Speaker 1: get away and then they get their love of the
Speaker 1: game back and they want to come back. But it
Speaker 1: was such a big run and and the Seahawks were
Speaker 1: so good and and Lynch carried the football and had
Speaker 1: so much responsibility. And then when you're so hurt and
Speaker 1: you can't be healthy and you're coming back and it's difficult,
Speaker 1: you just need time away. You get worn out, both
Speaker 1: mentally and physically. I think that's what happened to Marshawn
Speaker 1: Lynch because clearly he was ready to come back, and
Speaker 1: he's come back with a couple of different teams, and
Speaker 1: then you know that's where it is. But speaking of comebacks,
Speaker 1: this is where things end for Blair Walsh. In two
Speaker 1: thousand and seventeen, as a free agent, he is signed
Speaker 1: by the Seattle Seahawks, the team he missed the field
Speaker 1: goal against, signs him to be their kicker, and Walsh
Speaker 1: does well for a bit. He makes two field goals
Speaker 1: to be Minnesota and in in a very famous meme
Speaker 1: and moment, yelling at his ex teammates on the sideline
Speaker 1: for taunting him because they were all yelling stuff about
Speaker 1: him missing the field the fiegals he makes two, he
Speaker 1: helps Seattle beat Minnesota, and he starts yelling at everybody
Speaker 1: on the sideline. That was about as good as it
Speaker 1: would get for Blair Walsh, because he would miss a
Speaker 1: fifty two yard or to tie the game on Monday
Speaker 1: Night Football against Atlanta, and then the biggest one, he
Speaker 1: missed a field goal in the final minute that could
Speaker 1: have beaten Arizona. Again Blair Walsh and final minute field goals.
Speaker 1: As a result, Seattle lost this game six They missed
Speaker 1: the playoffs. As a result, because they could have got
Speaker 1: in if they won. And then Blair Walsh was waived.
Speaker 1: So the Blair Walsh Vikings Seahawks storyline doesn't end where
Speaker 1: you thought it would, but it still ends with missed
Speaker 1: field goals on both perspectives. And and you know, you
Speaker 1: can talk about not being able to pay kickers, and
Speaker 1: you shouldn't pay kickers and all these things. No, you
Speaker 1: can pay kickers. You gotta pay the right ones. You
Speaker 1: gotta pay the ones. You pay the Justin Tuckers that
Speaker 1: are gonna make fifty yard field goals in the final minute. Uh,
Speaker 1: that's going to win a game. Or you know, the
Speaker 1: solid guys that can that can kick the Adam Vinitarry's
Speaker 1: that are gonna kick well in the clutch. It it's
Speaker 1: some kind of gene that that some players having, some
Speaker 1: don't because and I feel awful for Blair Walsh because
Speaker 1: the guy was and still is a good kicker, strong
Speaker 1: leg makes a lot of them. But boy, those misses
Speaker 1: at the end, when you have a percentage that stands
Speaker 1: out that way, it's okay, how long you're gonna be around?
Speaker 1: That's really what it is. Well, who's your closer? Uh?
Speaker 1: This is your punter able to come in and take
Speaker 1: in the final minute or do you just have to
Speaker 1: go for it? All right? How about little where are
Speaker 1: they now from this game? You got something there? You go? Well,
Speaker 1: we mentioned truss Nick before out of Ohio Northern real
Speaker 1: estate investments of pro sports performance are doing a little
Speaker 1: bit of the technique and training as you go. Uh.
Speaker 1: You've got Sean Prador graduate assistant under Herm Edwards over
Speaker 1: at Arizona State. Also some marketing and sales work at
Speaker 1: Exos before that, So kind of dabbling in a couple
Speaker 1: of things. If you got Clinton Gresham out of TCU
Speaker 1: speaker doing some h two sides, you can either book
Speaker 1: him for here's basic motivational stuff or if you want
Speaker 1: me to go faith based, we'll get into the Bible
Speaker 1: a little bit. So that's two types of the process
Speaker 1: to wholeness for him. And then you got Matt Asiata.
Speaker 1: Why because he was a fantasy hero for us. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I felt like I needed to bring him into the mix. Uh.
Speaker 1: He played in the Alliance in twenty nine. He was
Speaker 1: one of the high profile players, that's right. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: and then he ended on injured reserve. I remember, I
Speaker 1: think it was a game where I started him in Fantasy.
Speaker 1: It was it was either pick up Asiata or McKinnon,
Speaker 1: I think was what it was. And I'm like, all right,
Speaker 1: let me pick up Asiata. And for one week the
Speaker 1: week I picked him up, he had three touchdowns. It
Speaker 1: was great, but it was like three carry three touchdowns.
Speaker 1: Then it ran for like a hundred and seventy yards.
Speaker 1: I go, I picked the wrong guy. I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: not I mean for the long haul, I'm screwed unless
Speaker 1: I'm I'm just playing vulture. Yeah, that's why I used
Speaker 1: the term vulture. And even more, there's no question yeah
Speaker 1: McKinnon being the dual threat back and that was the
Speaker 1: other thing they needed to do even more of, uh
Speaker 1: as the the offense changed there. But you know, as
Speaker 1: we well know, as you and I said, and we
Speaker 1: uh we talk about this game and the fallout and
Speaker 1: the where are they now? There's a lot of guys
Speaker 1: that are still roaming NFL sidelines from these games. Is
Speaker 1: pretty amazing because you know, normally we have the turnover
Speaker 1: in the league. I think the first fifteen guys that
Speaker 1: I kind of went through and I was looking at
Speaker 1: the end of roster's guys are still hanging on somewhere.
Speaker 1: It's pretty amazing. But coming from to well coached discipline squads,
Speaker 1: when you look at it, especially when you go on
Speaker 1: the defensive side of the ball, from both those squads,
Speaker 1: you know exactly what you're getting. So there is the
Speaker 1: Blair Walsh game. The Seahawks win at ten nine, both
Speaker 1: teams changed forever, and Blair walsh Is story is as
Speaker 1: amazing as it is improbable. Uh. Jason Smith Mike Harmon
Speaker 1: Our show has heard on Fox Sports Radio Monday through Friday,
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