Seahawk Notebook: Wagner comes up big with blocked field goal

Published 1:30 am Sunday, October 23, 2016

GLENDALE, Ariz.— For a guy who could barely walk afterward, Bobby Wagner was an athletic marvel.

And not just for his 13 tackles, constant blitzing and one hit on Arizona quarterback Carson Palmer.

The Seahawks’ middle linebacker pulled off the best play of a night of unfathomable ones in Seattle’s 6-6 overtime tie with the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.

If not for Wagner, the Seahawks likely would have lost in regulation.

Wagner went Kam Chancellor on the Arizona field-goal team in the first half. Wagner leaped clear over long snapper Aaron Brewer, landed on both feet and blocked Chandler Catanzaro’s short field-goal attempt to keep the score 3-0 Arizona.

It was a brilliant athletic feat. If Wagner had banged into the snapper, it would have been an illegal-formation foul and a re-kick from 34 yards out.

“I didn’t touch him. So I knew I was good. I knew I’d cleared him,” Wagner said.

Two seasons ago, Chancellor did the same thing to spook Carolina’s kicker into pulling a short kick way wide in Seattle.

Reminded his play was just like Chancellor’s, the exhausted Wagner managed a weak smile and said, “Yeah, but I blocked it.”

McCray’s save

The Cardinals faced a third-and- 7 at their own 45 with 5:15 left in overtime. Arizona receiver J.J. Nelson pulled in a short pass from Palmer, shook free from Richard Sherman, and raced up the right sideline for 40 yards on his way for the winning touchdown.

But strong safety Kelcie McCray, playing for the second straight week because Chancellor was out with a pulled groin, raced from behind down the right sideline. He shoved Nelson out of bounds at the 5.

Arians steamed

Cardinals coach Bruce Arians had no problem pinpointing his greatest disappointment: The kicking game. Place-kicker Chandler Catanzaro had a 39-yard field goal blocked in regulation, and his potential game-winning field goal, from a mere 24 yards, in overtime bounced off the left upright.

“Our kicking game let us down a little bit today,” Arians said.

A little bit?

Asked what he said to Catanzaro after he missed the potential game-winner, Arians was frank: “Make it. He’s a professional. This ain’t high school. You get paid to make it.”

The Cardinals’ special teams also got burned for the play that set up the Seahawks’ game-tying field goal in the fourth quarter.

With less than 5 minutes left in regulation, Cardinal punter Ryan Quigley had his kick blocked by Seahawks rookie receiver Tanner McEvoy. Seattle’s Cassius Marsh recovered at the Cardinals 27.

Although the Seahawks moved 10 yards backwards because of a holding penalty, Steven Hauschka booted a 40-yard field goal that tied the game at 3-3.

Arians disputed that earlier field goal blocked by Wagner. Arians claimed that Wagner touched the snapper in the process, which should have been a penalty and nullified the kick.

The NFL’s top officiating authority, Dean Blandino, tweeted during the game it’s only a foul if the leaping defender lands on the long snapper.

Sowell injured

Carroll said offensive lineman Bradley Sowell had a sprained medial collateral ligament in his knee. The team won’t fully know the severity until after more tests. … Backup lineman J’Marcus Webb has started multiple seasons at left tackle, at the beginning of his career in Chicago. Fant went in because he’s been practicing as the backup left tackle while Webb has been backing up at guard since the return of rookie Germain Ifedi.

Extra points

The 3-3 tie was the fewest points in regulation for any Seahawks game. … The Seahawks had 47 yards at halftime, their lowest in a first half in three years. On Oct. 28, 2013, they had 38 on way to an ugly, 14-9 win at St. Louis — almost as ugly as this Sunday night. … Wilson was 5-for-14 passing in the half, with three drops and two throwaway from Arizona’s pass rush that swarmed the edges. The offensive line had two holding penalties in the half, one accepted, on Gilliam late in the half. That penalty negated a first-down run and catch by Doug Baldwin on third down and led to Seattle’s fifth punt in five possessions to open the game.