Seahawks punter Jon Ryan had an eventful game last Sunday in Seattle’s 10-9 victory over the Minnesota Vikings. He suffered a broken nose when he did a face plant on the turf, trying to hurdle a defender after being forced to tuck-and-run following a low snap.
“It’s one of those plays you hope never happens,” a good-natured Ryan said. “It was a low snap, and I believe when I got up there if I would have kicked it it would have been blocked, so that was the right decision. Then it opened up and obviously you have to trust your instincts as a professional athlete or an athlete at all, you never second-guess your instincts. My instinct was to run it up the middle, then when it closed off I did my best hurdling attempt. [People have said] 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.”
Ryan had his nose reset on the sidelines and played out the rest of the game. Ryan said it didn’t really hurt — it helped that it was minus-4 degrees at the game — and that it doesn’t hurt now.
On a more local note, Ryan overcame his injuries to attend Tuesday night’s Everett Silvertips game at Xfinity Arena against his hometown Regina Pats.
“It was awesome. I hadn’t seen a junior hockey game — I think I saw the Thunderbirds back in 08 or 09 — so it was good to get out and see some hockey again.”
Ryan was treated to an exciting game, as his hometown team won 4-3 in overtime.
“I was cheering for Everett, though, I was backing them,” Ryan, who was an avid hockey player himself whole growing up, was quick to point out. “I’ve been a pacific northwest guy for eight years now. I said, ‘Y’know only one of these teams ever cut me, the Regina Pats back in 1998.’ I’m not saying I’m holding a grudge, but I wasn’t cheering for them.”
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