By Scott M. Johnson
Herald Writer
SEATTLE – Twenty-four yards. In field-goal kicking terms, it’s the equivalent of a six-inch putt.
Sure, the game was in the balance, but Seattle Seahawks kicker Rian Lindell had made kicks like this before.
And it was only 24 yards.
“There was no doubt he was going to make that one,” return man Charlie Rogers would say later. “He wouldn’t be here if he couldn’t make that one. Heck, I could go out there and make that one.”
Perhaps. But the potential game-winning field goal in overtime of Sunday’s game between the Seahawks and San Diego Chargers wasn’t as easy as it looked. There was a funky wind swirling around Husky Stadium, and the pressure was almost as biting as the cold.
And, of course, there was Lindell’s recent history. The Seahawks’ 24-year-old kicker already had missed two potential game-winners during the final 4 1/2 minutes of regulation. So forgive the Seahawks bench for holding its collective breath as Lindell trotted out onto the field for what amounted to a chip shot.
And as the ball sailed through the uprights, giving the Seahawks a 13-10 victory with 8:37 to go in overtime, the entire stadium seemed to exhale at once.
“You knew he was going to make it,” center Robbie Tobeck said afterward. “He’s a gamer. He’s won games for us before, and he won one for us today.”
Lindell’s 24-yarder not only won the game, but also pushed the Seahawks (6-5) back into sole possession of second place in the AFC West. Combined with an overtime loss by the Oakland Raiders, Seattle is now just two games out of first place.
Getting the latest win was far from easy. After scoring on its opening drive, Seattle’s offense did almost nothing until the final quarter.
But just when the offense started to move the football, Lindell made like Arizona Diamondbacks closer Byung-Hyun Kim – the goat in a couple of World Series games. The Seahawks piled up 97 yards of offense on their final two drives – almost one-third of their total yardage for the entire game. But both drives ended with Lindell misses: wide right from 43, and wide left from 48.
In fact, Seattle’s offense was on the field for almost the entire final 18 minutes of play. The Seahawks ran 28 of the game’s final 31 plays, including overtime. Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck had 36 percent of his passing yards and 19 of his 21 rushing yards on the final three drives.
Hasselbeck got help from running backs Shaun Alexander and Mack Strong in overtime as Seattle went from its own 32 to San Diego’s 7-yard line during a ball-controlled, 6 1/2-minute drive.
Seeing the ball go through the uprights in overtime made up for the earlier misses.
“It was frustrating,” wide receiver Koren Robinson said. “But you’ve got to keep your head in the game, keep focused and come back on the last drive.
” … We knew we were going to do something good. We said it in the huddle. Everyone knew something was going to happen on that last drive. We executed the plays that were called and we got the win.”
Robinson made an 18-yard reception over the middle on the first play of overtime, putting the ball at midfield. After a nine-yard Hasselbeck scramble, Strong converted second-and-1. Two Alexander carries gave Seattle a third-and-1 at the San Diego 29 before Strong converted another short yardage situation that was that much more important considering Lindell’s recent struggles from beyond 40 yards.
After nailing the game-winner, Lindell shook his head in frustration and quickly ran off the field. He was one of the first players in and out of the locker room, and left without talking to reporters.
Coach Mike Holmgren said, despite Lindell’s earlier misses, that the team doesn’t expect to make a change at the position.
“At this stage of the season, it’s pretty hard to do anything,” Holmgren said. “Those were long field goals (Lindell missed). They were not easy field goals to make, but he’s made them before. There was wind on the field. We’ll just keep with it, stay after it. I’m just glad he made the last one.”
The final 12 minutes of the game overshadowed an otherwise putrid performance from the offense. Other than the Seahawks’ opening drive of the game – which culminated in a 1-yard touchdown run by Alexander – and the final three drives, Seattle was held to 103 yards and three points on nine drives.
“It was ugly. It wasn’t pretty, but we won the football game,” Tobeck said. “And we’ll take it.”
That Seattle’s offense even had a chance to win the game behind an opportunistic defense. The Chargers (5-7) turned the ball over twice in the fourth quarter in Seattle territory. The Seahawks also held San Diego to a three-and-out with 2 1/2 minutes remaining.
“If (Lindell) didn’t make it, we were going to find a way to win. That’s the way we played today,” linebacker Levon Kirkland said. “We didn’t get down and out. You’ve got to ride the storm in this game. You’ve got to take the good with the bad. You never feel totally cursed, and you never feel totally blessed. You’ve got to play that way, and we did. And we won the game.”
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