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Clayton
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Didn't see a thread on this but this explains why the kicker just sort of stood there before the play of the game in the NFCCG
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Everyone in the NFL wants to be in the middle of big plays. But it takes a special kind of player to know when to back away.
That was the case for Seahawks kicker Steven Hauschka Sunday night.
As he trotted onto the field to attempt what would have been a 53-yard field-goal attempt early in the fourth quarter of the NFC Championship Game -- a kick that, if successful, would have cut the 49ers' lead to one -- he grabbed coach Pete Carroll and begged out of the kick.
"I didn't really want to kick it, to tell you the truth," Hauschka told Newsday after the game. "It was into the wind . . . I didn't think it was the right decision and I let coach Carroll know that."
Hauschka said he'd never before passed up an opportunity to attempt a field goal.
"You have to be honest with yourself," he said. "It was the wind at that moment. Sometimes you can make that, but I felt the wind at that moment was into the face enough to not want to try that kick. I grabbed him on the sideline as I ran out because I could see the flags [on top of the uprights] and I told him: 'We shouldn't kick this.'
But the Seahawks already had their field-goal personnel on the field, so Hauschka simply stood there, looking down at the spot where the ball would be placed were it to be snapped, and waited. He thought Seattle would take a delay-of-game penalty and punt. Instead, Carroll called timeout and sent the offense back onto the field.
And Russell Wilson threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Jermaine Kearse on fourth-and-7 to give the Seahawks a three-point lead they wouldn't relinquish in their 23-17 victory.
"We had some options there," Carroll said. "We wanted to get points . . . We weren't going to punt."
Hauschka, who kicked a 47-yard field goal with 3:37 remaining to give the Seahawks a six-point lead, was glad he was vindicated by the touchdown, but said that even if the Seahawks had turned it over on downs, he would have stood by his decision.
"It was kind of a crazy sequence of events," he said.
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Everyone in the NFL wants to be in the middle of big plays. But it takes a special kind of player to know when to back away.
That was the case for Seahawks kicker Steven Hauschka Sunday night.
As he trotted onto the field to attempt what would have been a 53-yard field-goal attempt early in the fourth quarter of the NFC Championship Game -- a kick that, if successful, would have cut the 49ers' lead to one -- he grabbed coach Pete Carroll and begged out of the kick.
"I didn't really want to kick it, to tell you the truth," Hauschka told Newsday after the game. "It was into the wind . . . I didn't think it was the right decision and I let coach Carroll know that."
Hauschka said he'd never before passed up an opportunity to attempt a field goal.
"You have to be honest with yourself," he said. "It was the wind at that moment. Sometimes you can make that, but I felt the wind at that moment was into the face enough to not want to try that kick. I grabbed him on the sideline as I ran out because I could see the flags [on top of the uprights] and I told him: 'We shouldn't kick this.'
But the Seahawks already had their field-goal personnel on the field, so Hauschka simply stood there, looking down at the spot where the ball would be placed were it to be snapped, and waited. He thought Seattle would take a delay-of-game penalty and punt. Instead, Carroll called timeout and sent the offense back onto the field.
And Russell Wilson threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Jermaine Kearse on fourth-and-7 to give the Seahawks a three-point lead they wouldn't relinquish in their 23-17 victory.
"We had some options there," Carroll said. "We wanted to get points . . . We weren't going to punt."
Hauschka, who kicked a 47-yard field goal with 3:37 remaining to give the Seahawks a six-point lead, was glad he was vindicated by the touchdown, but said that even if the Seahawks had turned it over on downs, he would have stood by his decision.
"It was kind of a crazy sequence of events," he said.
