The pain has subsided but the bruises remain for Seattle Seahawks punter Jon Ryan after his failed fourth down run following a low snap in the first quarter of last Sunday’s playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings.
Ryan suffered a broken nose after an attempt to leap over Vikings linebacker Jason Trusnick and Seahawks cornerback DeShawn Shead went awry and ended with Ryan’s face planted on the turf of frigid TCF Bank Stadium. The roof of Ryan’s helmet slammed down upon impact and fractured Ryan’s nose.
“It’s one of those plays you hope never happened,” Ryan said on Wednesday. “Low snap, and I believe when I got up there I think if I would have kicked it, it would have been blocked. That was the right decision. It opened up and you just got to trust your instincts. As an athlete, you never second guess your instincts. My instincts were to run it up the middle. Then when it closed off I did my best hurdling attempt.
“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 said it was a clean break and as soon as they set it back in place it didn’t hurt anymore.
“And I’m too dumb to feel pain too, I think, is the other half of that,” Ryan quipped.
Ryan’s brother also couldn’t resist the opportunity to mock him, comparing his post-injury look to Uma Thurman’s character in Pulp Fiction.
Ryan has had some memorable moments in the playoffs the last two years. His touchdown pass to tackle Garry Gilliam in last year’s NFC Championship helped begin Seattle’s rally against the Green Bay Packers.
