Here we are for yet another installment of Unsung Heroes! I really look forward to doing these and I especially love giving the unsung 'Hawks their due. This game wasn't pretty but the Seahawks, to their credit, were able to prevent this game from being a shootout and ultimately were the victors. Gus Bradley and the other defensive coaches deserve a ton of credit for an absolutely amazing performance. Probably the best defensive performance I've ever seen in my life as a Seahawks fan.
So it's important that Bradley get some love but two guys really stood out to me as a major reason why the Seahawks were able to win this one. First, and I'm really glad to be able to say this because I love the dude, Jon Ryan played a whale of a game! He punted 6 times for a whopping 309 yards, a 51.5 average. His long, a 73 yarder, was an absolute bomb and amazing to watch. He also pinned the Packers inside their own 20 three times. That's 6 inside the 20 on the year against a lone touchback. Needless to say it's looking like another great campaign for the Canadian Crippler. With the Seahawks offense failing to get anything going against the Pack D, Ryan came through huge in the clutch and helped the Seahawks in the field position department. I firmly believe that if you replace Ryan with a league average punter, the Seahawks don't win this game. People laughed when the 'Hawks signed Ryan to a 6 year, $9.1 million contract after the '09 season but it's proven to be a shrewd move. The dude is reliable as hell and cooler than the other side of the pillow. Did I mention he's got the best ginger locks in the entire NFL? Ryan came through big time in this one and deserves a game ball, or whatever I can afford to give him. For now, he'll just have to settle on an Efren Herrera rookie card.
Thank you SBNation and you're welcome world. This dance alone could have been reason enough for Brandon Mebane to be one of my unsung heroes of the week. Amazingly, his performance on the field was actually better than this belly roll dance! I'm actually not 100% sure about that but the man was a beast on Monday Night! It's fitting that he'd end up on this list sooner rather than later when you consider that Mebane has been one of the Seahawks unsung heroes for years now. Chris Clemons was just named NFC Defensive Player of the Week for his 4 sack performance and Bruce Irvin has gotten rave reviews for his improved play (2 sacks) in this game but Mebane deserves just as much credit.
Seahawks fans have been begging for years to get some pressure up the middle consistently and it finally showed up in the form of #92. His ability to collapse the pocket is what ultimately set up Clemons and Irvin in the position to succeed. Yeah, those guys played out of their skulls, but Mebane held down the fort and did not allow Rodgers to simply slide up in the pocket to avoid the edge rush. Sure 1 of the sacks came after Rodgers tripped and all Mebane had to do was fall on his ex-teammate from college, but if you look beyond the 2 sacks you'll see that Mebane played a dominating game. That marks 2 of those for him in my book. He looked incredible against Arizona, solid against the Cowboys, and incredible once again against the Packers.
Could this be the year where Brandon Mebane becomes the truly dominant defensive tackle that many 'Hawks fans have hoped for him to be? We shall see. For now he is a Lamar King rookie card richer for his outstanding play. Jon Ryan and Brandon Mebane, we salute you as the Unsung Heroes in a HUGE win that none of us will ever forget, no matter how much the media and fans of NFL teams around the league make us try!
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