“It is shameful. I have to do better”. “And I think the people who say kind stuff and go out of their way to be kind toward me, that says a lot about them as well”, said Walsh, whose 34 field goals made during the regular season were the most in the NFL. “There’s a high percentage that they make them, but you’ve still got to do it”.
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In 2004 he missed two field goals – including a chance for the win in overtime – in the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ 27-25 loss to the B.C. Lions in the West Division final.
Look, it’s not entirely Vikings’ kicker, Blair Walsh’s fault.
The miss is yet another chapter of postseason heartache for Viking fans still haunted by Brett Favre’s across-the-body interception in the 2009 NFC Championship and Gary Anderson’s missed 38-yard field goal in the 1998 NFC Championship. “That’s something that will haunt me throughout the offseason”.
The kick that Minnesota coach Mike Zimmer described as “a chip shot” and one Walsh ought to make. For the first three quarters of the bitterly cold game, the NFC North champions held the two-time defending NFC champions in check.
“This football team shouldn’t be going home right now, and that’s hard”, Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway said.
The four games last weekend averaged 32.5 million viewers, up 9 percent from the 29.9 million last season.
“It was brutal conditions”, Greenway said.
The last game the Seahawks lost before they started to hit their stride in late October was, interestingly, at home against the Panthers, when they squandered leads of 20-7 in the third quarter and 23-14 in the fourth quarter in a 27-23 defeat. Trailing 9-0, Wilson almost took a huge loss on first down when he fumbled a shotgun snap. Thus, the Cardinals can’t be expecting another 30-point margin of victory, particularly after Rodgers and the Packers found some much-needed momentum in a 35-18 victory over the Redskins after a flat first quarter.
Seattle outgained Minnesota 226-183 on the day, getting 142 yards and a touchdown from Wilson on 13-of-26 passing. “I just didn’t put a swing on it that would be acceptable by anybody’s standards”. I wanted to check the play, and the ball was snapped.
“But it’s no excuse”, Wilson said. “You never know when you’re going to get the opportunity to get back in this situation”.
But Kam Chancellor yanked the ball out of Peterson’s arm as he fell to the turf, and Ahtyba Rubin recovered. That limited Peterson’s ability to make cuts into the open field, one of his specialties he used to gain 1,485 yards in the regular season and 11,675 yards in his nine-year career.Peterson had 63 yards on 31 rushes in the two games these teams played this season. “I’m an older guy”, cornerback Captain Munnerlyn said.
The only points Minnesota scored Sunday, three field goals, came off mistakes by Seattle’s offense and its punting team.
The Seahawks are the least-likely lower seed to be intimidated on the road, with the swagger built by those consecutive Super Bowl appearances, that wealth of Pro Bowl players discovered later in the draft and the momentum this season they rode to an 8-2 finish.
Fans’ reactions quickly surfaced on social media, including one fan who kicked a field goal in the snow (with the laces in, no less) to show Walsh just how easy it is done.
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The Vikings said it was the coldest game in their history – beating the previous record from 3 December 1972, when the air temperature was -18C and the wind chill was -28C.
