Some of you newer Seahawks fans might not be aware that the team frequently used to participate in games this time of the year.
They were called playoffs.
And since these “playoffs” were so important, some of the best plays earned iconic nicknames, like “Beastquake,” and “the Tip.”
But one of the most unexpected of these plays occurred in a game with so many other crucial plays that it sometimes gets overlooked. This play had the best nickname of them all: “Charlie Brown.”
It happened exactly 10 years ago this weekend. The trick play triggered a series of improbable events that allowed the Seahawks to score the largest comeback win in a conference championship game, and go to their second straight “Super Bowl.”
While a famed football-themed “Peanuts” cartoon focused on the despair of a perpetually denied kicker, this Seahawks fake field goal explored a different perspective: What if the holder not only pulled the ball away from the kicker, but rolled out and passed it for a touchdown?
How do you like Lucy now? Or, in this case, punter/kick-holder Jon Ryan?
There was nothing comical about the Seahawks’ performance for most of that rainy day at CenturyLink Field, Jan. 18, 2015, as the Green Bay Packers dominated by a 16-0 score late in the third period.
The futility seemed so unexpected. The Seahawks, defending Super Bowl champions, had won 10 of their preceding 11 games, and rolled to a 31-17 win over Carolina in the divisional playoff round.
While the historically dominant Seahawks defense made life difficult for Green Bay and quarterback Aaron Rodgers, the Seattle offense failed to ignite, with three interceptions and a lost fumble in the first half.
“It felt like we couldn’t get anything going; we needed a spark,” Ryan recalled. “I just don’t think anybody ever thought it would be the redheaded punter from Canada throwing a (pass) to (tackle) Garry Gilliam.”
Ryan was speaking last week from his home in Sherman Oaks, California. He reported himself safe from the dangerous wildfires nearby, but still sounded cautious using the term “spark.”
Ryan credits the design and nickname of the play to the imagination of special-teams coordinator Brian Schneider, who spotted Packers field-goal defenders crashing hard from one side in specific circumstances. Their aggressiveness could leave them vulnerable to a fake, he decided.
Ryan’s athleticism was important to the fake paying off. A running back and sprinter in high school, Ryan was a record-setting receiver, as well as punter at the University of Regina (Saskatchewan).
Some record, too. Unbreakable. Ryan registered a 109-yard touchdown reception – on the 110-yard Canadian football field.
Schneider phoned Ryan at home one evening that week to alert him to the planned fake, giving it the code name “Charlie Brown.” The key, Schneider told him, would be Ryan’s acting job, making everything look like a normal kick.
He would have to take the snap and hold it in place long enough for kicker Stephen Hauschka to make a convincing move toward the ball. They only practiced it a few times that week.
Down 16-0, and facing fourth-and-10 at the Green Bay 20 with less than 5 minutes left in the third quarter, the Hawks were running out of scoring opportunities.
As the field-goal team headed onto the field, coach Pete Carroll said two words to Ryan: “Charlie Brown.”
Ryan repeated it in the huddle, and no one flinched. “It was a great acting job, everyone instantly went into it,” he said. “The hardest part for me was to catch the snap and hold it down for, basically, 1.2 seconds. That felt like about half an hour; I couldn’t wait to get up and run with it.”
The Packers’ defenders fell for the ruse, as several burst through the line and pinched toward Hauschka, allowing Ryan to race around the left end.
Ryan’s options depended on how linebacker A.J. Hawk reacted to the sight of his dash toward the sideline. If Hawk charged to tackle Ryan short of the 10 yards needed for the first down, Ryan was to loft a pass over his head to Gilliam (a college tight end at Penn State), who was eligible as the wing blocker who had sneaked into the secondary.
“I was thinking run all the way, but at the last second, I saw (Hawk) come up and I just tossed it up. I knew it didn’t have to be pretty, it just had to get there because he’d be wide open.”
As soon as he let go of the ball, he feared he’d crossed the line of scrimmage, making the pass illegal. “I was very glad that didn’t happen.”
Now trailing 16-7, the Seahawks suddenly were back in the game. Only to fall dormant again, allowing the Packers to add a field goal, making the lead 19-7 until the final minutes.
Quarterback Russell Wilson, who by then had thrown a fourth interception, finally led them on a touchdown drive with 2:05 remaining.
Converting the subsequent onside kick, Seattle scored again four plays later on a Marshawn Lynch run, adding a wild, 2-point conversion pass from Wilson to Luke Willson.
They won 28-22 in overtime on a 35-yard TD pass to Jermaine Kearse, having scored 21 points in roughly 5 minutes of playing time.
“So many crazy things happened all in a small amount of time,” Ryan said. “I’m proud to say that fake field goal was kind of a catalyst that got us on the board and rolling. It felt so unreal to be going back to the Super Bowl when an hour before, I don’t think anybody would have bet on our chances.”
Ryan shared some unreported drama related to his touchdown pass, playing out at 30,000 feet somewhere above the Rocky Mountains.
Ryan’s wife, comedian Sarah Colonna, was performing in Omaha, Nebraska, he said, and a flight delay had kept her from getting back for the game that day. Without any broadcast services on her later flight, she was left to repeatedly refresh ticker reports off her phone.
“It comes across ‘Jon Ryan, 20-yard touchdown pass’, and she just loses it on the plane, screaming that her husband just threw a touchdown pass,” Ryan said. “Everyone was like, ‘Call the marshals, this woman is crazy, we’ve got to get her off the plane.’ ”
Ryan punted a franchise-record 770 times with the Seahawks, and played 19 seasons in the CFL and NFL. He also holds the records for Seattle’s longest punt (77 yards) and most consecutive games played (159).
In 2017, Ryan took an ownership position with the Portland Pickles of the West Coast League (baseball) and is in the process of expanding his holdings with other minor-league sports franchises.
Ryan was a longtime fan favorite in Seattle for being approachable off the field and so willing to play tough and hurt, when required.
Mostly, he was fun to watch because he approached the game with such obvious joy.
“I don’t know if anyone loved it more than I did,” he said. “Proof of that, I think, is after I left the NFL, I went back to Canada and played four more years, basically for meal money …”
No, he paused, it was about more than that – perhaps it was for the same reason Charlie Brown never stopped attempting his kicks.
“Just for the love it,” Ryan said.