Seahawks Insider: Jimmy Graham ‘has got to make that play’
Dec 12, 2017, 10:53 AM | Updated: 11:13 am
Pete Carroll said the Seahawks were "counting on" Jimmy Graham to break up an interception. (AP)
(AP)
Jimmy Graham didn’t catch a pass in Sunday’s game at Jacksonville.
And it wasn’t the lack of a completion that coach Pete Carroll mentioned, but an incompletion Graham failed to cause on Seattle’s second play of the third quarter that the coach specified.
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“Jimmy has got to make that play, hopefully, for us,” Carroll said, “where it’s either him or nobody. That’s kind of what we’re counting on right there.”
Wilson was scrambling behind the line of scrimmage when he saw Graham come free about 25 yards downfield. Or at least Wilson thought Graham had come free. Had Wilson thrown deeper, over Graham’s shoulder, the tight end would have been in position for the catch. But Wilson threw shorter, which allowed Jaguars cornerback A.J. Bouye to break on the ball, cutting underneath Graham to pick off the pass without Graham coming back to make a play. Graham then shoved Bouye out-of-bounds after the interception, drawing a 15-yards penalty for unnecessary roughness.
That was one of three passes that Wilson had intercepted Sunday, his most in any game this season. All three interceptions occurred on throws of at least 25 yards downfield, and of those three passes that were picked off, Carroll pointed out that two occurred on what amounted to 50-50 balls – the first targeted Doug Baldwin, who was covered by Jalen Ramsey in the first half, and the second was the third-quarter throw to Graham.
On the third interception, Wilson targeted Baldwin despite there being two defenders in the area.
“Doug was covered up pretty good,” Carroll said, “and he chucked it to him and hoped something was going to happen. We don’t want to do that.”
