Seahawks’ Sebastian Janikowski: ’30-yarders to win, I’ll take that any day’
Nov 26, 2018, 2:48 PM | Updated: 4:37 pm
Sebastian Janikowski has two game-winning field goals for the Seahawks' this season. (AP)
(AP)
The Seahawks’ 30-27 win over the Panthers on Sunday was an exciting one, and perhaps nobody was as excited about it as the man who delivered the game-winning kick, Sebastian Janikowski.
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John Clayton of 710 ESPN Seattle caught up with Janikowski in the locker room after the 40-year-old kicker hit a 31-yard field goal as time expired to lift Seattle to the win on the road, and Janikowski was especially thrilled with quarterback Russell Wilson, who led the final drive to set up Janikowski’s second game-ending kick of the year.
“I gotta give him a kiss – 30-yarders to win, I’ll take that any day,” Janikowski said. “When I got here the first time, they were always talking about, ‘We get a lot of close games. A lot of close games.’ Russ, I mean, best quarterback in the league, man.”
Janikowski said that not just because Wilson keeps games close, but also because he doesn’t force his kicker to try to hit deciding kicks from long distance.
“Helps kicking 30-yarders, not 50,” he said.
Just ask Carolina kicker Graham Gano, who missed from 52 yards on a potential go-ahead field goal not long before Janikowski had his chance. By the way, what was Janikowski doing at the time of Gano’s attempt?
“I wasn’t watching. I was warming up, I was kicking into the net. Just in case if he misses, I gotta be warm,” he said.
Good call.
This is Janikowski’s first year with Seattle after 17 seasons with the Oakland Raiders, and he is quite pleased with the way the 6-5 Seahawks are coming together.
“Seems like every week, guys are resilient. They fight through the end. We’re moving the right direction,” he said. “… I love it. I’m just feeling so comfortable with those guys in the locker room. It’s just awesome, I can’t explain it.”
You can hear Janikowski’s full interview with Clayton at this link or in the player embedded in this post.
More coverage of the Seahawks’ win over Carolina:
• O’Neil: Seahawks are picking up speed as they turn the corner
• Rost’s takeaways: WRs Lockett, Moore come up big
• O’Neil: Seahawks didn’t win so much as they survived
• Instant Reaction: 710 ESPN Seattle’s hosts on Seahawks’ victory
• Janikowski’s field goal lifts Seahawks over Panthers 30-27
