Not even Seahawks’ Michael Dickson knew he was going to run on fake punt

The Seahawks made Michael Dickson a rare punter taken with a NFL Draft pick last April because his right leg can be a real weapon in special teams. Turns out he can be a weapon with his football instincts, too.

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With the Seahawks leading Detroit 28-14 and the 2-minute warning approaching, Seattle still wanted to milk more time off the clock. So on fourth down from the Seattle 3-yard line, Dickson was instructed to take the snap, run around in the end zone and eventually step out of bounds for a safety. Something he was told by coach Pete Carroll after Seattle’s Week 6 win over the Oakland Raiders in England stuck with the rookie from Australia, however.

“Pete said earlier – I don’t know if he was joking – after the London game, ‘When are you ever just going to take it and run it?’” Dickson told Jen Mueller in a postgame interview on 710 ESPN Seattle following the Seahawks’ win over the Lions. “I think he was being sarcastic, but I just pulled it off and it worked out.”

Sarcasm or not, Carroll has to be pleased with the results. Dickson ran for a 9-yard gain, giving the Seahawks a much-needed first down that allowed them to run the clock all the way down to just 6 seconds left before Detroit got the ball back one last time.

The Aussie can do it all! 🇦🇺@mdcksn | #SEAvsDET pic.twitter.com/YiyzxcCeed

— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) October 28, 2018

Not only did Carroll and the rest of the Seahawks have no idea Dickson was going to run on the play, but Dickson said even he had no idea.

“I didn’t even know I was going to do it until it happened. There was really no one on the field that knew until it happened,” he said. “I was meant to milk the clock by running around and step out of the back of the end zone, but there was just a massive gap.”

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