Seahawks’ Tyler Lockett talks about taking big hits, passing for a high schooler

Tyler Lockett thinks the refs are being too hard on the defensive backs who are being punished for doling out massive hits to his 180-pound frame.

“That’s another time I don’t really think it was a flag,” Lockett told “Danny, Dave and Moore” on Tuesday. “I don’t really see my helmet having any contact with anything that [the defender] did. I think he did a good job of hitting my shoulders, it might have just looked like it as fast as the game speed is and stuff like that. But I thought it was a great hit, and a legal hit at that. I’m still trying to figure out how I held onto it.”

While Lockett added two more touchdowns against the Ravens to what has been a stellar rookie campaigning, he’s also taken two wallops along the sideline over the past two weeks that resulted in personal-foul penalties.

Related: Three Things from the Seahawks’ win over Baltimore

Lockett said he feels for the defenders, as he was charged with his first offensive pass interference for pushing off.

“So I’ve got to stop being as physical,” he said. “A little guy like me being physical on the field. I would have never thought I’d get called for pass interference.”

Other highlights from the interview:

• Lockett said his natural instincts must have taken over, as he caught the ball with his left hand but ended up with it in his right.

“I didn’t know how I did that so I would just keep watching it,” he said. “Even when he hit me I ended up switching the ball at the last minute, so I don’t know how I did that.

“It takes a lot of focus,” he added. “They always say you’re gonna get hit so you just got to be able to take the hit and get the catch. It would be worse to drop the pass or not even go for the ball and get hit. If you’re gonna get hit, you might as well get a reward from it.”

• Besides catching tennis balls from a high-powered tennis ball shooter to improve his eye-hand coordination, Lockett said teammate Doug Baldwin taught him to juggle. He generally uses tennis balls, golf balls and softballs, sometimes mixing all three.

“When you’re playing and your catching punts … and there’s a wind factor, you’re able to see it at the last minute while it’s moving around,” he said.

• On his hand-placement on the long touchdown pass: “After I ran up on his toes, I gave him a move and I was running. I saw how he was trying to run at an angle to cut me off so that’s why I kind of put my hand in front of him, because I knew he was going to try to grab me and then I kind of put myself in position to be in front of him.”

Related: Seahawks WR Tyler Lockett defies critics who questioned his hands

• On the brotherhood among he and teammates Jermaine Kearse and Baldwin: “The way that we just communicate, the way that we hang out on the field, I feel like I bring out the best of them as far as their childhood. I allow them to be kids again when I’m out there at practice and out there in the games. Sometimes people make fun of me for being a kid out there, but I think it’s always good to be able to laugh, to have fun and to be able to have people smile out there, so that’s what I kind of try to do when I’m out there on the field. But as far as advice, as far confidence, as far as anything in the world you want to talk about, they’re always there to talk about it.”

• On his most recent post-touchdown dance moves: “I don’t even know what the dance was called but we do it at practice, so I just said I was gonna do that and then I added a little bit of Tootsie Roll in it. But I did it too fast, I was too happy I scored and I got a lot of feedback from my friends. They Snapchat me, they sent messages and were like we’re going to have to work on your dancing. So that’s probably one thing I’ll work on in the offseason.

“When it’s not you doing the dancing, everybody’s a critic, everybody has things to say – you shoulda did this, you shoulda did that. So I just can’t wait until somebody else dances in practice or in the games and I’m gonna say something.”

• On his youthful look: “I remember watching Juwanna Man, he dressed up like a woman and played basketball. I wonder if I could dress up in high school and just go to a random high school and see if I could still play. They won’t check my birth certificate, I look the part, so I think I’d be able to pass with that.

“I think it would be pretty cool to put me on a high school field and everybody’s like ‘Man, it doesn’t even look like he can play.’ And then all of a sudden it’s like ‘Oh my goodness.'”

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