Just another day at the office for Arizona receiver Larry Fitzgerald
The talented Arizona receiver finished with nine catches for 149 yards against the Seahawks on Sunday, including a long gain of 41 yards.
“He’s just an incredible football player, and he’s as good as you can get in this game,” Seattle coach Pete Carroll said about Fitzgerald. “I just marvel at the things that he does. And he’s done it before, and he did it again.”
Fitzgerald has the more catches against Seattle than any other team in the league. In 16 career games, Fitzgerald has 102 catches for 1,371 yards, and 10 touchdowns.
And Fitzgerald took over the game when his team needed him most, in overtime, with the decision in the balance.
He made an acrobatic catch for 26 yards in the middle of the field on a third-and-3 play. He also had two more catches on the drive, including a one-handed, 12-yard catch across the middle that put his team into field-goal position.
“He is incredible,” said Arizona quarterback John Skelton, who targeted Fitzgerald a game-high 18 times. “Whenever the ball is in his general direction, he makes plays. He makes your life as a quarterback much easier. The tenacity that he has when the ball is in the air is incredible, especially when it’s down in overtime like that and we need the yardage for the field goal.”
Fitzgerald noticed a change in the way Seattle has been playing him this season, with more bump-and-run coverage on the outside.
“They’re going to challenge you at the line of scrimmage,” Fitzgerald said. “As a receiver, that’s the ultimate challenge. There are guys in your face and there is not help over the top; that’s when you have to win. That’s your job.”
While impressed with Fitzgerald’s skill set, Seattle rookie cornerback Richard Sherman said that you can’t get be caught watching in awe as Fitzgerald makes spectacular plays.
“I thought we did a good job for the most part on him,” Sherman said. “He made some unbelievable catches that only a couple guys on this earth can make. So we did the best the best we could on him, but you can’t stop him forever.”
QUITE A CATCH
The game-by-game look at Arizona receiver Larry Fitzgerald’s career against the Seahawks:
Sunday: 9 catches, 149 yards, 0 TD
9-25-11: 5 catches, 64 yards, 1 TD
11-14-10: 7 catches, 91 yards, 0 TD
10-24-10: 3 catches, 30 yards, 0 TD
11-15-09: 7 catches, 73 yards, 1 TD
10-18-09: 13 catches, 100 yards, 1 TD
12-28-08: 5 catches, 130 yards, 2 TD
11-16-08: 10 catches, 151 yards, 0 TD
12-9-07: 6 catches, 79 yards, 1 TD
9-16-07: 7 catches, 87 yards, 0 TD
12-10-06: 7 catches, 79 yards, 1 TD
9-17-06: 4 catches, 52 yards, 0 TD
11-6-05: 8 catches, 102 yards, 0 TD
9-25-05: 3 catches, 41 yards, 0 TD
12-26-04: 4 catches, 70 yards, 2 TD
10-24-04: 4 catches, 73 yards, 1 TD
Totals: 102 catches, 1,371 yards, 10 TD
SHERMAN SHINES
Along with battling Fitzgerald most of the day, Sherman also added his fourth interception in 10 starts this season.
Sherman baited Skelton into throwing an out route to receiver Andre Roberts on a second-and-2 play from the Arizona 41 with a little over 10 minutes remaining in the game and his team down 20-10. Sherman anticipated the pass, picked off the ball and ran 33 yards down the sideline before Arizona’s LaRod Stephens-Howling forced him out at Arizona’s 12.
The Seahawks failed to punch the ball into the end zone and had to settle for Steven Hauschka’s 26-yard field goal.
“I felt like it was going to be a quick gain, so if you’re in press, they’re going to convert it to a fade,” Sherman said about the play. “So I stepped off so he would actually run the route and I jumped it.”
EXTRA POINTS
With the completion of the regular season, Seattle’s schedule is set for the 2012 season. Along with playing NFC West divisional games at home and on the road against Arizona, San Francisco and St. Louis, the Seahawks will travel to Detroit, Chicago, Miami, Buffalo and Carolina. The Seahawks will play host to Minnesota, Green Bay, the New York Jets, New England and Philadelphia. … The Seahawks will be drafting No. 11 or No. 12 in the upcoming draft, based on a coin flip with the Kansas City Chiefs, who also finished at 7-9. The two teams finished with the same opponents’ winning percentage of .512, which is used as a tiebreaker in slotting teams for the draft. … Arizona running back Beanie Wells was a surprise late scratch and on the inactive list because of a knee issue, the second game he’s missed this season. Wells finished with 1,047 yards this season, the first time he’s topped 1,000 yards in his three-year pro career. Turns out the Cardinals didn’t need Wells. Replacement LaRod Stephens-Howling finished with 93 yards on 21 carries. … David Hawthorne led the Seahawk with 13 tackles, and also added a sack. Hawthorne finished with 115 tackles on the season, the third straight year he has led Seattle in tackles.
Eric D. Williams: 253-597-8437
eric.williams@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/seahawks/
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