Bobby Wagner watched Seahawks’ loss at home, yelling at his TV with Kam Chancellor, Cliff Avril
A chunk of the Seahawks’ championship defensive core was together again.
At home, watching the current Seahawks lose on TV.
Bobby Wagner missed his first game in three years Monday night when Seattle (0-2) lost at Chicago. The All-Pro linebacker was out with a groin injury he said he got early in the first half of the opener Sept. 9 at Denver.
I asked Wagner Thursday, when he practiced again and remained on track to return to the defense Sunday for the home opener against Dallas (1-1), what he was doing during the game he missed against the Bears.
No, he didn’t pull an Earl Thomas from a couple seasons ago. He didn’t watch a road loss while injured from a certain restaurant, “hoodie on, glasses.”
“No, I was not watching at a Buffalo Wild Wings,” Wagner said, grinning and shaking his head.
“I watched the game from home. It sucked, to sit there and watch the team play and not be able to do anything.
“I’m definitely a guy that yells at the TV (watching a game). You call out plays and think they are going to hear you the things that you called out.
“I was watching it with Cliff and Kam and those guys. So we were all just yelling at the screen. It was fun.”
Avril and Chancellor had to retire this offseason because of neck injuries. That’s how their Pro Bowl careers ended on the Seahawks’ defenses that along with Wagner went to consecutive Super Bowls in the 2013 and ‘14 seasons.
Wagner said injured his groin early in the second quarter of the opener at Denver. He continued to play all 74 plays that day, and felt it became serious after that game.
The last time he felt a muscle pull, in the middle of last season, Wagner ignored the pain—plus the advice of the Seahawks’ trainers. He kept playing.
He acknowledged Thursday that was a mistake. That was something Thomas pointed out publicly after Wagner was severely limited playing throughout Seattle’s 42-7 home loss to the Los Angeles Rams in early December. That loss was effectively the changing of the guard in the NFC West. Wagner then responded angrily online in a tweet he soon deleted, writing of Thomas’ opinion about him playing injured that day: “E keep my name out yo mouth.”
“I just had to trust the trainers,” Wagner said Thursday. “Last year was kind of in the same situation when it came to my hamstring. And I can’t necessarily say that I trusted the trainers in that situation, and it kind of lingered for, you know, the last eight games (of 2017).”
The Seahawks went 4-4 in those eight games Wagner played through his bad hamstring. That ruined a 5-2 start to last season. It ended with Seattle out of the playoffs for the first time in six years.
“So, (remaining hurt past Monday’s game) wasn’t something that I wanted to do again,” Wagner said. “So I made the grown-up decision and did the right thing this time.”
This story was originally published September 20, 2018 at 2:57 PM.