Who sparked Seahawks’ offense on Monday Night Football? How about their 330-pound ‘receiver’?
George Fant, for a brief moment, had one more catch than Minnesota Vikings’ star receiver Adam Theilen on Monday.
George. Fant. The 6-foot-5, 322-pound 26-year-old. He had more catches than the Pro Bowl pass catcher, Thielen, who already had 1,166 receiving yards for the season.
It wasn’t all that graceful. But it was fairly Fant-abulous on primetime Monday Night Football, no less.
Fant’s No. 74 has to be announced over the loudspeakers that he’s an eligible receiver in the Seahawks’ jumbo run package. But he slipped out to the flat on Seattle’s opening drive of the second half and rumbled nine yards before he, well, tripped on the turf just short of the first down.
He was good enough to laugh about it afterward, with the game ball by his side thanks to Russell Wilson.
“Man, I should have got more (yards),” Fant laughed. “I definitely should have got more.”
It had about all of the Seahawks’ sideline at CenturyLink Field roaring in laughter. Vikings linebacker Ben Gideon seemed to hardly know what to do with himself chasing Fant to the sideline.
Then Fant shared a collective-650-pound leaping chest bump with (former?) linemate Germain Ifedi.
“Hell, I don’t even know who is getting the ball on any play, but once he got that ball I was like, ‘Oh (crap),” Ifedi said. “That’s a touchdown!”
To Ifedi’s dismay, it wasn’t.
And to Thielen’s credit he did eventually surpass Fant, gathering five catches for 70 yards.
“That is my favorite play I’ve ever made,” Fant said. “I’m just happy I secured the ball. We are really huge on protecting the football here. We talk about that a lot, and for them to trust me and get the ball to my hands, it means a lot.”
This topped Fant starting at slot receiver on the Seahawks’ opening play of their game against the Detroit Lions last month. That, offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer admitted, was the first time he’d ever split out a 330-pound tackle in the slot.
Fant is a former power forward at Western Kentucky University and was the Seahawks’ undrafted rookie in 2015. He said his only other catch of his life was in college and that he dropped the pass when they previously worked on this play in practice.
Fant became the Seahawks’ extra tight end to start this season out of necessity. Starter Ed Dickson was out the first six games and then UW rookie Will Dissly sustained a season-ending knee injury on Sept. 30. So Fant with the tight ends has stuck, and he was in seemingly every snap to help pave the Seahawks’ run game.
“I gave him the ball for the game because he’s been a special player for us,” Wilson said. “He’s been one of our MVPs, in my opinion. He’s stepped into his role and been great.”
His stepping after the catch wasn’t as smooth.
“We got to give him a lot of crap,” said left tackle Duane Brown. “First and foremost, he caught a pass and that’s always the first thing you have to do. But you got to keep your feet. When you’re paid to be an athlete, you got to get that first down.”
That was all in jest, of course. Brown and Ifedi both said Fant’s catch is among their favorite plays of the year.
“He’s such a great teammate and he’s always champing to get on the field any way he can. You can’t say enough about that guy,” Ifedi said. “That’s why he’s one of my best friends on the team because he just works and goes the extra mile.
“But we’re going to give him crap for that (for falling). He’s definitely going to get some (crap).”
Sack man
Frank Clark is in the final year of his rookie contract that is playing him $900,000 this year. He’ll get a lot more this offseason.
Clark’s third-down sack early in the second quarter set a new single-season high with his 11th sack this year.
He’s been maybe the biggest reason the Seahawks’ defensive line has produced this year even with Michael Bennett, Cliff Avril and Sheldon Richardson gone.
Clark used a looping stunt to rush Vikings’ inside guard Mike Remmers. Clark ran over Remmers and on his own way down grabbed Kirk Cousins’ ankles for the sack. It was Clark’s first since he had two key ones in a Thursday night win over the Green Bay Packers on Nov. 15. He made Cousins run for his life on third down the next series before Cousins threw incomplete and the Vikings punted.
Now it’s about whether the Seahawks can pay Clark enough to do that for more years to come — he has so far said he really wants them to.
“There is no place I’d rather be than Seattle,” Clark said about a month ago in Detroit. “Like I’ve said, like I’ve been saying, my family loves it here. My daughter was born here, in Bellevue, two years ago. There’s no other place I’m sure anyone would rather be or anyone would rather visit than Seattle.”
No Baldwin
Doug Baldwin missed the game because of a second groin injury in three weeks. He was on the field in warm-up attire with a football in his hands two hours before kickoff but the Seahawks then announced he was inactive.
It’s only the third game Baldwin has missed in 6 1/2 seasons.
Baldwin, 30, played through a pulled groin Nov. 25 at Carolina, and coach Pete Carroll couldn’t believe he was able to do that. After he had five catches in that win, Baldwin was asked how he was able to play all but a handful of snaps on a pulled groin.
The rest of Seattle’s inactives Monday: Linebacker K.J. Wright, guard D.J. Fluker, fullback Tre Madden, reserve cornerback Kalan Reed, backup center Joey Hunt and defensive end Branden Jackson.
Extra points
Former Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck raised the 12th Man flag before the game. .... Russell Wilson was met by Steve Largent on the field before the game to be presented with the Seahawks’ Steve Largent Award. Seahawks players supply the votes to the teammate or coach who “best exemplifies the spirit, dedication and integrity of the Seahawks.” The last time Wilson earned the Largent award was in 2012. ... Wilson’s 40-yard run to set up the first touchdown of the game in the fourth quarter is tied for the third-longest run of Wilson’s career, and his longest run since he went for 55 yards against the Cardinals in 2014.
Staff writer Gregg Bell contributed to this report
This story was originally published December 10, 2018 at 8:21 PM.
