Tyler Lockett shows how he leads the Seahawks with what he did for Jake Bobo on his 1st TD
The statistics and his own, lofty standards say Tyler Lockett had no big contribution to the Seahawks’ latest win.
Don’t tell Jake Bobo — or his mother — that.
Bobo, Seattle’s undrafted rookie wide receiver and summer star through his first NFL preseason, caught his first NFL touchdown pass Sunday. It was a splendid, Lockett-like play: A leap in the back of the end zone. A deft toe tap with both shoe tops just inside the back line of the end zone.
Bobo celebrated with his teammates. The Lumen Field crowd roared. The Seahawks had the clinching touchdown of their 37-27 win over the Carolina Panthers Sunday.
Then there was a pause, as the NFL officiating department in New York reviewed the play to see that Bobo’s toes indeed were down before he fell out of the back of the end zone.
As all that was going on, Lockett from the field noticed the ball Bobo had just caught was tossed off the field, to a ball boy along the sideline. Lockett went up to the ball boy and asked for it.
He wanted to make sure Bobo — and his mom, former Dartmouth College ice hockey standout Casey Hagerman — got the ball. Bobo said after the game he was giving it to Mom.
That’s another way the 30-year-old Lockett, the star wide receiver in his ninth season as their longest continually serving player, leads these Seahawks.
One week it’s his two touchdown catches, including one in overtime, to lead Seattle to an upset win at Detroit.
The next, on a day in which he had just three catches for 34 yards and no scores, it’s ensuring a rookie doesn’t lose out on the souvenir he’ll kept for the rest of his life.
“16,” Bobo said, using Lockett’s jersey number, “ran off the field and got the ball.
“So, I mean, I’ve got to thank him for that.”
Told of Bobo’s appreciation, Lockett said he’s learned to seek the ball after touchdowns from many of the 58 touchdown receptions he’s had in his career.
“I just know that if it was me scoring a touchdown, I want someone picking up the ball for me,” Lockett said in an emptying Seahawks locker room into Sunday evening.
“When people score their touchdowns, some people, they do go get the ball. But if they don’t, I try to remember. I remind myself to just go get the ball.
“Once they get to the sideline, or even when the game is over, their adrenaline runs out. And they’re like, ‘Where did the ball go?’
“I want to try and at least give them the ball, because I know those are good memories to have.”
What was Bobo’s reaction when Lockett retrieved this ball for him?
“He said, ‘Appreciate it!’” Lockett said.
“He was so excited, man, because that’s his first touchdown that counted.”
Lockett marveled over how cool Bobo’s catch was, getting his feet down inbounds while leaping to grab Geno Smith’s high throw over the defender to where only his 6-foot-4 receiver could get it.
True to Bobo’s popularity — this is the guy who inspired the locker-room chant “More Bobo!” during the preseason — his teammates raved about Bobo’s first NFL touchdown.
“I will be watching it and try to replicate it one day,” wide receiver DK Metcalf said.
“Bobo’s a hell of a player. Always works hard, comes to practice, does everything the right way. It was only right that he got his first touchdown, so congratulations to him.”
Smith, who completed 23 of 36 passes but only the one to Bobo for a touchdown, called the rookie’s catch “sweet, man.”
“That was awesome. So happy for Jake, just all his hard work and seeing the way he’s prepared,” Smith said. “Since the day he got here he’s done his thing, and so we were trying to get him the ball really in these first three games. And he stuck with it, kept preparing, and it’s just great to see a guy works so hard to get that.
“He’s very deserving of that.”
In his first NFL game, Seattle’s opener against the Rams Sept. 10, Bobo was alone deep in the middle of the field for a touchdown on a trick play. But Smith didn’t see him and threw elsewhere while under pressure of Los Angeles’ pass rush.
Sunday, Smith saw him. Bobo got his touchdown.
And he got the ball, thanks to Lockett.
“Loved it. I was so fired up that Jake got that,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. “We missed some opportunities to him today, but he’s going to be a big factor. He did some really good things in this game today. I couldn’t see how intricate it was at the back line, but I’m sure he did it perfectly. He would figure out how to get in bounds.
Great little play. Great call. Great throw by G, and also to finish it off like that.”
This story was originally published September 24, 2023 at 7:46 PM.
