Sebastian Janikowski’s lethal left leg will cure Seahawks kicking game

In a surprise move, the Seahawks added kicking god Sebastian Janikowski to the roster today. No, that isn’t laying it on too thick.

Sebastian Janikowski cured the Seattle Seahawks kicking woes today by signing on the dotted line. By some estimates, that’s a three game improvement over 2017. I don’t agree with those estimates, but there is no shortage of 12s who say Blair Walsh cost the Seahawks three games last year. Sebastian Janikowski would not have missed all those kicks, I agree.

At least he would have made most of them if he’d actually played last year. Janikowski missed all of 2017 with back pain worse than Quasimodo’s. (The 1939 version of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” reigns supreme; accept no substitute). Until his back pulled a Tiger Woods on him, he was one of the NFL’s elite kickers well into his second decade on the field.

In 2016, Janikowski made 82 percent of his kicks. His only flaw is one that might strike a small chord of terror in the hearts of 12s. He only made three of the eight kicks he tried from the 50 or further. Now you can look at it as, “Oh my God we’re doomed!” I prefer to think of it as, “Seabass only missed once inside the 50 all year!” Russell Wilson, just get the ball to the 33.

He did miss six field goals in his last season, it’s true. He missed those six kicks in five games. The question is, how much did those missed kicks hurt his team?