Why Seahawks need more players like Mr. Accountability, Jason Myers

He may not have put it through the uprights, but Jason Myers is one stand-up guy. In a loss that was an absolute Seattle Seahawks team effort, kicker Jason Myers put the blame on himself.

The Seahawks lost another game they should have won. Wow, we haven’t heard that at all this season, right 12s? The Bears joined the pantheon of mediocre teams –  the Steelers, Saints, and the Football Team – that the Hawks should have beaten with ease. Change those four losses to wins and Seattle is 9-6 instead of 5-10. Not a great team by any means, but not a terrible team, either.

All season I’ve written that the Seahawks were just a few key plays away from having that winning record. I still maintain that’s true. The difference is that now, I don’t think this team is capable of making those key plays. Those few moments that turn losses into wins are created by good teams. The Hawks simply aren’t good, or close to it.

Carlos Dunlap forced a key fumble on the Bears winning drive. On a good team, a teammate scoops that ball up. On a bad team, Germain Ifedi – of all people – recovers the ball. One play, one game, sure, it’s bad luck. Multiple plays, multiple games, it’s bad play. This brings me to…

Seahawks kicker Jason Myers has played better but never been a better teammate

Speaking of bad plays, kicker Jason Myers has taken considerable heat for his missed field goal from 39 yards out. To some extent, he deserves the criticism. He was automatic last year, making a ridiculously great 100 percent of his field goal kicks. This season has been the worst of his career. He’s missed six of his nineteen kicks for a dismal 68 percent success rate.

To put that in perspective, Myers only missed eight field goals in the three previous seasons combined. That’s right, he’s gone from 80 of 88 to 13 of 19. That’s – that’s not good.

But here’s why I say the Hawks could use more players like him. Russell Wilson came under a firestorm of criticism for taking a sack on the play just before Myers missed the kick that would have iced the win for Seattle. And with Lumen Field at 25 degrees, I do mean iced. With the Seahawks at the Bears 8-yard line, Wilson took a 13-yard loss on the sack by Robert Quinn.

Russ explained he was doing what he does, extending the play. Except as Tim Weaver wrote for the USA Today’s Seahawks Wire, this was not the time for that risk. Instead of a relatively easy 26 or 27-yard FG, Myers faced a 39-yard attempt in snowy, windy conditions.

Who knows? Maybe Russ had the fact that Myers had missed five kicks this year running through his processor as he surveyed the field for an open receiver. He had to get rid of the ball, though, and didn’t. And who has stepped up to defend his quarterback? Was it head coach Pete Carroll? Nope, not by a long shot – and he shouldn’t, either. It was a critical mistake. It was the critical mistake of the game.

No, the player that stepped up to defend Russ was- you guessed it, the guy who missed the kick, Jason Myers. Read what Myers had to say, two or three times.

In many eyes, Myers wound up being the goat of the game that gave the Seahawks double-digits in the loss column, a first for the Pete Carroll era. It wasn’t just that missed kick or the sack of Russ. As with the previous nine losses, this was a team effort, from the head coach to the guys carrying the water bottles. For my money, I’ll take a player like Jason Myers, who stands up and takes the blame, instead of making excuses.