Aussie punter Michael Dickson seals Seattle Seahawks win with first down off fake punt: ‘They call me Big Balls Dickson’
MICHAEL Dickson is the Aussie rookie who’s been stunning the NFL all season, but his latest unreal play went to another level.
SEATTLE Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll called it the “Aussie Sweep”.
Aussie punter Michael Dickson didn’t name the play, but his teammates decided to call him something different.
The Seahawks were up 28-14 with just over two minutes left in their game against the Detroit Lions, and had the ball at their own one-yard line. The plan was for Dickson to fake the punt on the back of the end zone, take some time off the clock, and then take a safety. The Seahawks would then get a free kick from the 20-yeard line.
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Dickson had other ideas.
The Aussie rookie said he saw a “massive” gap, and that he “just had to go for it”.
Dickson turned on the jets, running upfield before being tackled for a first down, sealing the win for his team, who are now at 4-3 on the season.
“We’ve been drawing that up for months, waiting for the chance,” Carroll said sarcastically, of Dickson’s play. “No, that’s not what it was. That was us taking a safety.
“And that was a really terrific competitor, seeing the moment and seizing it. I thought Mike was smiling as he turned the corner.
“He knew he could take the first down, and he knew he was going have to take the hit. He was just thinking about taking care of the football. it was an incredibly beautiful play in a game. Sometimes you’ve gotta improvise, and really good players seem to do it at the right time and I thought that was a fantastic illustration of what’s to come.”
Dickson is having an exceptional rookie season, stunning the league with his unique punts, but this play was another level of impressive for the 22-year-old.
Former NFL punter turned analyst Pat McAfee broke down the play in hilarious fashion.
“I didn’t even know I was going to do it until it happened. There was really no one on the field that knew until it happened,” Dickson said postgame.
“I was meant to milk the clock by running around and step out of the back of the end zone, but there was just a massive gap.”