RENTON, Wash. – Seattle Seahawks kicker Blair Walsh wasn’t going to let his former teammates shout at him from the opposing sideline without a response on his own Friday night against the Minnesota Vikings.
After each of Walsh’s 52-yard field goals, Walsh gestured toward Minnesota’s sideline. He first pointed in the direction of the Vikings’ sideline, then pointed toward the side of his head after the second field goal.
Walsh said it was a response to comments coming his way from his former colleagues.
“It was far from smack talk,” Walsh said. “I just felt like I was getting a little jeer and getting taunted a little bit by my ex-teammates and I think they were in jest. I hope it was because my response was in jest. I just wanted to let them know that it wasn’t going to kind of go down that way.”
Walsh spent his first five seasons in Minnesota and was named to the Pro Bowl as a rookie. However, a missed 27-yard game-winning field-goal attempt against Seattle in the playoffs two years ago and continued struggles into last season led to his release after nine games.
He’s been strong in the preseason for Seattle so far. He’s converted all eight extra-point attempts and is 4 of 5 on field-goal tries with the only miss being a 53-yard try that bounced off the crossbar against the Vikings.
Walsh said the taunts coming his way from the Vikings’ sideline weren’t able to be repeated in front of microphones.
“I didn’t say anything,” Walsh said. “When you’ve got guys who were your teammates for five years yelling at you when you’re trying to kick, it’s odd. I hope they were in jest and hope they didn’t mean it because I didn’t mean anything with mine. But it definitely wasn’t out of nowhere.
“You want to let your actions speak at that point and it was nice we won the game. Let’s put it that way.”
Nevertheless, Walsh was greeted enthusiastically by cornerback Richard Sherman and others after his made kicks.
“I’m not here to be heard,” Walsh said. “I’m here to just do my job and produce for this team and make kicks and I think these guys see that I’m here to do that. They understand that I’m not being boastful, I was simply just responding to getting taunted. So, there you go.”
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