WATFORD J.R. Sweezy Color Rush Jersey , England (AP) — The Seattle Seahawks‘ Michael Dickson knows his unconventional punting style is likely to catch the eye of a few kicking enthusiasts in England.Punts don’t score points, though, so he believes the fans might be a bit more dazzled by placekicker Sebastian Janikowski.“The drop kick is cool,” Dickson said. “You do that in rugby a lot. I don’t know if we’ll be doing it too much … so (Janikowski) hitting a few field goals will probably get the crowd pretty happy, I’d say.”Dickson found himself in the spotlight on Sept. 17 when he tried a drop kick during a kickoff, and later an onside kick, in the Seahawks’ 24-17 loss to the Chicago Bears.On Sunday, the rookie from Sydney by way of Texas will take his technique to London as the Seahawks face the Oakland Raiders in the first of three NFL games to be played at Wembley Stadium this season.The drop kick may be much more common in rugby, but Dickson, who didn’t touch a football until 2014, never played the sport. Instead, he grew up playing Australian Rules Football, and as a defender, it was partly his responsibility to kick the ball away.“I had a big kick when I was playing Aussie rules football, so I decided that I wanted to give (the NFL) a go one day Quinton Jefferson Color Rush Jersey ,” Dickson said. “I didn’t really know about the college football process or anything and hadn’t really watched much American football. I just knew I liked it when I tried out and met an Australian punting coach, and it kind of just took off from there.”Seattle liked Dickson enough to trade up with the Denver Broncos to draft him in the fifth round. He unseated Jon Ryan, the Seahawks’ punter for the last 10 seasons, and in Week 1 became the first NFL player to average more than 59.9 yards on six punts — including a 69-yarder in the third quarter of a 27-24 loss at Denver.“Field position is enormously important to our style of play, and Michael kicking the ball deep, pinning them back, is important, but (so is) changing the field with some kicks that he’s capable of doing — not to mention the other things,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. “The placement of the ball and the things like that … (are) a lot of really cool things that you don’t normally get from a punter, so we’re just trying to go with it and really understand how to better utilize him.”A few of those cool things were unveiled against Chicago, with Seattle turning to Dickson rather than Janikowski to try to pin the Bears deep after they were penalized on a third-quarter extra point attempt.Dickson, from the 50, kicked the ball after a bounce to the Bears 1-yard line, where it was returned to the 15 by Anthony Miller. It was the first drop kick since 2015, when the New England Patriots‘ Nate Ebner Tom Johnson Color Rush Jersey , an Olympic rugby sevens player, tried it on a kickoff against the Philadelphia Eagles.If that wasn’t enough, Dickson was called upon to try to drop kick an onside kick with 14 seconds remaining, but the Bears recovered it.“It’s always a concern and it’s a little unpredictable where it can go, but in a way, you like that,” special teams coach Brian Schneider said. “The good thing is you can disguise it where you want it to go much easier than if it was a kicker.”Dickson, who entered the week fourth in the league with 1,348 gross punting yards, downplayed the drop kicks, saying there are a number of factors that go into how and where he punts the ball.Fittingly, the last thing he wants is to become predictable.“Depending on what teams show what fronts they have and what personnel they have out there, you know, different kicks work for different teams,” Dickson said. “There is some room Rasheem Green Color Rush Jersey , but it’s not going to be an every week thing.”NOTES: Carroll said the Seahawks decided upon a Thursday arrival in England after studying other teams’ previous routines. “We took full advantage of the Mercator route and in doing so, it was like a nine hours or something flight,” he said. “It worked out. It was great.” … Safety Kam Chancellor traveled with the team in a support role. Chancellor remains on the physically unable to perform list after injuring his neck last season and is unlikely to be cleared to resume his career. … LB K.J. Wright (knee) did not practice Thursday, but Carroll said TE Nick Vannett, who sat out Wednesday, is “fine.” The Seattle Seahawks not only lost to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, but they didn’t get favorable results in other games. All of a sudden, the Minnesota Vikings are 1鈦? game behind Seattle again for the #5 seed, while both Washington and the Philadelphia Eagles scored unlikely road wins to boost themselves to 7-7. We’ll see if the Carolina Panthers can cap off a crazy Week 15 by beating the New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football.I don’t want this to be a “doom and gloom” playoff picture article, but I also remember when the Seahawks were 8-4 last year and had an outside shot at the #2 seed. Instead, the perfect storm of bad results knocked Seattle out of a playoff spot by Week 17. You should always brace for the worst case scenario, and unlike last year, the good news for the 2018 Seahawks is they’re guaranteed to still be in a wild card spot regardless of Week 16’s results.So what is that worst case scenario? Here you go...—Seahawks lose vs. the Kansas City Chiefs AND—Washington wins at the Tennessee Titans AND—Eagles win vs. the Houston Texans AND—Vikings win at the Detroit LionsThat would mean the Seahawks, Washington, and Philadelphia would all be at 8-7 Will Dissly Color Rush Jersey , while the Vikings would have an 8-6-1 record plus the #5 seed. It also makes it mathematically impossible for the Seahawks to qualify for the playoffs at 8-8, as Philly and Washington play each other in Week 17. Seattle has never lost three straight games in a season under Russell Wilson, but frankly if they can’t win at home against an Arizona Cardinals team that looks worse now than when these two teams met in Week 4, they really don’t deserve to be in the playoffs.Again, this is the worst case scenario, not the likely scenario. If Washington and Philadelphia both lose, Seattle has a much greater chance of qualifying in a situation where they collapse to 8-8. The best case scenario is that the Seahawks beat the Chiefs, and a trio of losses by Washington, Philadelphia, and Minnesota assure Seattle of the #5 seed and a chance to rest starters against the Cardinals in week 17. The Panthers already lost to the Seahawks, so even if they win out, one Seattle victory renders Carolina unable to overtake Seattle. So let’s root for that!
