SEATTLE — While Seattle coach Pete Carroll said of Bobby Wagner’s desire to play Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams that “I couldn’t admire him more,” Seahawks safety Earl Thomas later wondered if Wagner shouldn’t have played at all.
And Thomas’ postgame comment questioning that Wagner played then drew a surprisingly sharp rebuke from Wagner on Twitter.
“E keep my name out yo mouth. Stop being jealous of other people success. I still hope you keep balling bro,” Wagner tweeted.
Wagner quickly deleted the tweet but not until it had been widely seen.
Wagner then followed up with another tweet about how he would hold himself accountable, which was also quickly deleted.
At the least, Wagner’s tweets well illustrated the frustration of a shocking 42-7 loss to the Rams that likely handed the NFC West title to the Rams and made it tough for the Seahawks to even make the playoffs.
Asked about how the loss of four former Pro Bowl players off the defense (Richard Sherman, Kam Chancellor, K.J. Wright and Cliff Avril), as well as Wagner being less than himself, hurt the team, Thomas said: “To be totally honest, I think you have to give your hats off to Wags and a couple guys that played, but my personal opinion, I don’t think they should have played. The backups would have did just as good. The injuries — Kam, Sherm, K.J. — they definitely hurt today.”
Asked a follow up about how limited he felt Wagner was, Thomas said: “I have no clue, but you normally see Wags running from sideline to sideline. He just couldn’t do it today. But I think he waited just a little bit too long to take himself out.”
Wagner played into the third quarter, coming out following the Rams’ last touchdown, a 14-yard pass from Jared Goff to Todd Gurley in which Wagner was visibly slow trying to chase the Los Angeles running back.
Wagner was not available to the media following the game.
Wagner’s availability to play had been in question until he went through a pre-game workout and got the okay from team trainers. He missed most of the second half of last Sunday’s loss at Jacksonville with a hamstring injury that has nagged him since before the Nov. 5 game against Washington. But it was not until last week that Wagner had missed any time due to the injury.
Wagner did not practice all week and was listed as questionable on Friday.
“In warrior-like fashion, he rose to the occasion to play,” Carroll said. “He felt good in pregame. He had tried to find a way that he could play and he did and I couldn’t admire him more or trying to help his team in any way that he could.”
Seahawks general manager John Schneider also said during his pre-game radio show on ESPN 710 Seattle that Wagner’s status was not determined until the workout.
“The guy is just being a complete stud right now battling through this,” Schneider said.
Wagner had been being touted as a defensive Player of the Year candidate until the injury against Jacksonville.
Wagner made seven tackles against the Rams, including stopping Todd Gurley on a third-and-one play in the second quarter before Los Angeles then threw an interception on fourth down that appeared momentarily as if it might help Seattle get back in the game — the Rams led 13-0 at that time.
But the Seahawks were unable to capitalize with the Rams taking a 34-0 halftime lead.
While Wagner was able to play, Wright was held out as he did not pass through the steps of the NFL’s concussion protocol.
