On Thursday night, Pete Carroll called for a fake punt in the fourth quarter of the Seahawks' 24-3 win over the Rams, which led to punter Jon Ryan's concussion. So, with Ryan in the concussion protocol due to a meaningless fake punt, Carroll is now being forced to figure out a contingency plan in the event Ryan can't play against the Cardinals on Christmas Eve.

Here's an idea: Instead of signing a short-term replacement, let quarterback Russell Wilson punt.

According to Carroll, Wilson volunteered, though he might need to drink some extra nanobubbles if he takes on additional game-day duties.

"We'll see,'' Carroll said, per The Seattle Times. "Of course we'll just wait it out with Jon but if he can't play we'll have to do something and we'll figure it out.

"There's a lot of guys who dropped notes in my suggestion box that they can punt. Guys like (Jermaine) Kearse and Russ (Russell Wilson), they all think they can punt if we need it. We'll have some guys. We'll have a punt pass and kick contest this week if we need to."

Of course, it's worth remembering that the Seahawks are only in this situation because Carroll called a fake punt in a blowout. Media members definitely remembered that fact, so Carroll spent his Friday defending his decision.

According to The Seattle Times, he told 710 ESPN in Seattle that "you're either competing or you're not," which is the most Pete Carroll quote ever.

And then, at this press conference, he had this to say:

"We had a tremendous preparation for an opportunity to take that we knew could be like a turnover in the game. If we could get the opportunity we would go for it. It didn't matter when it happened, we were looking for it the whole night. The opportunity that we took, it gave us a chance to hold onto the football and not give them even the chance to get the ball back.



"What more could I do to help my team? How it gets perceived and all, that's what you guys get to talk about when you want to and I think it's a waste of energy but I understand it. I don't expect that you can see it from our perspective. I thought it was an excellent demonstration of planning and prep and execution. It worked perfectly, except for the end of it was terrible. But that allowed us to keep the football and it didn't have anything to do with something with the score or anything, just trying to finish the game as well as we could, in command of it as we were."



Look, I'm not going to rip Carroll for calling a fake punt in a blowout, because fake punts are fun and sports are supposed to be fun. Furthermore, it was a beautiful fake.

Look at all the space!

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And I don't think he had any reason to think that Ryan was going to bobble the ball while running in open space and then fail to get down in a safe manner, which is exactly what happened.

Just imagine all of the wrinkles Carroll could add to that already flawless play with Wilson as the punter.