Former Football: Stokley plays big role in upset win

Former Football: Stokley plays big role in upset win

Former Football: Stokley plays big role in upset win

Glenn Guilbeau • gguilbeau@gannett.com • January 10, 2011

The Associated Press Seattle Seahawks’ Brandon Stokley scores a touchdown in the team’s wild-card playoff win Saturday over the Saints.

SEATTLE — Brandon Stokley was listed as questionable last week for Seattle’s wild-card playoff game against New Orleans. He missed the Seahawks’ final game of the regular season in which they beat St. Louis to reach the playoffs at 7-9 because of a concussion he suffered the previous week.

Stokley, a 12-year veteran out of UL and Comeaux High who may not be resigned by Seattle for next season, caught two passes for 11 yards in his previous two games entering Saturday’s game.

On Saturday, he riddled the Saints secondary with four catches for 73 yards, including a 45-yard touchdown for a 24-17 lead midway in the second quarter. The Seahawks never trailed again after that score and went on to upset the 10-point favorites 41-36."I take pride in still getting open," said Stokley, who won Super Bowls with the Baltimore in the 2000 season and with Indianapolis in the 2006 season. "This is a whole new ballgame in the playoffs. Whatever happened five, six weeks ago, it doesn’t matter. Throw it out the window. Everybody has the same records now, and if you win, you go on."

Seattle’s plan was to pick on New Orleans safeties Roman Harper and Darren Sharper with the absence of injured safety Malcolm Jenkins, who was a major reason the Saints entered the game fourth in the NFL in pass defense. Stokley was all alone on the touchdown."Everybody just kind of lost me," said Stokley, who caught a touchdown in Baltimore’s Super Bowl win. "Sometimes I get lost in the mix. They kind of lost me, and I came out the back end."

Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck has even often lost track of Stokley, who was signed by the team on Sept. 28 after being released by Denver three weeks before that."I don’t even know what week of the season he got here," said Hasselbeck, who feasted on the New Orleans secondary for 22-of-35 passing for 272 yards and four touchdowns — the most given up by the Saints all season. "But he’s a great player. We just have to keep him healthy. He’s meant a lot to the younger receivers. I know he’s helped me quite a bit."

The Saints lost Stokley three times on third downs, including the touchdown. On third and eight from the Saints’ 41 and Seattle up 31-20 in the third quarter, Hasselbeck found Stokley for an 11-yard pass that helped set up a 39-yard field goal for a 34-20 Seattle lead."That’s my job to convert third downs. It’s kind of what I do," Stokley said.

"It’s been great having him," Hasselbeck said.

Seattle is now two wins away from Stokley reaching a third Super Bowl. If the Seahawks win the Super Bowl, they would finish 10-9 and with still one win less than the 11-6 Saints."It’s awesome," Stokley said. "To be the underdogs that we were and to have nobody give us a chance and to come out and win the game, it doesn’t get any better than that. It’s unbelievable. Nobody gave us a chance against the defending champions."