Hackett knows the FG attempt was a bad call, but reiterates that it was pre-determined

Head coach Nathaniel Hackett had another round of questioning about that 64-yard field goal attempt (you know the one). We’re still not putting this topic to rest, and to be fair, it’s only two days post-game. The loss is going to sting all week, so we can keep moping about it at least until Sunday at 2:25pm.

“Looking back at it, we definitely should have gone for it. It’s one of those things where you look back at it and you say, ‘Of course we should go for it,’” Hackett explained, “We missed the field goal. But in that situation, we had a plan.”

Hackett went on to share that it was decided beforehand: as long as they hit the 46-yard line, they would kick it, and that’s exactly what happened. They had so much yardage to make up on that third down and, after they trimmed it down to five yards, they had hit their designated FG attempt territory.

“We were expecting to go for it on fourth down and then you hit the mark. The mark that we had all set before we started,” he said, noting that the decision was made with Brandon McManus in mind, i.e. how he was feeling about it and performing in practice.

Asked if he doubted McManus’ ability to make that kick, he admitted that it was a matter of giving him an opportunity.

“Obviously looking back at it, if you missed the field goal, you’re always going to wish you would have gone for it,” he said, “If you would have gone for it and not gotten it, you wish you would have given him a chance. So that’s the crazy thing about this game.”

Hackett wouldn’t go back and use his timeouts sooner if he could. “No, when we went into that point there, we wanted to be sure that we left no time for them. We had plenty of timeouts if we did need to utilize those.”

The media also asked whether QB Russell Wilson had pushed to go for it on fourth and five instead of kicking the field goal. Hackett said he hadn’t.

“No, we all had the plan,” he shared, “Russell knew it, he knew I was going take a timeout so he was going to see if he could get them to jump offsides, or anything like that.”

Finally, Hackett knows what the media is saying and what the coverage for this game looks like. He understands why the stories come and that the responsibility falls on him.

“Every game we want to win. Every game for us, we go in with a mentality that we want to win it...that’s part of being in this seat, being in this profession is that this stuff is going to happen at all times.”

Hackett added that you have to keep working to get better, and never give up. “That’s the only thing I know how to do, just keep putting my head down and keep working, making sure these guys believe and understand the things that we need to correct to be able to get better so that we can win some football games.”