Improbable NFC Championship Game

SEATTLE - Really, nobody outside of Saskatchewan knew much about Jon Ryan . . . until he turned the tide that sent the Seahawks back to the Super Bowl.

Maybe, no one outside of State College knew much about Garry Gilliam . . . until he caught Ryan's unlikely pass on a fake field goal for a touchdown.

Sadly, no one outside of South Carolina knew much about Brandon Bostick . . . until he tried to grab for glory and lost it all for the Packers.

They were the faces of their franchises after the Seahawks came back and won the NFC Championship Game yesterday, 28-22, in overtime: one, pale and ruddy and delighted with his newfound celebrity; another, beaming with Penn State slyness; the third, a blank pit of despair as he faced a future of infamy.

Ryan is the punter and, more to the point, the holder for the Seahawks. His team was down by 16, and was lucky not to be down by 30. The Seahawks were desperate for a spark. He supplied it with a 19-yard pass to backup tackle Gilliam. That cut the Packers' lead to 16-7 with just under 20 minutes to play in the game.

Bostick is a backup tight end who played receiver at Newberry College, a Division II school about 2 hours across South Carolina from his hometown, Florence. Bostick essentially walked on to the Packers in 2012 and made himself a serviceable body on special teams the past two seasons.

Bostick will live forever in Packers history for one catastrophically unfortunate moment.

The Seahawks just scored and trailed by five points with 2 minutes, 9 seconds to play. They had one timeout. They attempted an onside kick to the right side, directly at Bostick, who suddenly had stars in his eyes . . . and rocks in his head. Bostick leaped toward the descending ball. It went through his hands. It went off his facemask.

It landed in the arms of Seahawks receiver Chris Matthews, who barreled over Packers No. 1 receiver Jordy Nelson, who was directly behind Bostick.

Chris Matthews never should have made it to Nelson.

"I was supposed to block that second guy [Matthews]," Bostick said. "I just reacted and thought I could make a play on it . . . It wasn't my job. I was supposed to block."

He paused.

"I let my team down," Bostick said. "If I'd done my job, Jordy would've caught the ball and the game would have been over."

"You've got to make that play," said Packers linebacker Clay Matthews.

Bostick spent most of the rest of the game on the bench with his head down.

He was the last Packer undressed, the last showered, the last dressed.

His eyes were red and watery.

It is not allergy season in Seattle.

It is miracle season.

The Seahawks turned the ball over four times and committed nine penalties . . . in the first half.

They trailed, 16-0.

They deserved much worse.

"The game started off kind of ugly, huh?" said Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson.

His three interceptions created a first-half passer rating that matched the Seahawks' first-half score: zero. He collapsed into tears on the field after the win, as relieved as he was elated.

Everyone in CenturyLink Field who endured the drenching rains and 15-mph winds was as relieved as they were elated.

"There was a little frustration in here at halftime, I'm not going to lie," said Seattle linebacker K.J. Wright.

However, given the chance, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers refused to let his opposite, Wilson, self-destruct alone. Also, the historically efficient Seahawks defense did not falter.

The Seahawks stopped the Packers twice at the 1 and forced field goals, and Rodgers threw two interceptions in the first half. The first interception ended the Packers' first drive, in the end zone, to super-corner Richard Sherman, whom Rodgers avoided in the teams' first matchup - a Seahawks win - and whom Rodgers avoided from that point forward.

Even after Sherman tied one hand behind his back. He so badly injured his left elbow making a tackle on the first play of the fourth quarter that he couldn't raise his arm above his head. Still, Rodgers never looked his way.

"I was a little surprised, but I still had pretty tight coverages," Sherman said - but he didn't have full mobility. "I would have probably have tried to [intercept passes] one-handed."

This was indicative of the fearful game the Packers played, protective of Rodgers to a fault. Rodgers was playing his fourth game on a torn calf muscle, but he had scorched lesser defenses in the past three games.

After Seattle punted midway through the fourth quarter, and again after Wilson's fourth interception with about 5 minutes to play, the Packers abandoned their passing game and tried to run out the clock.

"They didn't attack us the same way," Wright said. "For some reason, they got away from it."

It was an institutional philosophy.

When Morgan Burnett intercepted Wilson in the fourth quarter, with a 19-7 lead, he immediately collapsed on the field rather than risk fumbling on a runback. The Seahawks could not believe their eyes.

"That didn't make sense in my head," Wright said. "That's on him. Maybe that will teach him not to do that."

The Seahawks, of course, would have tried to score. That is their DNA.

That's why you know about Jon Ryan and Garry Gilliam.

The Seahawks faced fourth-and-10 from the Packers' 19-yard line with just under 5 minutes to play in the third quarter, trailing by 16-0. Head coach Pete Carroll called for the fake, which was just installed Thursday.

Ryan took the snap, as usual, but he popped right up and sprinted to the left. Packers linebacker A.J. Hawk abandoned Gilliam and made a beeline toward Ryan, who has a strong safety's physique. He played receiver and ran track at his hometown University of Regina, where, he said, he once ran a 4.48-second 40-yard dash.

Ryan saw Hawk bearing down.

Gilliam saw Hawk leave him, and channeled his Nittany past.

A tight end his first two seasons at Penn State, Gilliam caught seven passes in 2012. A glut at the position prompted his move to tackle in 2013, and he made the Seahawks' squad in August as an undrafted free agent. Before the game, Carroll warned Gilliam that the fake would be called, no matter what.

Gilliam was ready.

"[Hawk] shot toward Jon, so there was no one else to cover me," said Gilliam, whose thoughts came clearly. " 'Run the route and catch the ball.'After I caught it? I don't remember. I'm pretty sure I blacked out after that."

"It wasn't a super-complex play," Ryan admitted, as his brother, Steve, sat in his locker. Jon Ryan gestured to Steve, who played running back in high school.

"The last time I threw a touchdown pass, it was probably to him in our backyard," Jon said.

"Yeah, he's kind of got a noodle arm," Steve said.

"Hey," Jon replied, "there's no pictures on the stat sheet."

Ryan and Gilliam left the rest of the heavy work to the usual principals.

As the Packers curled into football's fetal position, Wilson connected on five of six passes for 126 yards, including the 35-yard game-winner to Jermaine Kearse in overtime. Wilson also ran three times for 20 yards and the touchdown that trimmed things to 19-14.

Franchise back Marshawn Lynch collected 54 of his 157 rushing yards in the final few minutes, too, including the 24-yard touchdown romp that gave the Seahawks a 20-19 lead before a two-point conversion. The Pack managed a late field goal, but once the Seahawks won the overtime coin toss, it was a fait accompli.

Everything changed for the Seahawks when a Canadian punter found a Nittany Lion with the season on the line.

Everything crashed down on the Packers when an anonymous tight end tried to be a hero.

As he picked athletic tape off his feet and prepared to shower, Bostick kept his eyes down. He avoided speaking with his teammates. He delayed speaking with the press until everyone else was gone.

He was not eager to begin a lifetime of blame.

"I've just been thinking about everything: the game, my teammates, my family in Green Bay," Bostick said. "I just feel like I let everyone down.

"I'll keep replaying it in my mind. I don't know how long it'll take to move on from it."

With that, Bostick excused himself, clamped his 'phones on his ears, pulled his black hood over his head . . .

. . . And desperately tried to disappear.