SEATTLE — A national TV audience saw Seattle Seahawks backup tackle Garry Gilliam celebrate his touchdown on a fake field goal in Sunday's NFC Championship Game by mimicking Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers' title belt celebration.
Far fewer saw Seahawks punter/holder Jon Ryan doing the same move with gusto toward the Packers bench — a move he says he'd been waiting to unleash on his old team for years.
"Uh, when was I cut?" Ryan asked in an interview with USA TODAY Sports after the Seahawks rallied to win 28-22 and lock up a spot in Super Bowl XLIX.
Told his release was in 2008, Ryan said, "Yeah, so, like, the day of."
"You did the belt?" Ryan's younger brother, Steve, said as he sat in Ryan's locker.
"I did the belt," Ryan said, laughing, "right at (Packers coach) Mike McCarthy."
It was "nothing serious," Ryan added. "It was all in fun obviously. I have nothing but respect for Mike McCarthy. When I was in Green Bay, he was great to me. Just like Aaron Rodgers when he does it, it's all in fun. No one takes things serious."
But Ryan clearly enjoyed having some fun with McCarthy and by extension Packers general manager Ted Thompson, who made the ill-fated decision to jettison the young Canadian punter in favor of veteran Derrick Frost at the end of training camp in 2008.
It just so happened it came at a critical juncture, with the Seahawks trailing 16-0 and facing fourth-and-10 at the Packers 19-yard line with 4:50 remaining in the third quarter. Coach Pete Carroll said he "couldn't wait to get the thing called" because he believed in the fake.
"We started working on that on Thursday," said Ryan, 33, who's now in his ninth NFL season. "I don't know how many reps — 10 reps, 15 reps that we got through in practice and walkthrough. We just felt comfortable with it."
The first option on the play was for Ryan to run, he said. But when his former teammate, Packers linebacker A.J. Hawk, came up to stop him, Ryan flicked the ball to the 306-pound former Penn State tight end Gilliam instead.
"When the ball went out of his hand, it was almost like one of those NFL Films, when everything slows down, you can see every rotation on the ball," said Steve Ryan, who was wearing his brother's No. 9 jersey along with his brother-in-law in Section 125 at CenturyLink Field.
"That's sort of how it felt, like it was never going to come down. When it came down, everyone was saying how loud the crowd was, but I couldn't hear anyone, because I was standing on my seat, screaming and pointing at my jersey."
Both Ryan brothers were running backs in high school, Steve Ryan said. And no, Jon Ryan never played any quarterback.
"None. Never had an arm," Ryan said. "I was too tight in the shoulders, I guess. That was my first touchdown pass ever. I started playing football when I was 7. I think the last touchdown pass I probably ever threw was in the backyard with this guy."
Not a bad time to throw another one.
"It was incredible," Steve Ryan said. "After the game, I was almost preparing to say, 'Hey, if you're going to lose an NFC Championship Game, at least you did it throwing a touchdown pass.'
"I don't know if you call it a miracle or what it was at the end, but it happened. To be the spark to win an NFC Championship Game — growing up in Canada, it's beyond your wildest dreams. We dreamed of playing Grey Cups and playing for our local team, and to do that in an NFC Championship Game, was just beyond a dream."
Follow Tom Pelissero on Twitter @TomPelissero.
