RENTON — After turning in a play that made the home crowd at SoFi Stadium feel a little ill on Sunday, Seahawks safety Ryan Neal turned around and got sick.
Neal battled what he thinks was the 24-hour flu before and during Sunday’s 37-23 win over the Los Angeles Chargers, an illness that came on during the night and made him wonder in the morning if he’d be able to play.
“I was sweating in bed, chills, body ache, headache,” Neal said. “… I couldn’t believe it was happening right now.”
But Neal, well, gutted it out Sunday, playing all 71 snaps in what might have also been the best game of the 39 games he has played as a Seahawk.
His stats included his first interception of the season, and the third of his career, on the Chargers’ second series, a pick of a Justin Herbert pass on third-and-7 that gave Seattle the ball at the Chargers 43. That led to a quick scoring drive and a 14-0 lead that the Seahawks never relinquished.
But in something that maybe only his teammates, coaches and some nearby fans noticed, after returning to the sideline and right as the Seahawks scored on a 12-yard Kenneth Walker III run after his pick and the kickoff team went on the field, Neal got sick.
“I literally just walked over to the trash can and threw up, and all the fans are like acck (making a vomiting sound),’” Neal said. “I was like ‘Yeah, do that while I’m trying to throw up.’”
Funny thing is, once he did, he said everything took a turn for the better.
“I was cool after that,” Neal said.
Though not without a lot of help.
Neal had three IVs to make it through the game, including one at halftime, and said “they just kept shoving fluids in me” including water, Gatorade and Pedialyte.
Neal said because of the illness he only got about three hours sleep, at one point ripping the blanket off his bed and putting it on the floor in a futile attempt to get comfortable.
“I was just exhausted,” he said.
He said by Monday he felt a lot better, and as he recounted his weekend to reporters on Wednesday, he said he felt perfectly fine.
Neal didn’t mention it when he talked to reporters after the game Sunday.
The team made Neal available at the podium following the game because his play was as pivotal as anyone’s on the roster.
“Oh man, he had a really good game,” coach Pete Carroll said.
Along with the interception, he had seven tackles and four overall pass breakups.
Pro Football Focus named Neal to its team of the week, giving him the third-highest grade of the week for any player, noting that in seven targets he allowed four receptions but for just 13 yards.
Neal said in part because of how he felt he didn’t really realize the game he was having as it unfolded.
“When everybody started spitting it back at me (his stats during the game) I was like ‘Oh, for real? I didn’t really know,’” Neal said. “I’m just playing ball. So I guess it’s one thing I did learn from it is ‘you know what, hey, let me just go in the game and play ball and forget the thinking and just do,’ because that’s what it felt like.”
His performance came in what was his third game as a starting strong safety alongside Quandre Diggs, taking over for Josh Jones.
And it feels like no coincidence that Seattle’s defense has surged the last few weeks, as well.
Through his previous three years with the Seahawks, Neal has been valued as a jack-of-all-trades, able to fill in just about anywhere in the secondary — he had nine starts in 2020 and 2021 due to injury, primarily stepping in for Jamal Adams.
But even though Neal is listed as a strong safety, his versatility is on display more than ever.
According to Pro Football Focus, Neal lined up at four different spots for Seattle on Sunday — 32 at free safety, 11 at slot corner, or the nickel, 27 in the box playing weakside linebacker, and one on the line of scrimmage.
All that moving around allows the Seahawks to use several different personnel groupings based on game situation and matchups. For instance, Neal plays weakside linebacker when the Seahawks go with a three-safety, six-defensive back formation, or what is commonly called a “dime” defense, with Jones entering as the third safety.
It’s a role the team intended for Adams to play substantially this year, before he was injured in the first game of the season, and then was used sparingly for the next four games as Neal got healthy from a high ankle sprain that sidelined him much of the preseason.
But now with Neal healthy, and the likes of rookie Coby Bryant getting experience at the nickel spot and also move around some, the Seahawks can employ all of their defensive scheme in the back end to throw a variety of looks at offenses.
“You want to put more skillsets in there to match up evenly and stuff like that,” Neal said.
Said defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt of Neal’s versatility: “It’s a huge benefit to us. … When you can line up in various different positions and perform that job at a high level you can mess with (an offense’s) protections, how they identify (the middle linebacker) in the run game. When guys are just in different locations, for us it’s simple. For the offense it’s like ‘hold on now. We’ve got to re-evaluate how we are schematically doing things.’ So it’s a big deal.”
Neal joked that some in the locker room were referring to Sunday as his “Michael Jordan flu game,” a reference to Jordan’s famous performance in the 1997 NBA Finals.
Hurtt, though, was only willing to give Neal so much credit.
“We knew he wasn’t feeling well and all that. But you know what? Who cares? Get yourself together and let’s get ready to go play and do what you’ve got to do — we’ve got a football game to go play,” Hurtt said. “And to his credit (Neal did).
“I know that sounds like coach is being (an) ass,” Hurtt said with a laugh. “But Ryan has always been highly competitive and tough and doing all that. That’s why we love him here and why we have such great respect for him because he brings it all the time. So he had a heck of a football game.”