RENTON, Wash. — If it seems as if Clay Matthews is omnipresent off the field, well, yeah. No NFL linebacker has a higher profile than the Green Bay Packers star, thanks to his commercials and his flashy persona.
If you barely know anything about Bobby Wagner, that’s understandable too. He’s not into snazzy, leaving that to his Legion of Boom teammates in Seattle.
Sunday in the NFC championship game, their performances will go a long way toward determining which team goes to Super Bowl XLIX. And while Matthews may add a touch of the ostentatious, Wagner will do things far more quietly, yet just as fiercely.
Indeed, he might be the least-ballyhooed member of this season’s all-pro team.
“With Wags, just killer instinct,” Seahawks all-pro safety Earl Thomas said Thursday. “Some guys just have that nasty streak to him, and I want another guy beside me with killer instincts. He has that. … And that fired-up passion is contagious.”
Essential too for the most feared defense in the NFL, one that helped the Seahawks win it all last year and has them on the verge of a repeat title — something not accomplished by any team in a decade.
But, consistent with his nature, Wagner doesn’t make a big deal of it all.
“My job is to be in the middle of everything,” said the 2012 second-round draft pick. “Also the signal caller, making sure everybody’s in the right spot, making adjustments when I need to, being as vocal as I possibly can on the field.”
Of course, Wagner does far more than that. Even though he missed five games with a foot injury, he still managed to make 104 tackles — he had 140 and 119 the previous two years. When he returned to action in late November, the Seahawks became immovable again. They didn’t allow a fourth-quarter point from Week 12 through the end of the regular season.
“That’s what we do — we finish,” Wagner said. “Whenever a fourth quarter comes around, we understand those are when games are won.”
