Jedd Fisch is in love with, obsessed by and working bleary-eyed hours in a sport he never played.
Ever.
At any level.
But that's OK with a guy like John Carlson, who was all-state at Litchfield High School and a two-time captain at Notre Dame and is now a tight end for the Seattle Seahawks.
"You know," Carlson said, "the fact he has that love and passion without ever playing is pretty cool, I think."
Of course, Carlson is biased since it was with Fisch's help that Carlson played a starring role in a game plan that helped the Seahawks upset the defending Super Bowl champion Saints 41-36 and shock the world in last week's wild-card playoff game.
Fisch -- the former Gophers offensive coordinator, current Seahawks quarterbacks coach and recently hired offensive coordinator at Miami (Fla.) -- was studying film of the Saints red-zone defense two weeks ago when he saw something that piqued his interest. In the Cincinnati game from Week 13, the Bengals ran the ball to the right as the backside tight end went to the ground on a cut block. Fisch noticed that New Orleans paid no attention to the tight end once he got back up during the play.
"The safety to that side [Roman Harper] actually forgot about the tight end," Carlson said. "Our coaches told me, 'If you throw a cut block and you're patient with it, you should be wide open.' And they were right."