Seattle Seahawks Possibly Elevating the Shortest QB Into the Starting Job:
The Seattle Seahawks fly down to Kansas City to play the
Chiefs tomorrow night and with a new quarterback starting. Russell Wilson will
be Seattle’s starter for the first time and Matt Flynn will relieve him in the
second half. Head coach Pete Carroll has been talking about the competition
between three quarterbacks this off-season, but now the competition has come
down to two players, one of which Seattle never figured to have a chance of
starting ahead of free-agent acquisition Matt Flynn, whom Seattle brought in to
perhaps become their franchise quarterback. Tavaris Jackson just wasn’t getting
the job done and it was obvious he wasn’t the answer to Seattle’s back to back
7-9 seasons. As Matt Flynn dazzled the NFL with his two games as the starting
quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, breaking Packer passing records and
helping Green Bay win home-field advantage by winning one of the two games he
started in place of Aaron Rodgers who was healing from any injury. Seattle was
no different than the rest of the 31 teams that would feel bad if Flynn became
a player on their roster. Only, Seattle wanted to bring him and to replace
their starter and become the face of the franchise one day. This was the plan
until general manager John Schneider and head coach Pete Carroll chose to draft
5’10” quarterback out of the University of Wisconsin, Russell Wilson in the
third round. Wilson was an unlikely choice to be chosen before the fifth or
perhaps sixth round of the 2012 draft, but Seattle’s brain trust saw something
in the senior and like what they saw. He had tremendous leadership skills, a
very strong and long arm, big hands, and a knack for leading people into
Saturday afternoon battles week after week. Carroll and Schneider felt strongly
that this talented young man could take that on to the NFL, leading a new group
of men into Sunday battles each week. In the preseason, Wilson showed flashes
of brilliant quarterbacking against the Tennessee Titans. He also impressed the
next week against the Denver Broncos. The country turned on the Seahawks and
Broncos game on the NFL network primarily to see new Broncos player Peyton
Manning in his web round the Seattle defensive secondary like he did the rest
of the NFL while he was in Indianapolis with the Colts. It didn’t quite work
out as he would have liked, Peyton that is. The Seahawks secondary picked off
two of his passes and kept him looking mighty so-so. Instead, the most
impressive and most dazzling player on the field took to the mile high grass
quickly. Russell Wilson played the entire second half of the game and while he
was playing against second, third and even fourth string players, he was
playing with second, third and even fourth string players on Seattle’s team.
This meant that he didn’t really have much time or protection in the pocket to
throw and the receivers he was throwing to weren’t all that adept at creating
space between themselves and the Broncos defensive backfield. Regardless of who
he was playing with or against, Wilson was dynamic in his play and his
leadership. He led Seattle to a 30-10 victory after taking over at the half,
Seattle was trailing after the first half 10-9. Wilson impressed his teammates,
his coaches, and the Broncos players as well, leading Seattle with his arm and
his legs. Play after play he extended plays after being flushed out of the
pocket several times a lady did get pocket protection, he threw lasers to
Seattle wide receivers, converting third downs and leading Seattle to scoring
drives. How many scores and how many third-down conversions were not really all
that important, but the way that he commands the office and the way he carries
himself on and off the field, is impressive especially for a rookie
quarterback. Matt Flynn wasn’t playing badly in the first half, and I would
actually contend that he was playing quite well. He had several miscues as it
was obvious he was forcing the ball to Terrell Owens who also got the start
last Saturday night in Denver. There were a couple of misdirection passes that
most likely Owens was to blame, but what really hurt Flynn’s second preseason
start was a 54 yard pass down the middle of the field that was targeting Owens
in the end zone. The ball was thrown beautifully to Owens, spiraling and arcing
as perfect as a deep pass could possibly be. Right in the bread basket for
Owens, a pass that landed right in the hands of the bumptious and obstreperous
wide receiver that proceeded to blow it completely leaving Flynn with his hands
on his helmet, holding in every bit of disappointment he could. Owens didn’t
show any initial reaction from his conspicuous foul up, but after the game he
did show regret and contrition. Terrell Owens hasn’t had but two weeks to work
with the Seahawks offense and he also missed an entire season in the NFL while
he wasn’t marketable to any of the 32 teams in the league. The question is for me,
which is more humiliating? Dropping a picture perfect pass in the end zone as
you try to make your comeback into the NFL? Or Not getting any takers after a much
publicized personal workout for any team in the NFL to come see him after he
had rehabbed from his knee surgery? I would hope it would be the drop, but
knowing TO like I do from his past, he would probably say his workout
rejection. Either way, the man called T.O. has skills and a long history of
producing on the field. Yes, he’s 38 years old, but he also ran a 4.49 sec. 44
the Seahawks when they tried him out. Pete Carroll and John Schneider saw
something in Owens that led them to believe he could contribute to the passing
game of the Seahawks. Seattle’s not exactly oozing with talent at the wide
receiver position. Sidney Rice, arguably their most talented wide receiver, is
rehabbing double reconstructive shoulder surgery and hasn’t had any full
contact practices until two days ago, and missing most of the 2011 season with
two concussions. He is now reported to be healthy and ready for contact and he
will start tomorrow night against Kansas City in the third preseason game of
the year. Russell Wilson will have several targets in the first half of this
game, something that Matt Flynn didn’t have the luxury of. In addition to
Sidney Rice, wide receivers; Ricardo Lockette, Braylon Edwards, and Kellen
Winslow will be playing tomorrow as well. Doug Baldwin is unlikely to play
after having a minor procedure performed on his hamstring to remove some blood
in the tissue that was causing him some discomfort. Coach Carroll said he could
play tomorrow night, but will likely be held out for cautionary reasons. Carroll
also indicated Baldwin would be ready for the regular season for sure, trying
to stress that this is not something to worry about. Wilson and Flynn will also
have all of their tightend options on the field in Kansas City. Zach Miller
will be back in action after suffering a concussion. Kellen Winslow, Cameron
Morrah and Matt McCoy will be will also be on the field tomorrow night.
Russell Wilson is an impressive athlete, but more than that,
he is a special type of young man. He has an infectious type of positive
attitude and leadership and the team has a respect for him like I haven’t seen
in Seattle ever before. The Seahawks offense respected Tavaris Jackson last
year, he was a warrior the way he played injured and without complaining and to
a relatively high level considering he had an injury to his pectoral muscle on
his throwing side. Every player in the locker room appreciated his toughness
and unwillingness to give in to an injury when Seattle needed him so much.
Unfortunately, this is one of the uglier parts of football. There has to be a
starter and there has to be a backup and sometimes there has to be a player
that is dropped because he doesn’t fit in with the system. Jackson doesn’t fit
into Coach Carroll’s offense and that was pretty clear as soon as training camp
began. Carroll was true to his word, however, starting Jackson with the number
one offense in rotation with Matt Flynn and Russell Wilson. Apparently, the
coaches saw something in training camp as well as the OTA’s before that that
led them to believe that Flynn and Wilson fit into the program and give Seattle
the best chance to win this season. What will happen to Jackson is unknown
right now. ESPN’s SportsCenter and the NFL network have hinted that the
Seahawks are shopping Jackson around the league, but no one has actually shown
interest as of yet. Teams said to be interested are; the Green Bay Packers, the
Arizona Cardinals and the Miami Dolphins. It’s unlikely Seattle would trade
Jackson to the Arizona Cardinals with them being in the same NFC West division.
However, looking around the league, it’s difficult to sign a player like
Jackson because of his contract being so high. He has one more year remaining
on his three-year contract with Seattle at nearly $4 million per year. A backup
quarterback doesn’t typically make that much money, however Jackson has been
heard to say that he’s willing to take a pay cut if the right trade was
presented. Whether or not Jackson has a no trade clause is not clear.
Regardless of what happens around the league, one thing is
for certain and that is that the Seahawks will get a super opportunity to see
Russell Wilson play with the number ones tomorrow night and public perception
is that if Wilson has a good night, the competition will be over and Wilson
will be crowned as the first ring quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks to go
into the 2012 regular-season. Pete Carroll is enamored with Russell Wilson and
ever since Seattle chose him in the draft, and trying to figure out reasons
that he should sit on the bench and learn the game at a slower pace because he
is a rookie, after all. However, Wilson has impressed Carroll, Schneider and
the rest of his teammates so much, it might be impossible to keep this kid off
the field this year. Everything he does, he seems to learn and adapt and
improve from it. He's a very smart young man, bright, personable and a dynamite
leader and these are the intangibles that might just make everyone else in the
NFL forget that he is the shortest quarterback in the league. If he starts, he
will make New Orleans Saints cornerback Drew Brees the second shortest starting
quarterback in the National Football League by ½ inch.
No comments:
Post a Comment