Like any hardcore football fan, I’ll be watching the early games while waiting for today’s showdown with the Broncos. Of course, I like to monitor the performances of the players on my fantasy football team, but I also enjoy following the progress of former Seahawks.
The Chiefs-Browns contest will be in heavy rotation, because Seneca Wallace will likely start at quarterback, giving us a chance to see what we lost when we traded him away.
I still regret Seattle’s decision to part with Wallace, a dependable backup QB with tragically underutilized potential as a receiver and kick returner. Like many Seahawks fans, I continue to rue the team’s failure fully to exploit his freakish speed and athleticism in those roles. Last year’s coaches had installed some Wildcat packages for Wallace—the “Senecat” offense—though it was seldom used and seldom successful. (Our offense couldn’t block anyone last year, and no scheme is sound when you can’t protect the quarterback or open holes for your runners.)
The Seahawks essentially gave away Wallace, getting only a 6th round pick in return for him. It seems extremely unlikely that the team will recoup Seneca’s lost value from that draft slot. The decision to drop Wallace seemed to be predicated upon the assumption that Wallace would never supplant Hasselbeck as a starter, whereas Whitehurst (the new backup) might be able to do so sooner or later. Of course, the argument is pointless, because Hasselbeck will not cede the starting role anytime soon. The team would have been wiser to re-sign Wallace and use the cash lavished on Whitehurst to address more pressing team needs, like the offensive line.
When Wallace went to Cleveland, I expected him to compete for a starting role. However, Jake Delhomme outperformed him in the preseason. (I’ve always liked Delhomme. He reminds me of Dave Krieg: the regular guy vibe, coupled with the propensity to play better than anyone expects most of the time, but then melt down and have terrible games every once in a while. Delhomme even wears the same number Krieg wore: #17.)
Seneca’s opportunity today comes as a result of an injury to Delhomme, who played poorly last week. If Wallace can win, a quarterback controversy could emerge in Cleveland.
The Browns game today also offers an opportunity to catch up with Floyd “Pork Chop” Womack, another former Seahawk. I’ve always liked Chop. Back in the ‘90s, I saw him play prep ball, manhandling my school’s athletes. Chop boasts one of the best nicknames in modern football. During his tenure in Seattle, Womack (when healthy) served as a versatile reserve, and occasionally broke into the starting lineup. Most of that was back when we had a good offensive line.
Losing Chop in free agency was bad for the Seahawks, but it has been good for the player and for his new team. Womack, who hails from Cleveland, Mississippi, has thrived in Cleveland, Ohio. Since signing with the Browns, Womack has started at guard. Last year, I sometimes tuned in to Cleveland’s games just to watch Chop play. This year, I get to see Floyd Womack (whose middle name is Seneca) block for a quarterback who also shares a name with Roman scholars and an Indian nation. Go, Brownhawks!
While Cleveland has only a pair of ex-Seahawks, Detroit’s roster is studded with so many exiles from Seattle that they should be dubbed the Sea Lions. Former Seahawks on Detroit’s roster include two starters: former Pro Bowl linebacker Julian Peterson and wideout/punt returner Nate Burleson. Both are very much missed.
Playing opposite Calvin “Megatron” Johnson, Burleson has given himself a Transformer name: “Recepticon.” I have already expressed my disapproval of the decision to let Burleson get away, but I will take this opportunity to explain how we blew it when we lost Peterson. During the 2009 offseason, Ruskell regarded Peterson as expendable due to our embarrassment of riches at linebacker (Tatupu, Hill, Hawthorne, etc.). This reflected a failure of the imagination on the part of Ruskell and Mora. Instead of dealing Peterson because we had “too many” good linebackers to field, why not adopt a 3-4 defense so we could put those studs in play every down? We received poor value in return for Peterson, trading away a Pro Bowl linebacker for Cory Redding, a pedestrian defensive tackle who now plays for Baltimore.
In a similarly incomprehensible move, the Seahawks decided to keep Julius Jones and let Maurice Morris get away to Detroit. He is now their #2 running back. I hope to see him today. The Detroit Sea Lions also include tight end Will Heller and guard Rob Sims.
The Lions host the Eagles today. Detroit’s starting quarterback is injured, so backup Shaun Hill will be responsible for feeding the ball to “Recepticon” Burleson and Mo Morris. Hopefully, Julian Peterson will find some opportunities to inflict some karmic retribution upon Mike Vick on behalf of the world’s dogs.
Finally, of course, I’ll drop in on the Bengals-Ravens game to see how my man T.J. Houshmandzadeh is doing, and to watch $6 million of Paul Allen’s money helping Baltimore win. The Ravens already had two good receivers in Anquan Boldin and Derrick Mason, but their coaches possess the unique insight to understand that having three starting-caliber receivers is, to put it in abstruse technical terms, totally badass.
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