Let Jesus play

I'm not sure what Pete Carroll was thinking when he announced Tarvaris Jackson as the opening-day starter shortly after Seattle acquired the quarterback from Minnesota.

The premature anointment seemed to contradict the coach's "Always compete" credo.

Perhaps Carroll knows that T-Jack plays his best ball when he feels he has the full faith of his coaches and teammates. The athlete's tempestuous tenure with the Vikings offers ample support for that notion. Minnesota repeatedly touted him as their quarterback of the future and promised him the starting job, only to renege on that guarantee and insert a more seasoned veteran. It must have stung to see his coaches and teammates openly woo Brett Favre out of retirement. Over and over again, the Vikings played Lucy, seductively offering him the football, while Subtraction Jackson assumed the role of Charlie Brown, taking the bait every time and landing flat on his back when opportunity evaporated at the last minute.

Still, I have never believed in coddling players. If you can't handle competition, you don't belong in organized sports, and you're certainly not cut out for the NFL.

Carroll argued that T-Jack was best qualified to start on Day One due to his familiarity with the system of offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell, who is, like Jackson, a Minnesota castoff. Also, our new quarterback has extensive experience throwing to former teammate Sidney Rice, though those opportunities took place primarily in practice, because T-Jack was mostly confined to the pine during the wideout's stint with the Vikings.

Unfortunately, neither Jackson's knowledge of Bevell's scheme nor his reps with Rice have helped him to perform well thus far in preseason games with the Seahawks. This is not entirely his fault. Our offensive line has struggled with pass protection, forcing T-Jack to hurry his throws and run for his life.

But it is a fair to ask whether another player on the roster might be able to do better.

Promising the job to Jackson jammed a fat figurative thumb into the eye of Charlie Whitehurst, Seattle's only returning quarterback. Although Jesus of Clemson failed to capitalize the first few times He took the field last year, He came through when it really counted, leading the team to victory in the season finale, and thereby helping His team clinch the division title and a home playoff game. Diligent and loyal, the Lord participated in player-organized practices during the lockout, working to improve His chemistry with his teammates.

On one level, it's easy to keep Whitehurst on the bench. Throughout his career, He has stood on the sideline, quietly clutching a clipboard, patiently awaiting for an opportunity to compete. When Jesus failed to wrest the starting job from Hasselbeck in 2010, He bided his time and did not complain. When the team denied the Lord the opportunity to compete for the #1 slot this year, He declined to whine.

Instead, He went out and played well in the first two preseason games, igniting the kind of quarterback controversy that happens when your anointed starter can't get the first unit moving, and then your backup goes out and gets the second-string scoring.

Last week against the Vikings, Whitehurst was in the zone, as smooth as Keith Stone, passing the pigskin with spooky precision, nice touch and a quick release under pressure. I think He only threw one bad ball all night.

Of course, Jesus enjoyed better pass protection. Our first-unit O-line has struggled against the tough pass rushes of San Diego and Minnesota's starters, but our second-string blockers routinely handle our opponents' backups. Our JV team looks good.

But two weeks from now, it's all varsity.

The team deserves a chance to see whether Whitehurst can play better than Jackson with our first unit against another team's starters.

Assuming Coach Carroll ever cared about consistency and keeping promises, how could he square opening the position to competition with his previous vow to make T-Jack the Day One starter?

If I were Pete, and I'd painted myself into a corner by promising a future starting position to a player who had proceeded to underperform in the interim, I would let Jackson start the game as promised. If he played well, I would let him remain in the game. But if he faltered, I would insert Jesus at the start of the second quarter and give Him an audition for the lead role. Then, I'd bring T-Jack back at some point in the second half to see what he could do against Denver's backups.

We need an apples-to-apples comparison before we can decide intelligently between Jackson and Jesus.

For the record, my money's on the Lord.