Erickson’s Ultimatum Threatens Vets

If a single message has been transmitted by the Seahawks coaching staff during the preseason, it is this:

Perform or sit.

Coach Dennis Erickson let everyone know from the day of his hiring that he had a slim margin of tolerance for anything short of full effort.

In what is radical juggling this late in an NFL preseason, Erickson has demoted or threatened to bench guard Jeff Blackshear and tackle Howard Ballard.

Ballard is the highest-paid Seahawk and the highest-paid right tackle in the NFL.

Blackshear, at least temporarily, has been dropped behind unproven Matt Joyce at left guard.

While Erickson’s predecessors Chuck Knox and Tom Flores coddled veterans, those days are at an end.

“We need a sense of urgency,” Erickson said last week. “That’s how you win football games and how you win championships.”

Breakthrough season

Fit and enthusiastic, defensive tackle Sam Adams has been a wrecking crew in the preseason.

With a defense that will showcase his abundant physical skills, Adams will live up to the expectations the Hawks had when they used the eighth pick of the 1994 draft on him.

Breakdown season

If Howard Ballard can’t turn things around soon, he will be viewed as a bust.

Picked up from Buffalo two years ago and paid an average of $2.6 million a season, Ballard has looked gimpy all preseason.

An assortment of leg injuries have kept him from living up to his billing, and one has to wonder if he will make it through this season on both feet.

Fearless prediction

Hawks rookie receiver Joey Galloway will be the NFL’s Rookie of the Year.

Of the seven players drafted ahead of Galloway, Cincinnati’s Ki-Jana Carter and Jacksonville’s Tony Boselli are injured. Houston’s Steve McNair and Carolina’s Kerry Collins should see limited action as rookie quarterbacks. Washington’s Michael Westbrook may not overcome a long holdout, and St. Louis’ Kevin Carter and Philadelphia’s Mike Mamula are defensive players who probably won’t get the national attention an offensive threat like Galloway will draw.

Key to season

A perilous lack of depth on the offensive line makes any injury there crucial.

While the offensive scheme seems intriguing, nothing will work if the line can’t operate at some minimal degree of efficiency.

, DataTimes