Flynn gives Seahawks a lot to love
RENTON, Wash. – Seattle, you’re ready to fall in love.
You’ve heard all about the easy-going Texan who brings a national championship ring, a Super Bowl ring and the lessons of one of the greatest quarterbacks in the NFL to a town desperate for a difference-making signal-caller. You’ve heard about his brief career as an NFL starter, which resulted in 385.5 passing yards per game and a 123.0 passer rating. You can’t help but notice that he shares both a first name (Matt) and former home (Green Bay) with the man who owns nearly every Seattle Seahawks passing record and who led the franchise to its only Super Bowl appearance.
It makes you wonder. You can’t help thinking that the only thing Matt Flynn doesn’t have as he embarks on his career as a Seahawks quarterback is … a starting job.
You wait as coach Pete Carroll takes a three-headed competition into training camp, and it dawns on you that the candidates include an uninspiring returning veteran (Tarvaris Jackson), a green-as-FieldTurf rookie (Russell Wilson) and Flynn – the man this city is ready to love.
“They’re going to enjoy having him there,” former Green Bay Packers teammate Jordy Nelson said via telephone earlier this week. “He’s a playmaker. He comes out and makes plays. They’ve got a good one out there.”
And yet Flynn still remains a bit of a mystery. Even when you Google his name, there’s little out there other than his football exploits: a high school phenom from Tyler, Texas, who couldn’t beat out JaMarcus Russell for two years at LSU before finally earning the starting nod and leading the Tigers to a national championship.
His off-the-field life seems as clean as a backup quarterback’s jersey.
Nelson called him “just a casual kid. Nothing strange, nothing crazy. Just a normal guy, I guess.”
Upon first impressions, Flynn appears to display natural leadership traits but prefers to stay low-profile in the public eye.
Asked over the weekend about the possibility of being recognized in public, Flynn said: “That’s kind of a non-issue for me. I go where I go, and if people recognize me, it is what it is.”