Quick-Strike Ability Makes Galloway Immediate Threat

Consider the Seattle Seahawks’ first play of the 1995 season already scripted.

“Play-action streak,” coach Dennis Erickson predicted for his maiden call of the season.

Translation: Joey go long.

“You go into a game and on first down, you let that thing fly, complete or not, those cornerbacks will be backing up,” Erickson said.

Yes, backing up, strapping on their Acme Rocket Skates, or feigning severe hamstring damage whenever No. 84 - Joey Galloway - approaches the line of scrimmage.

If you’re looking for positives in this draft - aside from Warren Sapp’s drug-test results (which Erickson staunchly refutes) - it’s the immediate and profound impact Galloway should have on the Seahawks.

As one of the fastest men in football, Galloway will force defenses to forget trying to stack at the line to slow Hawks running back Chris Warren.

Aside from that, though, some of Galloway’s appeal for the Hawks rests in his capacity to simply climb up inside an opponent’s face mask and yap at him.

“He’s gonna challenge people,” Erickson said. “You have to have that kind of confidence to be successful. You need that kind of guy who plays with confidence.”

Galloway labels it “attitude.” Something in short supply in recent seasons.

“I think I definitely bring an attitude to an offense,” he said. “I’m a guy who likes to win, I think I’m somewhat of a big-play man. I’m a very confident, somewhat of a cocky type of person.”

The type of trash that he shovels at opponents? “Oh, I say my share.” For instance, if an opponent decks him early in a game, he pops up quickly and proclaims: “You hit like a girl.”

(Sexist comments are those of the player and do not reflect the views of this writer or newspaper).

There is method to his bombast, though. Catching an “out” pattern against a defender will lead Galloway to comment on the cornerback’s glaring inability to defend that route. That will be fresh in the defender’s mind and he will be eager to jump on that route the next time only to see Galloway turn and sprint up the field for an embarrassingly easy touchdown.

John Magistro, Galloway’s high school coach in Bellaire, Ohio, said the real Joey Galloway, off the field, is far more restrained. “He’s really a quiet, genuine, team-oriented kid,” Magistro said.

He certainly seemed it Sunday when he made his first appearance at Seahawks headquarters, meeting the press wearing a baggy blue sweatsuit and a highwatt, non-stop, wall-to-wall grin.

Coaches who scouted Galloway touted his intelligence and character. In fact, Galloway and three other Hawks draftees already have their degrees.

Who said Erickson doesn’t value academics?

His willingness to absorb instruction, too, already has Hawks brass talking about bringing Hall-of-Famer Steve Largent back to Seattle to give Galloway a few tutorials.

And as Galloway settles in, it becomes increasingly clear that the Seahawks fished a real keeper out of the talent pool.

Colorado’s Michael Westbrook was already gone - to the Redskins - but he had twice missed games for violating rules in college and reportedly wasn’t the brightest bulb on the tree, having scored an anemic 13 on the Wonderlich intelligence test given to prospects.

UCLA’s J.J. Stokes, taken by the 49ers, is a tall game-breaker. But he missed five games with a bruised thigh last year. Seattle’s Brian Blades plays 16 games a year with worse injuries than that.

An overlooked attribute of an NFL player is his resiliency, how he can bounce back from injuries. Galloway showed he’s no training-room all-star as a sophomore at Ohio State, coming back from reconstructive knee surgery in six months and not only retaining his speed, but somehow - perhaps bionics are involved - getting even faster.

Galloway could not even bear to watch the draft. So he didn’t know that the gel competition between Mel Kiper Jr. and Joe Theismann was ruled a draw. All he wanted to hear about the draft was that Seattle had taken him.

All indicators are that negotiations should not impede him from getting to training camp on time. “I want to do whatever I can to have an impact on this team,” he said.

“He’s got a lot to learn, sure,” Erickson said. “But he does so many things so naturally that it’s going to be a lot easier for him.”

And that will make it easier for every other Seahawk.

Erickson said Sunday that he bumped into receiver Brian Blades in the hall of the Seahawks headquarters and spoke of Galloway’s selection.

“All he told me,” Erickson said, “was that you made the right decision, coach.”

And he ought to know.

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