Mirer Ready To Sound Off Confident Qb Is Prepared For Boisterous Oakland Crowd
Now that quarterback Rick Mirer is finally making noise among AFC quarterbacks, he has to prepare for an earful from the rowdy Oakland Raiders’ crowd.
The overstuffed Oakland Coliseum will challenge Mirer’s emerging confidence calling plays at the line of scrimmage. For two games, Mirer confidently barked play adjustments at the line.
Against the Raiders this Sunday, he faces significant crowd noise problems. Teammates can’t run plays if they can’t hear the calls.
“I guess the best things you do is go score and then shut everybody up,” Mirer said. “We’ve been in loud places before. You just have to deal with it. Maybe we won’t have the luxury of calling too many things at the line. Maybe we’ll have to signal some things to the receivers, and the guys up front have to be alert and go off the snap of the ball.”
Since Mirer’s worst game of the season three weeks ago in Jack Murphy Stadium, Mirer straightened out his problems in the comfortable confines of the Kingdome. He completed 37 of 54 for 501 yards and two touchdowns in home games against the Cincinnati Bengals and Denver Broncos. More important than the completions, Mirer gained confidence.
A confident quarterback carries a lot of weight in coach Dennis Erickson’s offense. Erickson allows his quarterback to call three-fifths of the plays at the line of scrimmage.
Mirer has come a long way in calling plays since the loss to San Diego. Three times during Sunday’s 27-10 victory over Denver, Mirer read Broncos blitzes and completed passes to the designated drop off or “hot” receivers.
His best read was a third-and-12 from the Broncos’ 20 in the third quarter. The Broncos blitzed a linebacker and a cornerback. Mirer spotted it, ordered tight end Christian Fauria to be the “hot” receiver to grab his quick pass.
Fauria, with the aid of a Brian Blades block, went 18 yards to the Broncos 2-yard line. Seahawks coaches agree Mirer might not have been as efficient running that play a couple of weeks ago.
“Anytime you are able to have success, you gain confidence,” quarterback coach Rich Olson said. “Originally, it wasn’t that Rick didn’t have confidence. We talked about him trying too hard. He realizes now that all he has to do is execute the offense. Everybody is there to do their part. He doesn’t have to do everything himself.”
Notes
On the suggestion of a handful of players, Erickson presented the game ball for the Broncos victory to strength and conditioning coach Dana LeDuc.
Erickson will monitor the health of tackle Ray Roberts (ankle), strong safety Robert Blackmon (hamstring), safety Tony Covington (ankle) and defensive end Antonio Edwards (knee) this week. Their statuses are uncertain for Sunday.