Kitna Beats Jitters In His Real Debut Shaky Start Turns Into Big Finish

Jon Kitna, young quarterback, walked into Seattle Seahawks huddle in the first quarter…

“And his eyes were this big,” said wide receiver Mike Pritchard, holding his thumb and forefinger two inches apart.

Before the intermittently rainy day was over at the Coliseum, Kitna’s eyes resembled the slits of a gunslinger as he marched the Seahawks into position to beat the Raiders 22-21 on Todd Peterson’s 49-yard field goal.

“He was confident on that last drive,” Pritchard said. “He was talking to us, joking. He was poised.”

The Seahawks offensive linemen bantered with the 25-year-old Kitna, trying to keep him loose: “You’re calling the plays so loud the defense can hear our snap counts.”

Kitna pleaded with his linemen to “keep those defensive linemen out of here and keep their hands down.”

“You need anything else?” left guard Pete Kendall shot back. “Would you like a drink or anything?”

Pritchard added, “His eyes weren’t wide at all in the fourth quarter.”

The Seahawks wanted to keep 41-year-old quarterback Warren Moon on the bench to protect his bruised ribs.

That gave the start, middle and finish to the brush-cut Kitna, whose sum total of prior NFL experience came in the third game this season when he took three knees against Indianapolis.

Coach Dennis Erickson stuck with Kitna despite a first half in which he threw two interceptions, picked up an intentional grounding penalty and managed to complete 7 of 15 for 136 yards. Seattle trailed 21-3 at half.

“John had that tough start,” Erickson said. “But we hung with him. He finally got a feel for it in the second half.

“We didn’t say anything to him at halftime. We just made some adjustments and let him play. Pulling him wouldn’t have been good for anybody.”

Did Erickson consider pulling Kitna at any time?

“No,” Erickson declared. “Well, wait a minute. I can’t honestly say that.”

Kitna rewarded Erickson with 16 completions in 22 tries in the second half, including a 8-yard TD pass to Joey Galloway. And no interceptions.

Kitna shook off two heavy showers that fell in the first half. This is someone who played high school ball at Tacoma, Wash., where two rainstorms is a nice day.

“The weather didn’t bother me,” Kitna said. “It was the jitters, not setting my feet properly. It wasn’t so much nerves, but excitement.”

Unrecruited out of high school because of his size - he’s 6-foot-2 and 215 pounds now - and lack of arm strength, Kitna enrolled at Central Washington, two hours east over the mountains.

“It was bitter cold,” Kitna recalled about the no-scholarship, NAIA school. “We didn’t have a bubble to practice in. We’d practice in 5-below weather. Snow would be on the ground for six months.”

Ask Pacific Lutheran about Kitna. He scorched the Lutes for 13 touchdowns, total, the last two times he faced them.