Kitna Gets Start Against 49Ers Performance Against Colts Earns Him An Encore

Jon Kitna doesn’t have a lot of time to savor his first National Football League preseason start.

He has four days to get ready for the San Francisco 49ers.

Encouraged by Kitna’s performance in a 24-21 win over the Indianapolis Colts, Seattle Seahawks coach Dennis Erickson quickly settled on Kitna as his starter for Saturday night’s American Bowl game with the Niners in Vancouver, British Columbia.

“The best thing I can say about Jon is, he kept the chains moving and scored points,” Erickson said Monday after the Seahawks’ afternoon practice at Eastern Washington University.

The 25-year-old Kitna, who completed 9 of 13 passes for 92 yards and a touchdown, moved the team with his arm and his feet. He scrambled for 15 yards and a first down on third-and-7 to keep a scoring drive in motion.

“Jon’s throwing the ball very well, very accurately,” Erickson said as the Seahawks got into their final week in Cheney. “He’s still learning. There were two or three different times where I thought he threw to the wrong place - he’ll do that - (but) he gives you that ability to scramble on third down.

“He played well Saturday night and practiced well out here today.”

Kitna will play all or most of the first half, followed by John Friesz in the second.

“John (Friesz) has been there,” the coach said. “I just want to see what Jon Kitna can do. I’ve got to see where he’s at right now, and where we are with our quarterbacks - now and possibly for the future.”

Kitna’s emergence puts a different spin on Warren Moon’s four-week-old holdout. The Seahawks are 2-0 in tune-up games without him. It’s too early to refer to the anticipated starter as Warren M(who?)n, but the Seahawks seem increasingly comfortable with Kitna in the saddle.

“We played extremely well in the first half,” Erickson said of the win over the Colts. “Both our first groups on offense and defense pretty much dominated, particularly offensively, in the fact that we were able to combine running and throwing it a little bit better.”

Rookie Ahman Green continued to impress, when he wasn’t fumbling. The fleet rookie from Nebraska coughed it up twice in the Colts’ game.

“We’ve got some drills out there where we try to yank the ball out, but it’s not so much drill as concentration,” Erickson said. “As far as his basics of carrying the football, he’s very sound fundamentally.

“But twice he’s in a crowd, he doesn’t cover up and it gets knocked out. To me, that’s more of a mental thing than a physical thing. He has to understand that when there’s a crowd you’ve go to put that ball away.

“A lot of times in college,” Erickson said, “you can get away with that, because there aren’t as many people (going) to the ball as there are in the NFL. Here, you teach the first guy who gets there to make the tackle. The second guy gets there and punches that ball out.”

The defense played well, other than the blown coverage by cornerback Shawn Springs that led to a 48-yard TD pass, Colts rookie Peyton Manning to Marvin Harrison.

“He sees that route every day,” Erickson said. “We use it. That coverage, he plays it well every day. He just blew a fuse - blew the coverage.”

Other than that, the Colts really didn’t move the ball, the coach said.

“I thought there was a tremendous improvement in special teams,” Erickson said. “Our punters (Jeff Feagles and Dirk Johnson) were really punting it down in there. Coverage teams were good and (Joey) Galloway’s (74-yard) run was awfully impressive.”

The Seahawks made some second-half mental mistakes, Erickson added, but “in the fourth quarter our third group was pretty good.”

Among the rookie standouts were DeShone Myles, who was moved to middle linebaker last week after No. 1 draft pick Anthony Simmons was hurt.

“He (Myles) played almost the whole game and played really well for only being in there (at middle linebacker) for four or five days,” Erickson said. “(Cornerback) Fred Thomas (with an interception to go with some strong coverage) also played well. They were the biggest surprises.”

Rookies Todd Weiner (tackle) and Michael Black (running back) also caught the coach’s eye.

Myles, a starter at outside linebacker for four seasons at Nevada, will remain in the middle, at least until Simmons returns. He had a game-high seven stops against the Colts

“Right now he’s our second middle linebacker (behind Dean Wells),” Erickson said.

The coach got a little pre-dinner comic relief in his late-afternoon meeting with the press.

Now that the Hawks are 2-0 in preseason, Erickson was asked, how do you keep the players focused and not let that get to their heads?

Erickson grunted a laugh. “You been around here?” he asked, referring to his 23-25 record in three seasons in the NFL.

Turning serious, Erickson added, “We’ve got more confidence, but we haven’t played a (regular-season) game yet. These (preseason games) don’t count, other than just to improve.”

Notes

The Seahawks got off 50 first-half offensive plays Saturday night, including 30 in their first two drives. “That’s unbelievable,” Erickson commented. … With DeShone Myles fitting in at middle linebacker, the Seahawks for the time being have Michael Barber playing outside linebacker. … The Hawks spent part of a hurry-up offense drill Monday finding their tight end. Christian Fauria’s driving reception of a Kitna pass over the middle for a dozen yards kept a drive going and was probably the play of the day.

Kitna is beginning to draw impressive comparisons. Receiver Mike Pritchard, who nabbed a first-quarter 25-yard Kitna strike for a score, said Kitna reminds him of a young Brett Farve, before Farve’s trade to the Green Bay Packers. Farve and Pritchard played together briefly in Atlanta. “He reminds me of Farve in the way he comes out real high, but once he settles down he goes through his reads and he’s comfortable back there,” Pritchard told the Tacoma News Tribune’s Mike Sando. “He knows when to scramble and when to throw.”

The Seahawks end their stay in Cheney following Thursday’s practice. … Linebacker Chad Brown (abdominal strain) and cornerback Willie Williams (ankle), who left Saturday night’s game early, were back at practice. The Hawks are in good shape physically. “Fred Thomas has a little ankle problem, but other than that, we’re healthy,” Erickson said. … Former WSU star Steve Broussard (strained calf) needs another week before he’s ready to resume work at running back, Erickson said. … No. 1 draft pick Anthony Simmons (knee) will require “at least another week” before he returns, the coach said.