Jackson’s return might have catch
KIRKLAND, Wash. – The similarities are as obvious as the differences.
In 1999, the Seattle Seahawks got off to an 8-2 start without their go-to wide receiver.
In 2005, the Seattle Seahawks have won seven games in a row without their go-to receiver.
While the receivers and circumstances have changed, the Seahawks could soon find themselves in the familiar position of having to work a key cog back into a machine that’s already running smoothly.
This time around, it’s Darrell Jackson, and he’s returning from an injury, not a high-publicized contract holdout.
Unlike the circumstance surrounding Joey Galloway in 1999, the Seahawks believe Jackson’s return won’t affect the flow of this year’s team.
“As soon as he’s ready to go,” coach Mike Holmgren said of Jackson, “he’s getting plugged back in.”
Jackson is expected to start working his way back onto the practice field this week, but he’s probably another 11 days away from playing in a game. He has been out for seven consecutive games after undergoing knee surgery, and yet Seattle has hardly missed a beat without him.
Behind Bobby Engram, Joe Jurevicius and D.J. Hackett, the Seahawks have put together the second-longest winning streak in franchise history.
But Seattle’s passing game has not been nearly as productive without Jackson (184.0 passing yards per game since his Oct. 2 knee injury) as it had with him (227.4 passing yards per game during 2004 and the first four games of 2005).
“Darrell is a valuable part of this,” Holmgren said. “When he’s playing, we’re better. He’s a pretty good threat at wide receiver.
“But he’s been gone a while, so how we do that, we’ll see. And how Joe (Jurevicius) factors in, that’s something we’ve got to juggle.”
Jurevicius has been the most productive fill-in, catching 44 passes this season. He had eight receptions in Sunday’s win over the New York Giants, two of which went for touchdowns.
“Joe had a big game,” Holmgren said after Sunday’s win. “We struggled a little bit on offense in this game (Sunday), and we needed every one of his catches. He was big in this game.”
When Galloway returned to the 8-2 Seahawks in 1999, his presence disrupted the flow. Holmgren tried to force-feed him the ball at times, and it resulted in six losses over Seattle’s final seven games.
“We were (already) playing well, but he was going to be the guy to get us there, and it really disrupted things just a little bit,” Holmgren said last week of Galloway’s effect on the 1999 season. “It wasn’t Joey’s fault. It was just we were doing fine and that kind of goofed that up.
“I didn’t know the players enough to know how they’d react to certain situations. I just would have handled things a little differently.”
This is a much different situation, for obvious reasons. Galloway’s uncertain contract status – he was in the final year of a contract he was hoping would be extended – and the fact that Holmgren was in his first season with the Seahawks made for an uncomfortable situation. Jackson, on the other hand, has been with Holmgren since 2000 and is one of the most popular players on the team.
If there is any drawback to Jackson’s return, it’s simply that players such as Jurevicius and Hackett, who have come into their own during Jackson’s absence, will probably see the ball less often.
That could disrupt their rhythm.
But this time around, the Seahawks believe that getting their go-to receiver back will only make things better.
“There are some routes that aren’t quite as effective when we don’t have (Jackson),” Holmgren said. “He has tremendous quickness, good speed.
“I will say this: The fellows that are playing, they’re doing great. Fortunately, we have Shaun (Alexander) running the ball, so we’ve been able to maintain some balance. But getting Jackson back will be big.”