Seahawks linebacker Tatupu fits right in

In team drills Tuesday morning, Seattle Seahawks linebacker Lofa Tatupu was in ideal position to intercept a pass, but the football rattled off his hands and fell to the ground.

“Give me some pushups,” defensive end Bryce Fisher barked.

Tatupu dropped and cranked out 10 pushups before jogging back to the huddle.

In 1-on-1 pass rush/block, Tatupu’s combination of speed and power often left running backs flailing at air.

“They got us good (on Monday),” Tatupu said. “We walked around hearing those jokes – ‘Oh man, you need to work on your pass rush’ – but we came back with a little something.”

In 9-on-9 – all running plays, no receivers or cornerbacks – Tatupu zipped through a crease and would have brought down Shaun Alexander about 4 yards behind the line of scrimmage had tackling been allowed. Defensive teammates howled their approval.

Just another good day at the office for Tatupu, who has had a whole bunch of them since the Seahawks took him in the second round of the 2005 draft. Many questioned that selection, saying Tatupu was undersized and would have been available in a later round.

Tatupu responded by starting every game, leading the team in tackles and making the Pro Bowl as an alternate selection.

“I almost want to say it clicked for him the first day,” defensive coordinator John Marshall said. “He knew what he had to do and he came in here to do it.”

Tatupu has stopped the revolving door at the middle linebacker position. Eighth-year head coach Mike Holmgren had seven different starting middle linebackers on his first seven teams – Anthony Simmons (1999), George Koonce (2000), Levon Kirkland (2001), Isaiah Kacyvenski (2002), Randall Godfrey (2003), Orlando Huff (2004) and Tatupu last season.

“His approach his whole life at competing and playing football hasn’t changed a bit,” Holmgren said after a recent training-camp practice at Eastern Washington University. “That’s probably why you look at a guy that you might say the ‘measurables’ might drop you down a little bit, but he defies that because of the type of kid he is and how he’s approached his career.”

Tatupu amplified the point when he was asked to reflect on last season, which ended on a sour note with the Super Bowl loss to Pittsburgh.

“It was a dream season, but to wake up to a nightmare in the last game … we just have to put it together and come back strong this year,” said Tatupu, who was a standout on USC teams that went 25-1 and won national championships in 2003 and 2004. “Any loss is tough. Losing to Green Bay in the last game (of the regular season) was tough. To play almost the whole game and have lost, we had a streak of 11 straight wins going and that’s big in the NFL.”

Never mind that the game was essentially meaningless since Seattle had wrapped up home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs. The loss still bothers Tatupu. So do some missed tackles – from 2005 preseason games.

“The first few preseason games I missed a couple tackles,” he said, “and when I started to shore that up when the regular season began it took away from my mindset to go after forced fumbles.”

In Marshall’s 26 years of NFL coaching, he’s never seen a rookie make a smoother transition at middle linebacker than Tatupu.

“It’s a very, very difficult position because of all the things you have to do and all the calls you have to make,” Marshall said. “I had Lester Towns, a former University of Washington player when I was at Carolina and he was my starting linebacker. But no, I’ve never been fortunate enough until now to be with a guy that handles it with the ease that Lofa handles it. But he’s a study guy. He knows football.”

Football often comes down to more than just a player’s size, weight and Combine data. Tatupu admits he heard the critics who said he was too light at the Combine, so he bulked up to 252 pounds before last year’s training camp. He’s down to 241, within a few pounds of his weight at USC.

Tatupu still treats every practice as a proving ground.

“I know I still have a lot of work to do,” he said. “Nothing is etched in stone and everyone is battling for their spots.”

He knows Fisher will always be there with another wisecrack. Fisher said Tatupu is still a rookie for three more games.

“It’s something about not being vested, that you have to have a year and three games until you’re officially not a rookie,” Tatupu said. “I told him, ‘Does it count with the three postseason games? What’s the ruling on that?’ “

With Tatupu’s attitude and desire, he appears to be in for a long, productive NFL career.

“The best advice I received is just to stay humble and stay focused,” he said. “You’re getting paid a good sum of money to go out and perform. Ten other guys (on defense) are relying on you and 44 other guys (on the team) are relying on you. And the coaches and front office put their hearts on the line for you.

“You have to do the same for them.”

Notes

Marcus Trufant, Isaiah Kacyvenski and Etric Pruitt intercepted passes, the latter coming in team drills. … Second-team center Chris Spencer suffered a minor ankle injury at the end of practice and is day-to-day, along with tight end Itula Mili (back). Tight end Matt Henshaw was sidelined by a foot injury. … The annual Seahawks extravaganza is Saturday at EWU. The day begins with the Gatorade Jr. Football Clinic at 9:30 a.m. (registration is at 9) on the EWU practice fields and concludes with a team scrimmage at 2 p.m. at Woodward Field. There will be a barbecue from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the campus mall.