Singing their praises

DETROIT – If Seattle is still somewhat unknown in national circles, there’s a subset of Seahawks that have an even larger identity crisis.

Everywhere, perhaps, except in the Seahawks locker room and among the team’s most devoted fans.

They are the unsung Seahawks who have been invaluable in the drive to the team’s first Super Bowl. Guys like Marquand Manuel, Chuck Darby, Ryan Hannam, Craig Terrill, Sean Locklear, D.J. Hackett, Joe Tafoya, Rodney Bailey, Jordan Babineaux and Jerheme Urban.

Would you know them if you saw them at the mall?

St. Louis tight end Brandon Manumaleuna might. He caught a pass late in the fourth quarter as the Rams were trying to rally against Seattle in mid-November. Bailey, who hadn’t played in an NFL game since 2003, stripped the ball away and Manuel, who replaced Ken Hamlin at safety in Week Four, recovered the ball.

“It’s kind of been the way this team has worked all year,” said Terrill, a second-year pro who has recovered two fumbles and blocked a field-goal attempt against Washington. “Whenever we lose a guy, another guy steps up. You’re not going to make it through the season healthy, that’s just the way the NFL works. It happened all over the field to us, but everybody has come through to help us win a lot of games.”

While six higher profile teammates had their podiums Wednesday during yet another round of media interviews leading up to Super Bowl XL, Manuel and two others shared a small table in the middle of a cramped room.

Manuel might be the perfect ambassador for the group. He has 17 brothers and sisters, so he’s familiar with the concept of being overlooked at times.

“Everything you deal with in society I dealt with in my own household,” Manuel said. “Different attitudes, personalities. Understanding everything made me the guy I am today and how to deal with different people.”

It helped him to be prepared to move into the starting lineup after Hamlin suffered a fractured skull in an altercation outside a Seattle nightclub.

“Marquand was put on the hot seat and he met the challenge,” fellow safety Michael Boulware said. “I attribute a lot of my success to Marquand. He kind of talked me through this process last year when I wasn’t playing. It was me and him together, watching film. He’s a great player.”

Darby, an undersized defensive tackle with a non-stop motor, played at Tampa Bay when Seahawks president Tim Ruskell was in the Bucs front office.

“Tim really doesn’t look at your exterior,” Darby said. “He’s a guy that looks at your interior.”

The interior of Seattle’s unsung players is first rate, according to Darby.

“All those guys are terrific,” Darby said. “You’ve got Manuel playing well. He’s a vocal leader. You’ve got Tafoya coming in and we don’t miss a beat. You’ve got Terrill – I call him ‘Little Nasty.’ That’s my man. A lot of folks don’t see what I see in him. Everybody sees him as just a good player. I see him as a player that can take over games.”

Locklear became a fixture at right tackle when “Pork Chop” Womack was hurt in the preseason. Locklear, a second-year pro, kept the job even when Womack returned.

“Coming into the season I thought we had a pretty good team, but we had a couple of injuries,” Locklear said. “Darrell Jackson and Bobby (Engram) went down early and people were saying, ‘I don’t know if Seattle is going to make it.’ But Joe (Jurevicius) stepped up big, D.J. stepped up big time.

“When Pork Chop got hurt, I just wanted to compete like they do on the left side (Walter Jones and Steve Hutchinson).”

Babineaux, who played at Southern Arkansas, moved to the forefront when Andre Dyson was injured. He’s made several game-turning plays, including a forced fumble against the Rams and an interception of a Drew Bledsoe pass in the final minute against Dallas.

Hannam, injury-prone the last few years, caught the game-tying touchdown against the Cowboys. Urban helped set up that score with a clutch 22-yard reception. He was placed on injured reserve in November with a foot injury.

“You look at different phases and maybe the offense isn’t going well, you have to do the job on defense,” Babineaux said. “Or maybe it’s special teams that make the big play. We’ve had each others’ backs all year.”

The result is a team loaded with chemistry and intangibles, thanks in large part to numerous players who aren’t household names.

“The biggest thing is our unselfishness,” Boulware said. “Everyone on our team is trying to do what’s best for the team and not the individual. We’ve thrown the individual out this year.”