Hill gladly takes his licks

KIRKLAND, Wash. – The T-shirt said it all.

It was white, with a Seahawks logo and the word “Woooo” on top and “Lick” on the bottom. On the back, the mantra, “Good is the enemy of great.”

Leroy Hill proudly pulled on his new shirt, given to him earlier Wednesday in recognition of the hit of the week for the Seahawks, which happened to knock St. Louis Rams quarterback Marc Bulger out of last week’s game with a concussion.

It’s the Seahawks linebacker’s second “Woooo … Lick” shirt of the season, with Bulger being Victim No. 2 of a crunching Hill blast. Hill got the first shirt for a blow to Tampa Bay quarterback Jeff Garcia in Week One, a hit that forced Garcia out for part of the third and fourth quarters.

“It’s just that simple. They call it a ‘Woooo’ lick when the crowd says ‘Woooo,’ ” Hill said. “I’ve hit a lot of quarterbacks pretty similar. I don’t know if it was the hit or how he landed.”

Hill is a hitter who can be a factor on the blitz, as he was last week and has been in the past. Despite his shirt of honor, however, Hill also happens to be the starting Seattle linebacker who gets the least notoriety and publicity. That suits him just fine.

“It’s cool. I don’t trip,” Hill said. “That’s my role, that’s what I play, and I just try to go out and make plays when my number is called.”

There is middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu, the heart of the Seahawks’ defense who cares so much that last week he asked to be taken out of the game in nickel and dime situations, not because of the pain in his ribs but because he didn’t want to hurt the team by playing at half-speed.

There is the enthusiastic Julian Peterson, Mr. Versatility, the guy who can line up at defensive end and make offensive tackles look silly when he gets sacks, the player who is tied for the team lead with four forced fumbles.

“Leroy is one of our better athletes. He can do everything except catch and recover fumbles,” joked Peterson after Wednesday’s practice, during which Hill couldn’t catch a pass he got his hands on. “When he’s in the game, he makes plays all the time. He’s a great complement to the rest of us linebackers, and when you’ve got a special guy like that who can run and cover and pass-rush, too, it just makes our whole game better as a unit.”

Peterson and Tatupu give the Seahawks star power. They have five Pro Bowls between them.

But Hill makes a big difference, too. When he produces, the Seahawks win.

Here’s some proof: When Hill has a sack, the Seahawks are 3-0. When he has five or more solo tackles in a game, the Seahawks are 5-1. When he forces a fumble, the Seahawks are 3-0.

“When he’s playing, he’s a good football player and good things happen,” coach Mike Holmgren said. “That’s a good thing for us. There’s a correlation on our win-loss record when he’s playing. He helps us a lot.”

That was Holmgren last week, after Hill matched his career high with 10 tackles against the Chicago Bears. On Wednesday, the coach chose not to add to his praise of Hill, revealing that Hill was late for a team meeting, which rankled Holmgren.

“He had his best game,” Holmgren said. “I’ll stick with that for right now, OK? I love Leroy, but he was late for a meeting the other day so … we’ll just leave it at that.”

Hill claimed he was late for a practice by a minute, but understood his coach’s reservations.

“Coming down to the wire, they want everything to be real precise,” Hill said.

The future looks bright for the talented Hill, in his third season. The only thing holding him back from approaching stardom, it seems, is the misfortune of minor injuries that have cost him some time.

Hill has missed two games this season because of a foot injury and a sore hamstring. He didn’t play in last season’s regular-season opener at Detroit because of a pinched shoulder nerve.

“He has been hurt just a little bit. Fortunately, we have some depth at linebacker, but you know, you lose the starting player, the next guy that comes in, is everything exactly the same?” Holmgren said. “No. Otherwise he would have been the starting player. But we do have some depth there, so that’s a good thing for us.”