Seahawks’ Kam Chancellor hits like a wrecking ball

RENTON, Wash. – When safety Kam Chancellor is at his best, he’s playing with controlled aggression.

He flattens offensive linemen. He blasts tight ends. He halts running backs. He operates like a wrecking ball: hitting with force but always attached to a chain.

Once, after Chancellor spent the afternoon thumping the New York Giants last season, the chatter in the Seahawks’ locker room focused on how much the Giants talked about Chancellor’s hits during the game. The Seahawks call Chancellor their enforcer, and he wears the title with pride.

But there is a fine line between controlled aggression and chaos, and Chancellor stepped back and forth between the two against the Packers on Thursday. He delivered hits all over the field – 11 tackles in all, many of which came packed with thunder – but he also missed three tackles and was a bit erratic.

“I wasn’t attacking in control,” Chancellor said. “I was just flying and trying to deliver the pain. Usually, I’m more in control, my feet are under me, I’ve got a better base, and I’m squaring guys up and really getting to them. But this time I was just trying to run through guys.”

Part of that is expected. Chancellor had offseason hip surgery, which limited his contact during the preseason. He never got to shake off the rust.

Chancellor said he felt like he was playing with a new body, and he was so excited to hit again that he let adrenaline take over.

Coach Pete Carroll attributed Chancellor’s missed tackles to “trying to knock guys out.” At one point in the Packers game, Chancellor tried to run through 230-pound running back Eddie Lacy, but Lacy spun and shed the tackle.

“I think that’s one where I could have come more controlled, braced up and just hit him up like I did early in the game,” Chancellor said. “I needed to be more fundamentally sound.”

Chancellor was voted the defensive captain by his teammates, and he is praised in the locker room for his quiet nature and selflessness. But the Seahawks count on him to be a hammer on the field.

Safety Earl Thomas noticed Chancellor was more amped up for Thursday’s opener than for most games, and Thomas didn’t mind Chancellor missing a handful of tackles because of that.

“That’s one of his best ballgames as a Seahawk,” Thomas said. “You could tell early that was he was ready to play. He set the tone, and I don’t usually say that a lot. But he set the tone. I was just excited to see it. He brought the funk.”

One of the best examples of Chancellor’s impact happened in the NFC Championship Game against the 49ers last year. On third-and-two, San Francisco receiver Michael Crabtree didn’t fully extend his arms to make a catch as Chancellor zeroed in on him.

That physical presence is essential to the Seahawks’ defense, but Chancellor must do so under control.

“I’m back to being Kam,” he said. “I’m back to myself.”