Published: Monday, September 28, 2009
Seahawks’ Hawthorne steps up, makes 16 tackles
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Jennifer Buchanan / The Herald
The Seahawks’ Cory Redding (left) congratulates middle linebacker David Hawthorne in the second quarter. Hawthorne had 16 tackles on the game.
SEATTLE — On a day when the Seattle Seahawks asked a lot of backups to step up, none did so more impressively than David Hawthorne.
Making his first NFL start at middle linebacker in place of the injured Lofa Tatupu, Hawthorne was credited with a whopping 16 tackles, the second-highest regular-season total in Seahawks team history.
He also had an interception and a pass defensed.
About the only thing missing from his to do list was a victory as Chicago defeated the Seahawks 25-19 at Qwest Field.
“If you’re critiquing yourself and you critique yourself well, then you can congratulate yourself, but it’s a team sport,” Hawthorne said.
Tatupu started Seattle’s first two games and has tried to play through a hamstring injury, but it proved to be too much this week, which gave Hawthorne his first start since two years ago, when he was a senior at Texas Christian University.
“It felt great to take the field and try to lead the boys to victory,” Hawthorne said. “We fell short of it, but it felt good to have an opportunity.”
Hawthorne didn’t waste any time with it.
He had six tackles and an interception in the first quarter, then four more tackles in the second. For quite some time, it looked like he would be the lightning rod that sparked an undermanned team to victory.
“He played great. I know that for sure,” Seattle outside linebacker Aaron Curry said of Hawthorne. “He was awesome out there just being the leader that a (middle linebacker) has to be and making plays that he needed to make. I was excited to see him play so well.”
Hawthorne said that as near as he could tell, the defensive game plan was as complicated as it would have been with Tatupu, who has played in the Pro Bowl after three of his first four NFL seasons.
He took as much pride in his ability to handle the playbook as he did the number of tackles.
“My goal today was to come out and give my all, step up to the challenge of being the leader of the defense and come out and perform,” Hawthorne said. “For the most part, I feel like I managed the game well, and when it all came down to it I flew around and made plays.”
At a near-record pace.
The Seattle team record for tackles in a game is 18, which has been done twice, both times by linebackers. Terry Beeson did it in 1977 against Houston, and Sammy Green matched him against Minnesota in 1978.
Hawthorne is the 11th Seahawk to have 16 tackles in a game. The most recent was Isaiah Kacyvenski in a game against Oakland in 2002.
Brian Bosworth had 17 tackles for Seattle in a playoff game against Houston in 1988.
Hawthorne was not drafted coming out of college, and he signed with Seattle last season as a free agent. He made the team with his work on special teams, and that’s where he first made his mark, with 12 special teams tackles last season.
It’s a nice job if you can get it, to be sure, but young linebackers don’t lie awake at night dreaming about the plays they might make on special teams.
The opportunity to play middle linebacker in the NFL is precious, and Hawthorne said he understood that Sunday’s game might be his first and only chance to make a real impression doing the thing he loves most.
“It’s an opportunity that doesn’t come for every player in my position, a free agent last year and two years in,” he said. “I feel like I went in there and made the most of my opportunity.”
He said that until a player gets that chance, there’s always at least a grain of doubt about whether he really belongs on that stage.
For Hawthorne, Sunday’s game erased that hint of uncertainty forever.
“It gives you a sense of knowing that you can go out there and you can manage a defense and you can operate with some of the best in the league, which are the Bears,” he said. “When you walk away with it and you did your job, it makes you feel better.”
Making his first NFL start at middle linebacker in place of the injured Lofa Tatupu, Hawthorne was credited with a whopping 16 tackles, the second-highest regular-season total in Seahawks team history.
He also had an interception and a pass defensed.
About the only thing missing from his to do list was a victory as Chicago defeated the Seahawks 25-19 at Qwest Field.
“If you’re critiquing yourself and you critique yourself well, then you can congratulate yourself, but it’s a team sport,” Hawthorne said.
Tatupu started Seattle’s first two games and has tried to play through a hamstring injury, but it proved to be too much this week, which gave Hawthorne his first start since two years ago, when he was a senior at Texas Christian University.
“It felt great to take the field and try to lead the boys to victory,” Hawthorne said. “We fell short of it, but it felt good to have an opportunity.”
Hawthorne didn’t waste any time with it.
He had six tackles and an interception in the first quarter, then four more tackles in the second. For quite some time, it looked like he would be the lightning rod that sparked an undermanned team to victory.
“He played great. I know that for sure,” Seattle outside linebacker Aaron Curry said of Hawthorne. “He was awesome out there just being the leader that a (middle linebacker) has to be and making plays that he needed to make. I was excited to see him play so well.”
Hawthorne said that as near as he could tell, the defensive game plan was as complicated as it would have been with Tatupu, who has played in the Pro Bowl after three of his first four NFL seasons.
He took as much pride in his ability to handle the playbook as he did the number of tackles.
“My goal today was to come out and give my all, step up to the challenge of being the leader of the defense and come out and perform,” Hawthorne said. “For the most part, I feel like I managed the game well, and when it all came down to it I flew around and made plays.”
At a near-record pace.
The Seattle team record for tackles in a game is 18, which has been done twice, both times by linebackers. Terry Beeson did it in 1977 against Houston, and Sammy Green matched him against Minnesota in 1978.
Hawthorne is the 11th Seahawk to have 16 tackles in a game. The most recent was Isaiah Kacyvenski in a game against Oakland in 2002.
Brian Bosworth had 17 tackles for Seattle in a playoff game against Houston in 1988.
Hawthorne was not drafted coming out of college, and he signed with Seattle last season as a free agent. He made the team with his work on special teams, and that’s where he first made his mark, with 12 special teams tackles last season.
It’s a nice job if you can get it, to be sure, but young linebackers don’t lie awake at night dreaming about the plays they might make on special teams.
The opportunity to play middle linebacker in the NFL is precious, and Hawthorne said he understood that Sunday’s game might be his first and only chance to make a real impression doing the thing he loves most.
“It’s an opportunity that doesn’t come for every player in my position, a free agent last year and two years in,” he said. “I feel like I went in there and made the most of my opportunity.”
He said that until a player gets that chance, there’s always at least a grain of doubt about whether he really belongs on that stage.
For Hawthorne, Sunday’s game erased that hint of uncertainty forever.
“It gives you a sense of knowing that you can go out there and you can manage a defense and you can operate with some of the best in the league, which are the Bears,” he said. “When you walk away with it and you did your job, it makes you feel better.”
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