A quieter D-Jack

Published 11:17 pm Wednesday, September 26, 2007

KIRKLAND — There were no promises of touchdown dances or playful boasting from an opposing wide receiver when the Seattle media took part in its weekly conference call Wednesday morning. Cincinnati’s Chad Johnson was not on the phone this week.

And neither was San Francisco’s Darrell Jackson.

The former Seahawks receiver refused to do a conference call with local reporters, leaving his sentiments about facing the team that once employed him for the Bay Area media.

“I want to go out and win; everybody does against their former team,” Jackson was quoted as telling Bay Area reporters on Wednesday. “There’s nothing (motivational) other than that.”

Jackson and the San Francisco 49ers will host the Seahawks this Sunday, but the reunion doesn’t have quite the juicy subplots one might expect.

Despite Seattle’s desperation to cut ties with Jackson (he was dealt to a division rival, at the low price of a fourth-round draft pick) and the receiver’s animosity toward Sea-hawks president Tim Ruskell (he admitted as much Wednesday), the build-up to Sunday’s game is not as heated as one might expect.

The most telling quote of the day came from the Bay Area, where Jackson took a shot at Ruskell by saying: “There was one dude I had a difference of opinion with, and just with my luck, it happened to be the head dude.”

In these parts, all of the talk about the reunion was positive. Coach Mike Holmgren admitted that Jackson’s habit of missing practices with injuries was tough on the team, but he also remembered the former Seahawk as one of Seattle’s best playmakers of the past decade.

“I liked him,” Holmgren said. “But I have a tendency, if a guy is going to meet me halfway, I like my players. And Darrell was no different.”

Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck joked about how strange it was to see Jackson in another team’s helmet.

“The uniform, I’m over that,” Hasselbeck said. “I’m happy for him (that) he’s moved on. But the helmet, I just don’t think the helmet fits right.”

And Seahawks wide receiver Bobby Engram answered a few questions about his former teammate before laughing and responding: “What, are we getting sentimental here? Is this a stroll down memory lane? I just want to play football.”

No matter what happened in the final years of his Seahawks career — Jackson was traded, Ruskell said after the April trade, because he never seemed to get over a long-standing contract squabble — the 28-year-old wideout will go down as one of the best receivers in Seattle history.

Only Steve Largent, with 100 touchdown receptions, caught more TD passes than Jackson’s seven-year total of 47. Jackson ranks fourth in team history in receptions (441) and third in receiving yards (6,445).

When asked to recall some memories of Jackson’s career, Holmgren spoke not of the contract squabble, but of highlights like a game-winning catch in a 2000 victory over the Oakland Raiders and a touchdown in Super Bowl XL that was called back due to pass interference.

But perhaps Holmgren’s most vivid memory was of a 2002 game against Dallas, during which Jackson suffered a concussion and later went into seizures in the visiting locker room.

“I thought he almost died,” Holmgren recalled, “and I was with him in the room there.”

If Holmgren had any regrets about Jackson’s departure, it was that the team traded him to an NFC West rival.

“We don’t want to play against somebody you traded, necessarily,” he said Wednesday. “But sometimes those (other trade options) don’t work.”

Engram was closer to Jackson than any other Seahawks player. While he wasn’t interested in recounting the memories, Engram did offer that Sunday’s game will probably be emotional for his former teammate.

“As an athlete, a competitor, guys are lying when they say it’s not different, because it is,” said Engram, who went through similar emotions when facing the Chicago Bears for the first time in 2003. “You just try to go through the same routine and prepare the same way as you would for any other team, but it’s a little more emotional.”

Engram admitted that it will be “weird” to see Jackson on an opposing sideline and talked about how different the Seahawks’ practice facility is without him.

“It’s a lot quieter now in the locker room,” Engram said. “That’s the thing that sticks out. D-Jack was always talking, always laughing, always loud.”

Jackson was talking again on Wednesday, just not to the Seattle reporters.

“It’s important to play well, but it’s more important that we get this win,” he said in a series of quotes passed on by the 49ers’ PR department. “It’s a big game. We can go 3-0 in the division, and we can move to 3-1 (overall). Those factors override my personal feelings.”

During his short time with San Francisco reporters on Wednesday, Jackson wasn’t hiding his personal feelings about Ruskell.

“My personal thoughts on it were just that he needed a way to move some people around,” he said of why Ruskell traded him. “Seattle was considered an offensive team, and he couldn’t touch our linemen, or our running back, or our quarterback. With three or four wide receivers, it makes it a little easier to (deal one of them and) bring in some key parts.

“… He got himself a little glory for helping the team get to the next step, and that’s the Super Bowl.”

Ruskell did not address reporters on Wednesday, but when Jackson was dealt for a fourth-round pick in April, the Seahawks’ president said: “Ever since I have been here, we all know he has not been happy.”

Maybe Jackson is now. Although he’s still looking for his first touchdown reception of the season, and he’s still missed a lot of practice time with injuries, Jackson has a fresh start in a new uniform.

A good first step would be to get a win Sunday against his former team.

“We’re trying to set our destiny a little bit,” Jackson said.