Rising to the occasion

Published 10:22 pm Sunday, September 21, 2008

SEATTLE — A calculator might be necessary to figure out where Billy McMullen, Michael Bumpus and Keary Colbert would be listed on the Seattle Seahawks’ depth chart if all the team’s receivers were healthy and playing.

Three veterans are out with season-ending injuries. Two others have yet to play this season as they continue to heal. Newcomer Koren Robinson had his well-publicized return to the team marred by a sore knee that kept him out of Sunday’s game.

Throw in the benching of former starter Courtney Taylor, and the Seahawks were left with bodies so deep that it may have taken a gravedigger to bring them up.

But when their time to shine arrived Sunday, the trio of McMullen, Bumpus and Colbert made sure to seize the day.

“It makes a coach feel good,” head coach Mike Holmgren said after the Seahawks’ latest group of receivers combined for seven receptions and a touchdown in Seattle’s 37-13 win over St. Louis on Sunday. “This is good stuff, when you get guys off the street who get a chance and give it everything they have. I love that.”

All totaled, the trio has spent a combined total of 27 days on the Seahawks’ active roster heading into Sunday’s game. And yet, they all looked like experienced veterans in the win over St. Louis.

“I think we had a pretty decent afternoon,” said Colbert, who started and made a catch in his first action with the team. “It was fun.”

In a metaphorical sense, McMullen was the only receiver taken, in Holmgren’s words, “off the street.” After spending almost the entire 2007 season away from football — he signed with the Washington Redskins last December — McMullen got cut by the Redskins at the end of training camp and was jobless again when Seattle called him two weeks ago. The Richmond, Va., native joined the Seahawks on Sept. 9 and took part in his first practice the following day.

Less than two weeks later, McMullen made his first NFL start while playing with teammates who were still trying to learn his name. He led the team with four receptions for 76 yards.

“I just wanted the opportunity,” he said, “and I made good on some of it.”

This time last year, McMullen was hanging out in Richmond with his new wife. He spent most of his days working out, but by midseason the six-year NFL veteran had all but given up on his football career.

“It does cross your mind, but I had to quiet myself down,” he said. “I knew that if the opportunity came, I had to get myself ready.”

One year ago, Colbert’s NFL career was also at a crossroads. The Carolina Panthers had reduced his role, and so he went into the offseason with an uncertain future.

Colbert, 26, ended up signing a free-agent contract with Denver but soon found himself in limbo again. The emergence of rookie Eddie Royal, and the reinstatement of Broncos teammate Brandon Marshall, left Colbert without a role in Denver.

Last Wednesday — around the same time Robinson was signed — he was traded to the Seahawks for a conditional fifth-round draft pick. He spent four days cramming the playbook before making Sunday’s start.

“I was hitting the book hard,” Colbert said Sunday. “Whether we were between practices or meetings, I was peeking at the book. Even before I got here (Sunday morning), I was looking it over to make sure I had it all down.”

In a chronological sense, Bumpus has been with the Seahawks the longest. The undrafted rookie from Washington State went to minicamps and training camps with Seattle but got cut and added to the practice squad.

On Sept. 13, one day before a game against the 49ers, the desperate Seahawks signed Bumpus to the active roster.

Sunday marked his second consecutive game with the team, which he rewarded by catching his first NFL touchdown pass.

“It’s been like a fairytale,” Bumpus said after Sunday’s game, while clutching the football he had caught for a 10-yard touchdown in the first quarter. “From an undrafted free agent to getting to play in the second and third games, I couldn’t ask for more.

“This is the happiest I’ve been since I graduated from high school.”

The good times might soon be over for Seattle’s trio of new receivers. Veterans Bobby Engram and Deion Branch should be back after the bye, while Robinson is also likely to start working in the rotation.

“Those guys have been playing a long time, and I know they’re good,” said McMullen, who wasn’t ready to surrender his playing time quite yet. “But when I’m in, I have to go out there and make plays.”