Seahawks’ injuries giving players like Jennings a shot

Published 10:24 pm Sunday, September 26, 2010

RENTON — Since arriving in Seattle as a first-round draft pick, Kelly Jennings has gone from the high of being a starter on a playoff team, to the low of coming into this summer as the Seahawks’ fourth cornerback.

Jennings started 15 of 16 games in 2007, his second year in the NFL, but lost that starting job last season to Josh Wilson. The Seahawks then added Ken Lucas in free agency in April, meaning Jennings was slated to spend most of his Sundays of the sideline unless injuries happened.

Well, injuries have happened, and Jennings will move into the starting lineup when the Seahawks face the Bears today. Marcus Trufant has been out all season with a back injury, so Jennings has been needed already as a cornerback in nickel packages. But now that Josh Wilson is out with a high ankle sprain, Jennings will be on the field for nearly every defensive play.

And while plenty of fans saw Jennings as a liability the last couple of seasons, his coaches have the utmost confidence in him.

“Last year he started off good and then he went through a little bit of a tough time, then he bounced back,” said defensive coordinator Gus Bradley, who is in his first year with the Seahawks. “I have not seen that tough time personally. Ever since we’ve been here, he’s been outstanding … He’s very focused and detailed, and he’s playing with a lot of confidence right now.”

Jennings says that confidence and the ability to tune out the criticism have led to improvement in his play.

“You have to, because confidence is the main thing for this position,” he said. “One bad play, and it’s kind of like you’re the worst corner they’ve ever seen, but if you let that creep into your mind then that really starts to wear on your confidence. But once you can tune that out and just play with confidence each week, every day and not let any of that come in, you can be more consistent.”

Then there’s the knock on Jennings’ size. Slim my be a perfectly suitable nickname in a lot of walks of life, say poker player or cowboy or musician, but it’s not the best moniker to have slapped on you if your profession is football. Yet Slim is what Jennings’ teammates call the 5-11, 180-pounder.

Jennings won’t ever morph into a big, physical corner, but through the preseason and early this season he is showing an ability to make his size less of a liability. In years past, Jennings might have been in position to make a play, but then get out-muscled at what Seahawks coach Jim Mora refers to as “the moment of truth.” Jennings seems to be improving at those moments of truth this year, though the bigger tests will come later in the season against bigger more physical receivers.

And while Jennings may not be able to improve upon his size, he is trying to improve his mental outlook. He certainly doesn’t want or expect to get beat for big plays, but Jennings said he’s improving on reacting to adversity if it does happen, and in turn that has helped him become a better player.

“That’s something I’d say I’ve had to get better at,” he said. “I’m a guy who tries to be a perfectionist, that tries to do what I’m asked to do the way I’m supposed to do it, and when it doesn’t happen, it kind of wears on me. But I’ve learned, especially this year, to just let it go and play football, so that’s what I’m working on trying to do.

“You learn that that’s the nature of the beast for this position. It’s something as a corner you have to accept, and if you don’t you’re in trouble. You go in every week expecting to make great plays, but knowing that if one play or two plays happen, you just have to shake it off and keep playing.”

Jennings will be one of many backups being asked to fill in and perform today. Outside linebacker Leroy Hill is out, so too likely is middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu, meaning Will Herring and David Hawthorne will get the call.

On offense, Matt Hasselbeck is expected to miss the game, as will Sean Locklear. Walter Jones could return to the lineup to play left tackle, but if he can’t go, Brandon Frye, who was signed just three weeks ago, would start. Owen Schmitt will get the nod at fullback with Justin Griffith sidelined with a knee sprain.

“There’s a lot of guys that will have opportunities this week to play that haven’t really had a lot of chances in regular season games,” Mora said. “We have all the confidence in the world in those guys. I can’t express it enough. I’m just excited to see whoever plays, play … They’ll represent what this team’s about, what this city wants us to be about, to the best of their ability. “I can promise you that that’s what you’ll see. You will see a team on Sunday that flies around, has fun, plays with energy, plays with passion, plays with emotion, plays hard, plays to win.”

Jennings will try to do all those things, and in process, show that a good start to 2009 might be a sign that better times lie ahead for a first-round draft pick turned backup.

“It’s no good to do it for two or three games, then go another two or three games and not do it,” he said “So the next step for me is game in and game out be consistent and make plays.”

Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more Seahawks coverage, check out the Seahawks blog at cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet/seahawksblog