SEATTLE – By the time the quarterback stopped speaking, I wanted to run through walls.
Trent Dilfer was that inspirational.
He sounded confident. He looked confident.
His body language shouted, “We want to play some more football. And if we do, we’re gonna kick some serious booty.”
He drummed his fingers against the side of the lectern. Ta-rum. Ta-rum. Ta-rum.
On his right hand – which looked mighty big and sounded mighty loud: ta-rum, ta-rum, ta-rum – he wore a big, old Super Bowl ring. That jesse was a monster.
He’s a big guy and he looked huge standing up there on the stage in the interview room. Looked more like a linebacker than a quarterback. Shaved head, a little brush on his chin. Big, powerful chest. Shoulders thrown back.
And that voice. Strong, full, confident.
Remember George C. Scott in the opening scene of “Patton?” That was Trent Dilfer late Sunday afternoon.
He’d just finished leading the Seahawks to a 21-18 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, throwing for 248 yards and two touchdowns, on a wet, miserable afternoon.
Now he was dressed in street clothes and answering questions about the team, the season, the playoffs, the young players, the year he had.
After about 15 minutes of listening and watching this guy, you understand what a presence he has. He had a bunch of jaded sportswriters ready to fire off the line to protect him. If he can do that to us, you can imagine what he must be like in an adrenaline-humming huddle.
Listen to him. He was talking about the playoffs – which, as you know, the Seahawks can qualify for only if the Minnesota Vikings beat the Baltimore Ravens tonight – and ta-rumming his fingers. “I guarantee we can do some damage,” he said. “We have the perfect profile of a playoff team right now. We run the ball well, we stop the run, we make plays in the passing game. We need to be good on special teams, which I believe we will. That’s all you have to do. It’s a simple, simple formula. But how you get to that can be difficult, but we are doing those things right now.”
Some guys talk a good game. Some guys play a good game. Dilfer does both.
If only he had had more opportunities to play this season, the Seahawks wouldn’t be in the wait-and-see-what-the-Ravens-do predicament they’re in.
You want irony? The Ravens might not be in a win-or-else situation if they had held onto Dilfer instead of turning their backs on him after he helped them win the Super Bowl last year.
The team that had him on the roster this season used him in a starting role only four times and, of course, the Seahawks won all four games. One more win and they’d already have qualified for the playoffs.
Look back for a moment. Five more points and they’d have beaten Miami. Four more points and they’d have knocked off the New York Giants.
If only, you say. If only coach Mike Holmgren hadn’t been so darn stubborn and gone with Dilfer earlier, instead of having to put him in after Matt Hasselbeck got hurt.
You can play this “what if” game from now until next Christmas and all it’ll get you is ulcers. All it may get the Seahawks is another early winter vacation.
How can anyone not think the Hawks wouldn’t have won a few more games with Dilfer starting? He’s got a perfect record in his last 15 starts. Case closed.
He has an air about him that says winner. Watch him in a game. He doesn’t drop his head after a bad play. He immediately forgets about it and gets ready for the next one. He knows how important his body language is to his teammates’ confidence.
Take Sunday’s game. Seahawks’ ball at their own 29, second quarter. He overthrows his receiver on the first play. Has the ball knocked down on the second play.
He shakes it off and on the next five plays, he completes passes, to three different receivers – Darrell Jackson (21 and 12 yards, for the TD), Koren Robinson (20 yards) and Shaun Alexander (3 and 15 yards).
That is how you lead.
Dilfer would go on to throw another touchdown pass (this one also to Jackson), giving him seven for the year. That, boys and girls, equals the number thrown by Hasselbeck in 12 starts.
Dilfer doesn’t yet know what the future holds for him, but Holmgren has said he would like to bring the veteran back. Whether Dilfer would be allowed to compete for the starting job, the coach hasn’t said. You would think Dilfer would want that to be part of the deal, but he isn’t saying.
What he did say was that “the things I was looking for in a football team are starting to happen here. I think the sky’s the limit.”
He likes the young receivers, especially Jackson, the second-year guy out of Florida. “Darrell Jackson can be a 100-catch guy in this league very easily,” he said. “He has learned to play the game at an incredibly fast pace, and that’s hard to explain. He just plays faster than people over him. On top of that, he is learning how to be patient. The thing I try to get on with him is to be fast but have patience. When he figures it out, which he is very close to, he’ll be nearly unstoppable.”
Dilfer likes the fact that the Seahawks can run and pass the ball. Sunday they passed for 210 yards in the first half, ran for 116 in the second.
“Go back and look at the Cowboys’ Super Bowl runs, and look at (Troy) Aikman’s throws in the first half, and Emmitt’s (Smith) carries in the second half,” he said. “That’s the formula.
“Look at the 49ers, with a West Coast team. They threw the lights out in the first half, came out in the second half and ran it down people’s throats and played good defense. It’s a simple formula, you just have to be able to do it.”
First, you’ve got to have a good quarterback.
Holmgren doesn’t have to look any farther than his own locker room.
Excuse me, now. I’ve got to go protect my quarterback.
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