The roads that lead from Buckhead to the Georgia Dome and the familiar hallways in the depths of the stadium are things that Patrick Kerney knows well.
The hotel in the Buckhead neighborhood of Atlanta and the visiting locker room are less a part of Kerney’s past.
Kerney, a 30-year-old Seattle Seahawks defensive end, will see all these things when he returns to Atlanta for the first time this weekend. After playing his first eight NFL seasons with the Atlanta Falcons, Kerney will return to play against his former team on Sunday.
While he’s looking forward to the trip, Kerney feels a sense of compassion for a franchise that has struggled with injuries, poor play and off-the-field issues.
“The guys (former teammates) have been telling me the dome has been pretty sparse. That’s a shame,” Kerney said, referring to the dwindling attendance at the Georgia Dome. “But I do know that it will be weird staying in a hotel about a mile away from where I lived for eight years. I know that’ll be a little strange.
“… It’ll be weird. Hopefully (the fans) won’t be cursing me on my way in, but we’ll see.”
Kerney is one of several people in the Seahawks organization who will be making a return trip this weekend. Team president Tim Ruskell came to the Seahawks from the Falcons. Wide receiver Deion Branch, safety Deon Grant and rookie offensive lineman Mansfield Wrotto are among the players who grew up in Georgia.
And, perhaps the most significant of all, Seahawks secondary coach Jim Mora spent the past three seasons as head coach of the Falcons.
“With the frustration the fans are feeling, they might look back and see the better days that are now gone,” Kerney said of the reaction Mora can expect at the Georgia Dome. “Certainly, with Jim, he went to the championship game his first year. And then the last two years, we were riddled with injury.”
While Mora was fired because desire to one day coach at his alma mater, the University of Washington, Kerney left town on his own accord. The Seahawks gave him a six-year, $39.5 million contract and have been rewarded with Kerney’s league-leading 13½ sacks.
The change in scenery has worked out for Kerney as well. While the Falcons try to pick up the pieces after the incarceration of star quarterback Michael Vick and the recent resignation of first-year coach Bobby Petrino, Kerney is playing for a Seattle team that’s headed to the playoffs.
“Everybody wants to finish with the team they started with,” Kerney said. “But when my contract came up, I looked at it like, ‘Hey, Joe Montana didn’t finish with the 49ers, so there’s no guarantee I’ll finish with the Falcons.’”
The return will probably be less emotional for the five players who attended high school in Georgia, but there will be memories nonetheless.
“It’s always nice to be back home playing in front of my family and friends,” said Branch, a native of nearby Albany, Ga., whose only NFL game in Atlanta came in 2005. “But the main objective is still to win the game. I never let my emotions dictate what happens with my job. You still have to play the game.”
Grant, a native of Augusta, Ga., was also down-playing his return.
“The last time I got all excited for the homecoming, we went down to Carolina and lost,” said Grant, a former Carolina Panther who was on the wrong end of a 13-10 game in Charlotte nine days ago. “So I just have to get ready to take care of business.”
Business was a big factor in Kerney’s departure from Atlanta, as he was lured to Seattle by the big contract. He doesn’t regret the decision, but he hasn’t completely turned his back on the Falcons either.
“There will always be a part of me with the Falcon organization,” he said last week. “For eight years, there was a sense of mutual respect, and that won’t change.”
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