By Scott M. Johnson
Herald Writer
KIRKLAND – Talk to Ken Lucas about his first experience against the Oakland Raiders, and you’ll hear words like “they” and “veteran wide receivers.” He never mentions the name Jerry Rice.
But it was Rice who provided the Seattle Seahawks’ rookie cornerback with his first major lesson at the NFL level. Rice beat Lucas for two touchdown passes the first time the Seahawks and Oakland Raiders squared off this season, a 38-14 Seattle loss almost six weeks ago.
That was back when Lucas was a starter. Since Shawn Springs returned from a hamstring injury last month, Lucas has been relegated to playing in nickel packages, which means he’s the No. 3 cornerback. Despite his new role, Lucas will undoubtedly match up with Rice again at some point in Sunday’s game.
“I’m more comfortable out there now,” Lucas said. “It was like I was just out there holding my breath, knowing that they were going to come my way. Once you get older, and the more experience you have, you wish that they’d come your way because it gives you more opportunities to make plays.”
One of the biggest adjustments for a rookie cornerback is reading a veteran’s moves and figuring out his inclinations. He’s kind of like the rookie batter who’s seeing major league pitchers for the first time.
“When we were watching film (of the Raiders) this morning, I was calling out routes before they even snapped the ball,” Lucas said earlier this week. “It helps out a whole lot that you’ve already played this team once this year.”
There will be some sort of comfort level Sunday in facing receivers he’s seen up close before, but – as Lucas found out six weeks ago – there are a lot of lessons to be learned.
“Going against the veteran wide receivers, it’s kind of hard to play against them because they have the freedom to do what they want to do,” Lucas said. “You really can’t look at tendencies, because they’ll change things up.”
Revenge factor: Raiders linebacker Elijah Alexander is listed as questionable for Sunday’s game because of a knee injury. But if he plays, he might be a marked man.
It was Alexander who knocked Seahawks quarterback Trent Dilfer out of the last meeting when he delivered a late hit to Dilfer’s jaw. Alexander was fined one week’s pay, which cost him about $26,500.
“Most athletes, on our team or any other team, they’ve got a lot of pride. They don’t forget stuff like that,” Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said this week when asked about the possibility of revenge. “There are individuals that will think about it more. You can never let, however, something like that affect your play to the point where you do crazy things and hurt the football team. You do things like be over-aggressive and get penalties, that’s not good. But you don’t forget that stuff.”
War of words: Holmgren wasn’t the only member of the Seahawks to raise a few eyebrows this week. Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck described the Raiders’ defensive play as “dirty.”
But he insisted that he didn’t mean it in a negative way.
“I think if I was a defensive player and someone told me I was dirty, I’d take that as a compliment,” Hasselbeck said. “I think they take that as a compliment, and I’m sure our guys would take that as a compliment, too.”
Television blackout on hold: Less than 3,000 tickets still remain for Sunday’s game, but a local television blackout will not be official until sometime today after NFL offices open.
Theoretically, the Seahawks could still sell enough tickets this morning to delay the blackout. But it appears as if ESPN’s coverage of the Sunday night game against the Raiders will be not be shown anywhere south of Bellingham.
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