Keep Dilfer and juggle egos

  • Larry Henry / Sports Columnist
  • Tuesday, January 8, 2002 9:00pm
  • Sports

They will come, you know.

They will come when it is built.

They will come regardless of who the quarterback is.

Be it Matt Hasselbeck or Trent Dilfer, fans will come to the new Seahawks football stadium next fall. And they will fill it.

They might not like it if Hasselbeck is the quarterback, and they will let coach Mike Holmgren know their feelings.

He has seen that before. He has seen and heard the fans’ anger over who the quarterback is.

He saw it and heard it when his Green Bay Packers used to go to Tampa Bay to play the Buccaneers.

Those were the early years of Trent Dilfer and the Bucs fans gave the young signal caller a lambasting.

“It was brutal,” Holmgren said. “That’s kind of the nature of the beast. If you can weather that storm, you’re a tough guy.”

Dilfer weathered it and turned the jeers into cheers with a winning team and a playoff berth in 1997.

Matt Hasselbeck experienced some of the same thing this year when the Seahawks struggled with him at quarterback.

Maybe frustration would be a better word than anger. The fans would chant “Dil-fer, Dil-fer, Dil-fer,” and, of course, Holmgren would ignore them. That is what you do when you’re the coach. You ignore the fans.

That is what Holmgren will do when it comes time to make a decision on whether he should let Dilfer compete for the starting job next year. He will turn a deaf ear to the fans, even if they’re chanting “Dil-fer, Dil-fer, Dil-fer” on the radio airwaves. As he said Tuesday, at his season-ending press conference, he can’t make any personnel decisions based on what the fans want or don’t want. He is the boss. The executive vice president/general manager/coach. And it is his job to do what is best for the team.

First, though, he has to see if Dilfer wants to be here. And that is no guarantee.

Dilfer wants to start for a team. He might not have come right out and said that, but you know he does. And he deserves to start for someone. Or at least to compete for a starting job. Anyone who puts together a perfect record in his last 15 starts has to get a long look from some team. You would hope that team is Seattle.

Holmgren isn’t ready to say whether he will allow competition for the No.1 job. He’ll have to mull it over for awhile.

You would think he would have to guarantee Dilfer a chance to battle for the job in order to get him to stay.

Dilfer was a big enough man that he was willing to accept the backup role this year. But after winning all four of his starts when Hasselbeck was hurt, he knows what he is capable of doing for this team. He doesn’t want to be No. 2 any longer.

If Holmgren does open up the job and if Dilfer does come back – there’ll have to be some serious money exchange hands – then it gets tricky.

Tricky in the sense that Holmgren will be dealing with egos. One in particular: Hasselbeck’s. He was Holmgren’s boy. He started 12 games. He has been designated the quarterback of the future.

Now you bring Dilfer back into the picture. And you say, may the better man win. And, suddenly, Hasselbeck is saying, “But I thought I was your guy. Now you’re telling me I gotta beat someone out?”

Say Dilfer does just that. Say he comes back and takes the job away from Hasselbeck. What kind of damage does that do to the young quarterback’s ego? And quarterbacks have very sensitive egos.

Maybe I’m making too much of this. Maybe Hasselbeck is the kind of guy who can shrug it off and deal with it. Could you if you were he? See what I mean? It’d be difficult.

Dilfer is unique. Not many guys who have been a starter in the NFL could accept a No. 2 role without a duel. But he kept his mouth shut and his eyes and ears open because he knew that he could become a better player by just being around Holmgren, a developer of quarterbacks.

As things are now, Dilfer can venture out into the NFL if he doesn’t like the plan here in Seattle.

I hope he gets the opportunity to challenge for the Seahawk job. Because this team could be about to blast off. And I think he’s the right guy to lead it. But what do I know?

On his side of the ball, there is a solid offensive line developing. There are talented young receivers to throw to. There is a star in the making at tailback.

The defense was much improved this season, allowing 81 fewer points and 1,185 fewer yards than a year ago. It played with some attitude.

Just as the Mariners had a strong sense of togetherness during their magical run last summer, so does Holmgren feel that his players like and pull for one another. That’s important in any team’s success. And the Seahawks could be on the verge of something very big.

It’s about time. Seattle fans are starving for a champion. They’ve seen only one playoff game in the last 13 years. That could change next season.

What a time for a rebirth. New stadium. New uniforms. New logo.

And, who knows, maybe even a new quarterback.

Now that would be the way to usher in a new era.

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