KIRKLAND — Well, at least this time he’s got some impressive hardware.
For the second week in a row, the Seattle Seahawks will face a rookie quarterback making his first NFL start. The Baltimore Ravens’ Troy Smith, who won the 2006 Heisman Trophy, will start on Sunday, coach Brian Billick announced Thursday.
It marks the fourth week in a row that the Seahawks will face a team starting its backup quarterback.
“It’s kind of weird,” cornerback Marcus Trufant said, “but some of them have had success against us. You can never go out there saying, ‘This guy’s not a starter.’ You still have to go out there and play ball.”
Middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu pointed out that the Seahawks don’t need to look too far for an example of what an untested rookie can do. The Carolina Panthers’ Matt Moore, who wasn’t even drafted, helped engineer a 13-10 upset of the Seahawks last Sunday.
“Moore did just fine, so I wouldn’t say we’ve been fortunate,” Tatupu said, referring to the recent string of backups. “We don’t care who we play. We love the challenge of playing our best.”
Prior to Moore, the Seahawks beat teams that included backups A.J. Feeley (Philadelphia) and Kurt Warner (Arizona) in the starting lineup because of injuries.
Seattle has also knocked two quarterbacks out during the course of games: San Francisco’s Alex Smith in Week 4, and the Rams’ Marc Bulger in Week 12.
Baltimore’s Smith, an Ohio State product, slid to the end of the fifth round of the April NFL draft because of concerns about his height — 6-feet even — and poor offseason conditioning. But he made the final cut and moved up the depth chart when starter Steve McNair was placed on injured reserve with a shoulder injury earlier this month.
No. 2 quarterback Kyle Boller took over as starter but got knocked out of Sunday’s game against Miami with a concussion. Smith stepped in and completed 5 of 11 passes before the Ravens lost in overtime.
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