By Scott M. Johnson
Herald Writer
KIRKLAND – For Seattle Seahawks player representative Chad Brown, getting back to work was supposed to be a way to start the healing process. In a nutshell, that’s why he originally voted to return to the field for Sunday’s scheduled game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Only after he heard from some of the player reps closer to the center of the tragedies that rocked the country earlier this week did Brown truly appreciate what was at stake. In the end, Brown and the Seahawks put their full weight behind the decision to cancel this weekend’s NFL games.
“It gave me a little more reality to it,” Brown said after hearing player representatives near New York City and Washington, D.C. voice their concerns. “You want to move on and get into a little more normalcy, but how can you do that when that’s all they see 24 hours a day?”
Brown took part in a conference call by the NFL Players’ Association Wednesday night to discuss the issue. The player reps voted to unanimously suggest that the games not be played, which was a factor in the NFL’s decision Thursday not to play games this weekend.
Despite his original intentions, Brown willingly complied after hearing from some of the East Coast player reps.
“There are guys that have to deal with it every day, and they’re not going to want to fly across the country and be away from their families this weekend,” Brown said. “That brought a little more of the reality of it to me.
“But this is our job. There’s nothing more we can do. We can’t fly to New York and start searching for survivors. We can only do our job, which is to help people forget things for a little while.”
The league’s decision not to play came as a slight surprise to some of the Seahawks. Brown and alternate player rep Robbie Tobeck said none of the Seahawks were adamant one way or the other, but the general consensus was that the NFL should go through with Sunday’s games.
“We were approaching it like this is our job, and if we were called upon to play, we’d play,” Tobeck said. “There are other people that went back to work, too. And there’s going to be people working all weekend. If it’s our turn to work, it’s our turn to work. But it’s a non-issue now.”
Although the prevailing opinion of the Seahawks earlier this week was to play the scheduled game, there was a sense of relief after commissioner Paul Tagliabue made the announcement Thursday.
“We wanted to play the game, but at the same time we were scared, too,” kick returner Charlie Rogers said. “We don’t know. All the questions weren’t answered. I think it’s good that we didn’t play this weekend.”
Coach Mike Holmgren said he also understood the NFL’s decision, although he expected the games to be played. He scheduled a meeting with the players for this morning to discuss the recent tragedy, then the players will have the weekend off. The Seahawks are scheduled to return to the field for a Sept. 23 game against Philadelphia at Husky Stadium.
“At this point in time, it’s time to gather our thoughts and make sure that we’ve got things in perspective,” linebacker Levon Kirkland said. “When it’s time to play football next Sunday, we’ll come out. But for right now it’s time to take a week off and pray for those families.
” … I really at one point thought we might play. Then the more you think about it, it wouldn’t have been the right thing to do.”
The NFL still has not decided how to accommodate for the lost games. The easiest thing to do would be to cancel Sunday’s games altogether and play a 15-game schedule, but then teams like the Seahawks would lose a home game. In addition, the San Diego Chargers, who were scheduled to have a bye week, would be the only team in the league to play all 16 games.
Another option would be to play Sunday’s games at the end of the regular season, thereby canceling the first round of the playoffs. In that scenario, only eight teams would make the playoffs, four fewer than planned. Holmgren said he was against eliminating playoff games.
“As far as scheduling, it’s a huge problem,” Holmgren said. “They’ll sit down and come up with a way to do this and then we’ll live with it.
“Just like most things in our business, some things are out of our control and this is one of them. So you just have to wait for the decision to be made and go about trying to make the most of the situation after that.”
The schedules and the playoffs and everything that goes with the NFL season will undoubtedly creep into the picture at some point. But for now, the Seahawks are taking the NFL’s cue and will spend the weekend mourning with the rest of the country.
“It is what it is now, so we’re just going to spend (Friday) morning praying and grieving and coming together. Then we’ll spend the weekend talking about that stuff,” Tobeck said. “Then it’s got to be back to work Monday.”
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