By SCOTT M. JOHNSON
Herald Writer
KIRKLAND – The NFL’s two most prolific rookie receivers will be on hand at Husky Stadium this weekend, but that doesn’t mean the Seattle Seahawks’ Darrell Jackson will be concerned about his stats.
“I don’t pay attention to that,” said Jackson, a rookie out of Florida, who will face the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday. “Right now I’m just trying to get back on track.”
Jackson leads Kansas City rookie Sylvester Morris by six receptions while trailing Morris by 23 yards in the race for the NFL’s top first-year receiver. But recently Jackson has begun to make some rookie mistakes.
“I had a couple drops last week that I shouldn’t have had,” Jackson said. “I’m trying to get back on track and get my head right. I can’t worry about (Morris) and how close he is or any of that.”
Jackson has been the Seahawks’ most pleasant surprise this season, and has a legitimate chance to be the AFC’s rookie of the year. But dropped passes and poor route running have taken their toll in recent weeks.
“He plays like a rookie at times,” coach Mike Holmgren said earlier this week. “I’ve said this before and I believe this, Darrell is going to be a great player for us for a long time. But at times, he plays young, like they all do.”
Tongue, a safety who signed as a free agent during the offseason, has been demoted to the second team in favor of Kerry Joseph since an Oct. 2 meeting with the Chiefs.
“My boys are like, ‘What’s happening? What’s going on out there?’” Tongue said of his former teammates. “It’s just real disappointing to me; extremely, extremely disappointing. I’m not the type that’s satisfied with just collecting checks every week. That’s not me. I’ve got to feel my worth, and I’m not feeling it.”
Tongue hopes to turn a negative into a positive this week when he faces the Chiefs. He started at strong safety the last time the two teams played, and said afterward that he was disappointed in his performance.
“I’ve got all the motivation in the world,” he said this week. ” … It’s just a weird feeling. I was really, really going to bust my (rear) to make sure that what happened in that game wasn’t going to happen again. Now I don’t get that chance.”
Peterson spent the past five years in Seattle, but was released before the season in favor of rookie Kris Heppner. Another rookie, Rian Lindell, supplanted Heppner in Week 5, two weeks before Peterson replaced Pete Stoyanovich in Kansas City.
Through two games with the Chiefs, Peterson has made all three of his field-goal tries inside the 40, but is 0-for-2 beyond that distance. Chiefs coach Gunther Cunningham is happy to have him around for other reasons.
“You talk about a smart young man,” Cunningham said Wednesday. “I don’t know about his kicking, but he’s as intelligent as anyone I’ve ever spoken with.”
Huard missed his second day of practice while he recovers from a concussion, and Jon Kitna has worked with the first team in his place.
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