Seneca Wallace begins walking his tightrope tonight.
If he can pull of his balancing act – and Seattle Seahawks coaches are certain that he will – Wallace will hold onto his spot as quarterback Matt Hasselbeck’s main backup.
If he falls, the Seahawks will have to find a safety net in the form of a veteran quarterback.
It’s all up to Wallace, who gets his first shot at being second tonight against the New Orleans Saints.
“I just have to stay focused and do the exact same thing I’ve been doing in practices at training camp,” Wallace said of Seattle’s preseason opener, which kicks off at 5 p.m. “When you get in games, things open up a little bit more and it’s a lot easier to see. Hopefully, you’ll be comfortable and be able to execute the offense.”
Wallace is totally untested in real NFL action, having never played a regular-season game for the Seahawks. But he showed enough progress at minicamps, and through the first two weeks of training camp, to give the coaching staff confidence that he can be the Seahawks’ No. 2 quarterback.
“I believe he will play well,” coach Mike Holmgren said this week. “It is a little bit of a hypothetical. I have to feel comfortable at that position. … If it goes haywire in the preseason, then we have to think about doing something else.”
Fans might remember Wallace as the Iowa State star who scrambled his way to becoming a Heisman favorite midway through the 2002 college season. But that was three years ago, and Wallace has shaped his game to fit Seattle’s system.
“It’s just about running the West Coast offense,” said Wallace, who is expected to replace Hasselbeck early in the second quarter of tonight’s game and probably will play into the fourth quarter. “I don’t have to go out there, like I did in college, and run around and make plays. A lot of the game, you’re thrown off balance, and I just have to go out and execute.”
The Seahawks aren’t looking for Wallace to throw for 300 yards or three touchdowns. They’re not evaluating him solely on whether Seattle wins the game or gets into the end zone.
Wallace’s preseason performances are more about showing the coaching staff that he can run the offense without a hitch, as if Hasselbeck himself were out on the field.
“Last preseason, we had to help him out by cutting down the package of plays,” quarterbacks coach Jim Zorn said. “He performed very well (Wallace was the Seahawks’ leading passer in three of four preseason games), but he was limited offensively. I think my goal for him, personally, is that Mike (Holmgren) doesn’t have to be concerned with what he calls, that he can just call the whole package.
“Right now, that’s what we’re doing out here in practice, so I don’t see that as being a problem.”
Even Hasselbeck, the man whom Wallace will back up, believes in the 25-year-old quarterback can pull it off.
“I think in some things, he is very ready,” Hasselbeck said. “He has waited his time. I see his situation very similar to mine, in that when I first got into the NFL (in 1998), I really wasn’t ready to play. So, it’s kind of nice that I didn’t get a chance. When I finally did get a chance to play, I was definitely more ready.
“I know that he is as ready as he as ever been.”
Veteran Trent Dilfer has been a reliable backup for the past four seasons in Seattle, but he was traded to Cleveland in March. Seeing no better options on the free-agent market, the Seahawks decided to give Wallace a shot at earning the No. 2 quarterback position.
The 5-foot-11, 196-pound quarterback had three solid minicamps, showing improvement each time. Unlike his first two NFL seasons, when Wallace would rely on his scrambling to get out of trouble in practice, he has looked more comfortable in the pocket and has generally made the right decisions.
But Wallace’s passing accuracy has been inconsistent at training camp, so the coaches would love to see improvement there.
Wallace won’t be trying to do anything specific tonight. His only goal is to look like the man who starts the game.
“I’m still being myself,” he said. “But at the same time, whenever Matt comes out of the game, I don’t want it to look any different when I’m in there.”
Wallace will get plenty of opportunity tonight to show if he’s ready to be Hasselbeck’s understudy.
“It is an important time for him,” Holmgren said. “He has practiced very, very well. Now he has to play.”
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