SEATTLE — Tarvaris Jackson’s first home game in Seattle was far from perfect.
What it was, however, was enough.
On an otherwise nondescript afternoon, Jackson put together one impressive drive, one the Seahawks quarterback capped with a gutsy 11-yard touchdown run on which he put his
head down to take on two Cardinals defenders.
The touchdown gave Seattle a 13-10 lead in the third quarter, and that would stand up as the final score. And almost as importantly, Jackson’s mad dash for the end zone quieted the boos and chants of “Charlie, Charlie, Charlie” that rained down on him for most of the evening. The way Seahawks fans reacted to Jackson’s first meaningful game at CenturyLink Field hardly came as a surprise to Jackson. He knows he isn’t a fan favorite here, having been signed to replace a Seattle sports icon, and he also knows there are plenty of fans who want to see Charlie Whitehurst get a chance.
“It doesn’t bother me anymore,” he said of the booing. “You want to play for your fans, but I’m playing for the guys in this locker room. I knew that it was going to be a hard situation being that Matt (Hasselbeck) was here for a long time and did some great things here. I have a lot of people to win over. I’ll probably never win them over.”
And it’s not that Jackson doesn’t want to win fans over. He just knows that can’t be his main focus right now.
“If they keep booing and we keep winning,” he said, “then I don’t care.”
Jackson finished his day 18-of-31 for 171 yards and one interception, though that turnover came on the final play of the first half when he threw up a desperation heave towards the end zone.
The first time Jackson and the offense had the ball in the second half, he led Seattle on a 72-yard drive, mostly using a no-huddle offense. He completed six of eight passes on that drive for 53 yards, including a 20-yard completion to rookie receiver Doug Baldwin that allowed Seattle to convert on third-and-15. Then, with Seattle knocking on the door, Jackson looked to receiver Sidney Rice, who was covered, and didn’t see an open Mike Williams until it was too late, so he pulled the ball down and ran.
That touchdown run, as well as his ability to stay in the game after going down awkwardly while trying to recover an errant snap, were two signs that Jackson, so far anyway, is anything but fragile, a reputation he sometimes had in Minnesota.
“I don’t know about Minnesota, but he’s proven to us he’s tough,” head coach Pete Carroll said. “He’s really tough.”
Tough, yes. Perfect? Far from it. But on this afternoon, one good drive and an otherwise uneventful day was enough for the Seahawks.
“It didn’t all go good,” Jackson said. “But we pulled it out.”
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more Seahawks coverage, check out the Seahawks blog at heraldnet.com/seahawksblog
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