KIRKLAND, Wash. -- Seneca Wallace looked up at the locker
room visitor who was asking how his week was going -- now that he's
The Man.
"It's a lot," he said.
It's a week unlike any of his previous 59 NFL game weeks. On
Sunday at Kansas City, he'll be starting in place of quarterback
Matt Hasselbeck, the Pro Bowler who is out for a minimum of three
weeks with a sprained knee ligament.
There are the interviews, the conference calls, the incessant
ringing of his cell phone by well-wishers who may be even more
excited than he is that Wallace has made it as a starting
quarterback, after 3½ years in the league.
"I always have to calm myself down. I'm the type of guy that
gets real excited, so I have to make sure I stay calm," he said.
"As a quarterback, you always have to be calm about everything
that you do, your checks and all those things that come along with
playing the position."
Yeah, right.
"If you're the backup and all of the sudden the starter gets
hurt and now you have a week to prepare and you're going to be the
guy, there's probably not a more exciting feeling and time for
you," Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said. "Now you get your
chance. Now all the things that you dreamed about and want are
there.
"Now, you're the man."
The Seahawks have watched Wallace smoothly run their offense all
week in practice. But they remain curious to see how the career
understudy reacts Sunday. For the first time, the test is real, and
it will be inside of the NFL's rowdiest stadiums.
So the exacting Holmgren is leaning toward empathy and
understanding.
Normally, the meticulous former backup quarterback at Southern
California and in the NFL is liable to bark at his Seattle passers
if their towels are hanging too low from their waists.
Misread a defense or make a poor throw? Whoa, Mount Holmgren may
erupt.
Yet this week, Holmgren is reminding himself to go easy on
Wallace.
"Seneca is pretty much of a cool breeze out there. He's kind of
acting like this is another day at the office," Holmgren said.
"My feeling is down deep, he's pretty excited. I can't be
yelling at him like I normally do. I have to keep him calm and keep
him going. I have to support him that way and just communicate as
well as I can with him during a game -- better than I have with
Matt."
So maybe you won't see Holmgren chewing out Wallace for errant
throws on Sunday -- and there could be some, considering Wallace was
14-for-25 for 134 yards passing and two interceptions while
replacing Hasselbeck in last week's loss to Minnesota.
Instead, Holmgren will have a new, unfamiliar job on top of
running the offense at Kansas City: keeping Wallace feeling like
it's Wednesday on the practice field in Kirkland, Wash., and not
Sunday inside Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium.
"My job will be keeping his feet on the ground, really. Keeping
him calmed down," Holmgren said Friday.
"When the game starts, and it gets a little hectic -- and it's a
noisy place -- then he has to work on staying calm."
So far, Wallace is impressing his far-more-veteran teammates
with his potential to do that. Of course, the most on-field stress
he's had since Minnesota manhandled him and the Seahawks last
Sunday has been simulated rush-around, two-minute drills at the end
of practices Wednesday and Thursday.
Wallace ran those smoothly. He flapped his arms to call
formations, forcefully bellowed play calls and then threw sharp,
bullet-like passes.
"He was great. He was calm," 14th-year veteran fullback Mack
Strong said after one of those sessions. "He was commanding."