Rootin’ for Tuten
Informed that the readers of Seahawks.com had voted him the punter on the franchise’s 35th Anniversary team, Rick Tuten had one request.
“Please put my first quote as, ‘I really appreciate the vote of confidence after all these years,’ ” he said. “I’m glad the fans remember me, because I sure had a good time playing for the Seahawks.”
Tuten was with the team from 1991-97, when he punted in 101 games and set club records for punts in a career (554), season (108) and game (12), among others.
“People always used to say, ‘Well, you’re the starter,’ ” Tuten said. “I was like, ‘Well, yeah, because you’re either the starter or unemployed at that position.’ ”
Since retiring from the NFL after the 1999 season – his second with the St. Louis Rams – Tuten has lived in Ocala, Fla. He and his wife are in the process of finalizing a deal involving sports and fitness products.
“That will be ‘coming soon,’ is the official way to say that,” he offered. “But we’re real happy with it.”
Tuten also fishes a lot, and has gotten his captain’s license.
The story of his record-setting stint with the Seahawks is the 12th in a series of articles profiling the members of the reader-selected 35th Anniversary team.
‘Boogie’ time
The readers of Seahawks.com have done something no opponent or even scheme shift was able to do: Break up the “DieHards.”
From midway through the 1983 season until the end of the 1989 season, the Seahawks’ first line of defense was the trio comprised of left end Jacob Green, nose tackle Joe Nash and right end Jeff Bryant – aka “Boogie.”
These three, who went by the collective nickname “DieHards” because they always started, combined to miss only 21 of a possible 100 starts during that 6½-season span – 10 by Nash, nine by Bryant and two by Green. They made every start possible in unison four times.
But when the 35th Anniversary team was selected, Green and Nash were overwhelming choices, while Bryant just missed.
Not having Bryant with them made it a somewhat bittersweet honor.
“I would be inclined to say that Jeff should have been on it,” Green offered. “Jeff helped make Joe and me the players we were.”
Bryant finished third in the balloting at end with 1,050 votes – behind Green (3,990) and Michael Sinclair (1,939).
“Jeff could have been anything, though,” Nash countered. “He could have been a defensive end, defensive tackle. He played everything but nose tackle.”
And Bryant even filled in there on occasion when Nash was injured. Bryant, in fact, is the only player in franchise history to start at all four spots on the D-line. He was the right end from his rookie season in 1982 until 1990, when the Seahawks drafted Cortez Kennedy and shifted to a 4-3 defense. But Bryant started 14 games that season at the right tackle spot Kennedy eventually would own. In 1991, Bryant replaced Nash as the left tackle. In 1992, Bryant moved to left end to replace Green.
Bryant ranks third in club history in sacks (63), behind Green and Sinclair. He is sixth in tackles (689), with Nash (778) and Green (718) the only linemen ahead of him on the all-time list.
“Talk about a versatile player,” Nash said.
For Tez, it’s a ‘Big Dawg’s’ life
Is it even possible to have a Seahawks 35th Anniversary team without Cortez Kennedy?
It’s a question that doesn’t even need to be asked, because the obvious answer is, “Of course not.”
“But it’s still great,” Kennedy said when informed of the obvious. “Really, that’s great.”
So was Kennedy, who redefined the definition of dominant during his 11-season career with the Seahawks (1990-2000). So when the readers of Seahawks.com voted for the 35th Anniversary team, the man known as Tez – among other nicknames – was an overwhelming choice as one of the defensive tackles.
In fact, only Hall of Fame wide receiver Steve Largent (5,004) generated more votes than the man who also answers to “Big Dawg” (4,172).
“Big Dawg”? That one came early, and comes with a story.
It was Jeff Bryant who first put the canine moniker on Kennedy, who was selected as the third player overall in the 1990 draft to join an already formidable line that featured end Jacob Green and tackle Joe Nash, who also are on the reader-selected team; as well as Bryant.
“When you go hunting, you want to take the big dog,” Bryant explained at the time. “That’s Tez. He’s our ‘Big Dawg.’ ”
On the field, and even off, Kennedy sunk his teeth into a Hall of Fame-worthy career that is the focus of the ninth in a series of features profiling the 29 players voted to the 35th Anniversary team.
Brown: It all started with him
Of all the statistics the late Dave Brown compiled during his 11-season career with the Seahawks, the most impressive might be the one that is most often overlooked.
The Ring of Honor cornerback started every game he played: 159.
Only five other position players on the Seahawks’ 35th Anniversary team can make that claim: left tackle Walter Jones (180), outside linebacker Chad Brown (107), middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu (84), right tackle Howard Ballard (74) and left guard Steve Hutchinson (68).
But Brown, who passed away in 2006, should have had even more games – and starts. Terry Beeson knows, because the former middle linebacker is the one who interrupted Brown’s consecutive-start streaks that began with 77 and then reached 82 again before he left the team following the 1986 season. The 77-starts-in-a-row run was the franchise record at the time.
“Until I hurt him,” Beeson said. “They threw a screen pass out of the backfield. He was coming up from the corner spot and I was coming from the inside linebacker spot. I ended up colliding with him more than I did the running back.
“I broke his leg.”
That was in the 1981 season opener. Brown was back after missing six games, and streaking once again.
Brown’s durability and consistency allowed him to become the franchise leader in interceptions (50), interception return yards (643), career interceptions returned for touchdowns (five) and TD returns in a game (two).
It’s also why he was an overwhelming choice as one of the cornerbacks when the readers of Seahawks.com voted for the 35th Anniversary team.
Brown’s ability to produce on the field and become a role model and mentor off the field are featured in the eighth installment in a series of articles profiling the 29 players on the reader-selected team.
Robinson impressed, and impressive
Eugene Robinson knew he had been voted to the Seahawks’ 35th Anniversary team.
That’s because I told him in December, when Robinson was here for the Carolina Panthers’ game at Qwest Field, that the readers of Seahawks.com had selected him as the free safety on the best-of-the-best defensive unit. But Robinson, the radio analyst for Panthers games, had not known who the other defenders were until we talked this week.
Joining him in the secondary are contemporaries Kenny Easley at strong safety and Dave Brown at cornerback, as well as post-Robinson corners Marcus Trufant and Shawn Springs. Because Robinson’s career spanned 11 seasons and three head coaches (Chuck Knox, Tom Flores and Dennis Erickson) he also played with six other defenders on the 35th Anniversary team: Jacob Green, Joe Nash, Cortez Kennedy and Michael Sinclair, who comprise the line; as well as linebackers Fredd Young and Rufus Porter. Linebackers Chad Brown and Lofa Tatupu arrived after Robinson had left.
As he listened to that list of names, Robinson responded to most with a “Wow” or two, and even offered “Oh, really” a couple of times.
But his bottom-line assessment said it all: “Wow, that is a really, really impressive group.”
That is it, and Robinson’s story – available here as the seventh in a series of features profiling the 29 players voted to the team – is one of the more impressive.
Sinclair in good company
Being selected to the Seahawks’ 35th Anniversary team made a significant impact on Michael Sinclair because of the players who weren’t.
“There are a lot of guys who gave their best that are not on that list,” Sinclair said. “So I’m glad that the fans thought I was a pretty good player and put me on that list. I’m thankful for it. But the only thing I did was give my best and let the chips fall where they may.”
Franchise sack leader Jacob Green was an overwhelming choice for one of the defensive end spots when the readers of Seahawks.com cast their votes. Green collected more votes (3,990) than everyone on the team except Steve Largent (5,005), Cortez Kennedy (4,172) and Walter Jones (4,065).
But Sinclair’s 1,939 votes gave him an 889-vote edge over Jeff Bryant, the only player in franchise history to start at all four spots on the defensive line. And then there were those other players who also gave their best, but couldn’t break the stranglehold that Green and Sinclair had on the end berths – Patrick Kerney, Grant Wistrom, Chike Okeafor, Michael McCrary, Phillip Daniels, Tony Woods and Bill Gregory. Those seven ends combined to lead the club in sacks nine times.
But it’s Sinclair who finds himself on a D-line that also includes Joe Nash and Kennedy as the tackles, and in a best-of-the-best unit that features Chad Brown, Lofa Tatupu, Fredd Young and Rufus Porter as the linebackers and a secondary that is comprised of cornerbacks Dave Brown, Marcus Trufant and Shawn Springs and safeties Kenny Easley and Eugene Robinson.
“That is good company to be in,” Sinclair said.
Sinclair’s rise from sixth-round draft choice to NFL sack leader, and his new life as a coach in the CFL, is featured in the sixth profile of the 29 players on the 35th Anniversary team.
Far from the Norm
Norm Johnson’s reaction when told he had been selected as the kicker on the Seahawks’ 35th Anniversary team was equal parts satisfaction and surprise.
“That’s totally cool. I’m excited,” Johnson said. “It’s just surprising that people remember me.”
Actually, “hard to forget” might be a better description of Johnson being included on the read-selected team – and by a staggering margin, as he totaled more votes (1,598) than the other five kickers on the ballot combined.
All this for a player who last kicked for the Seahawks in 1990. Only four other members of the 35th Anniversary team played their last game for the Seahawks before Johnson’s finale – Steve Largent (1989), Fredd Young (1987), Kenny Easley (1987) and Dave Brown (1986). Largent, Brown and Easley are in the team’s Ring of Honor.
When Johnson left the Seahawks, he was the franchise’s all-time leader in points scored in a career (810) and season (110 in 1984); field goals in a career (159), season (23 in 1990) and game (five in 1987 and 1988); field-goal percentage for a career (.697) and season (.833 in ’84); most 50-plus field goals in a career (10) and season (five in 1986); and PATs in a career (333) and season (50 in ’84).
While Josh Brown, Todd Peterson and Olindo Mare broke many of Johnson’s marks, he remains the leader in career points, with non-kickers Shaun Alexander (672) and Largent (608) second and third; career field goals and PATs; and still shares the mark for most field goals in a game and most 50-plus field goals in a season.
The surprised, but also satisfied, Johnson recalls his nine seasons with the Seahawks – and 18-year NFL career – in the fifth profile of the 29 players on the 35th Anniversary team.
