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Seahawks QB
Trent Dilfer
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No more than a minute into our conversation last week, and Trent Dilfer’s cell
phone was full of static. When the signal got better, he told me that his phone probably
would cut out on occasion because he was driving through the mountains on a day trip to
the ocean with his 4-year-old son, Trevin.
Sure enough, the phone connection wasn’t always the best. Dilfer’s voice
would break up from time to time, and the descent from the mountains to the sea often
would cut him off entirely. But he always called back.
The final few minutes of our conversation had no technical difficulties. Smooth sailing
until it sounded like he had reached the coast. A car door slammed shut, his son was
laughing and a dog was playfully barking in the background.
It’s a bit ironic when you think about how a phone call can epitomize
Dilfer’s career. He’s gone through some rough spots, come out as clear as a
bell, then slipped back into a sea of garbled play. A fair amount of static has followed
him as well. But he knows where the redial button is and has proved to be able to find his
way through the uncertain terrain of the NFL.
Just look at him now. The eight-year veteran recently re-signed with the Seahawks, and
in the process, was anointed the starting quarterback for Mike Holmgren’s squad.
Quite the accomplishment, considering Holmgren’s fascination with his prodigy, Matt
Hasselbeck, whom the team traded for on Draft Day last year and then signed to a
five-year, $24 million deal in August. Dilfer was expected to sign elsewhere as a free
agent this offseason, but Holmgren finally came around and declared what was all too
obvious to everyone else much earlier: Dilfer had earned the starting role.
"The biggest thing about Trent is that he carries himself with so much confidence,
you just think you’re going to win," Seahawks RB Shaun Alexander said as last
season wound down.
Confidence is something Dilfer has never been short on, much like his passion for the
game of football. After being shackled by a run-first system in Tampa Bay and basically
being asked just not to make mistakes in Baltimore, Dilfer is expected to be able to open
things up next season. Gone is the Seahawks’ walking-on-eggshells approach toward
simplifying things for the unproven Hasselbeck. Dilfer, who admits he has had to relearn
the aggressive mentality that made him successful in college after his stops in Tampa and
Baltimore, is energized at the thought of having more freedom.
"I’ve never questioned my talent or my knowledge of the game or my ability to
dissect the game and know what’s best, especially for me," Dilfer says.
"You get a lot of people giving you a lot of information because they think it’s
best for you, but I’ve always stayed true to my convictions. I know how I play this
position the best, and I know how I’m most successful and I try to stick with those
things."
Dilfer’s son, the middle of three children, pipes up and starts asking his dad a
question. Dilfer apologizes and breaks away momentarily.
"Hey son, we’re gettin’ closer, OK?" Dilfer assures him.
"We’re almost there."
Respect has never really come that easily for Dilfer, the sixth overall pick in the
1994 draft as a junior out of Fresno State. He struggled mightily out of the gate in
Tampa, throwing 17 touchdowns compared to 43 interceptions in his first three years, and
more than a few disparaging remarks were hurled his direction. Things turned around quite
dramatically in ’97, as Dilfer became the first Buccaneers quarterback to make the
Pro Bowl and helped lead Tampa to its first playoff berth in 15 years. But even then,
support came reluctantly, and he was out on the street two years later, replaced by rookie
Shaun King.
Dilfer signed a one-year contract with the Ravens in 2000, and unless you have a memory
problem, it’s hard to forget what happened to him in Baltimore. He replaced the
ineffective Tony Banks in midseason, led the Ravens to the Super Bowl and was flown to
Disney World to rub elbows with the world’s most famous mouse.
The glow from his Super Bowl ring was hardly enough to quiet the cynics, though. The
Ravens won in spite of Dilfer, they argued, riding a powerhouse defense and strong running
game to the title. He was just hanging on to their coattails. The Ravens so appreciated
his guidance, they quickly signed Elvis Grbac to a big deal when the season was over and
made Dilfer an afterthought, the only Super Bowl-winning quarterback to face unemployment.
After listening to a handful of offers, Dilfer ventured to the Northwest to serve as
the backup to Hasselbeck. But it didn’t take long for Seahawk fans to begin chanting
Dilfer’s name when Hasselbeck showed his inexperience. When given the chance, all
Dilfer did was go 4-0 as a starter in place of an injured Hasselbeck, nearly rallying the
Seahawks into the playoffs. Still, for fans and teammates, it took Holmgren an agonizingly
long time to bring Dilfer back into the fold. Holmgren may have been playing the leverage
game, but that was of little consequence to hungry fans.
All told, Dilfer will carry a 15-game winning streak into next season’s opener.
He’s won 19 of his last 20 games. The guy who used to serve as a target for radio
talk-show hosts in Tampa and never got his just due in Baltimore is suddenly the toast of
the town in Seattle.
"I’ve always tried to keep that bunker mentality where you’ve got to dig
yourself out by clawing and scratching for everything you get," Dilfer says.
"And I think that some of my circumstances have helped me develop that even more
intensely than it ever was."
If anyone out there knows what Hasselbeck is going through, it’s Dilfer, who says
he has a very honest relationship with Hasselbeck, Holmgren’s choice as the
quarterback of the future, currently his high-priced backup.
Dilfer, now the people’s choice, is only two years removed from having 70,000
people chanting his backup’s name and being criticized openly in the media or while
dining in local restaurants. It’s not hard to sympathize when you’ve been down
that road so many times you know the way with your eyes closed.
"I was just coming off the Super Bowl, and I understood the reality," Dilfer
said of the season-long QB predicament in Seattle. "Whether my reputation had been
scarred to a certain degree throughout the league didn’t mean that as soon as
something bad happened, those people knew that I had a ring on my finger, and they were
going to be chanting my name. (Hasselbeck) knew that, and we talked about how it was going
to be an opportunity for him to fight through it and create something for his life."
That, in essence, is Dilfer’s approach: View the tough times as an opportunity to
get better. Considering the valleys he’s visited and his recent run at success,
it’s kind of tough to argue with that ideal. At 30, he says he’s in the best
shape of his life and is a much better quarterback than at any other stage in his career.
The man who just seems to have that winning way about him considers himself sharpened by
his adversity.
"There’s the catchy phrase that says ‘You can get bitter or you can get
better,’ and I think about that often when things don’t go well," Dilfer
says. "It’s an opportunity for growth."
Dilfer, the late bloomer, the family man, the quarterback who began the last two
seasons as the backup only to finish them as a successful starter, seems content. He says
he was never really restless the past few years, but at least now you get the sense he
enjoys the feeling of truly being wanted and appreciated. It’s easy to pick up on the
genuine excitement in his voice as he explains how he’s looking forward to growing
with his young receivers and even failing with them at times, just so he can be there to
help pick them up. He also has been busy lending a helping hand, or an ear, to David Carr,
the Fresno State quarterback who figures to be the first pick in April’s draft.
Carr says Dilfer is the main reason he went to Fresno State, and the two often work out
together or just chat. Dilfer the mentor. Times certainly have changed.
"Anytime you’re giving someone advice or sharing something with them,
it’s an opportunity to recognize those things in your own life and continue to work
on them," Dilfer says.
They don’t talk much X’s and O’s. Their conversations are geared more
toward off-the-field stuff, adjustments that need to be made and how to take care of the
people around you and make sure you have peace in your life so there is no clutter going
into your job.
One of the great lessons Dilfer, an avid golfer, has learned is from watching Tiger
Woods, who has the ability to put a bad shot or a missed five-foot putt behind him and
move on without having it linger upstairs.
"Everybody says they try to do that, but that’s an incredibly difficult thing
to do and then to be able to approach the next shot with no fear," Dilfer says.
"Football is the same way, and I think (Carr) is going to have learn that."
The fear that may have been there after a costly interception earlier in his career no
longer bogs down Dilfer. He has command in the huddle and the respect of his teammates no
matter the situation. He has emerged as a Holmgren guy as well, because Holmgren knows his
own volcanic temper and any mistake Dilfer makes won’t rattle him. He’s not
untouchable, it’s just he’s at another place now, and how he plays no longer
carries over to define who he is as a person like in the old days.
"Only you know your deepest and darkest secrets, and I know mine," Dilfer
says. "I’ve had some dark moments in my life and in my career, and when I
examine myself, I see a better product now than three years ago or eight years ago."
He’s not the only one. The Seahawks, eager to show off their new stadium and
secure season-ticket holders, finally will be boasting a truly marketable commodity at
quarterback. Not only for posters and charitable causes, but also to keep fannies in the
seats when the weather turns sour. A team on the cusp believes it has the final piece to
the puzzle.
"Trent earned the right to try and get this thing done," Holmgren said last
month.
There’s no static with that message. It finally comes across loud and clear. |
