Preseason Game 2: Seahawks vs. Vikings

I can only imagine how could those first collisions felt between Seattle and San Diego players last week. Each helmet scratch and every bruise indicating, yes indeed, football was back. Not only was it rejuvenating to watch my Seahawks fly around the gridiron again but they also pulled out a comeback victory.

Sure it is still preseason but someone is going win that game and I want it to my team, no matter the scenario. So what did we learn?

Tavaris Jackson needs more time. Charlie Whitehurst can beat fellow second-stringers like himself. Undrafted quarterback John Portis is going to put a fire underneath the aforementioned. Hence, coach Carroll is having a blast watching them compete because the best will start in his system.

We also observed left tackle Russell Okung leave the game very quickly with a ankle injury. Yikes! Deja vu anyone? The Seahawks doctors say its not a serious injury and the team expects Okung to start September 11th at San Francisco. This team will not flourish without him and his offensive line brethren intact.

We didn't get to see much of the hyped receiving corp that will surely be a sharp weapon the Hawks hope to wield in battle. Tomorrow Sidney Rice matches up with his old teammates at CenturyLink Field. Rice spent the last 4 seasons there and appeared in one Pro Bowl as a Viking.

Expect to see fellow behemoth Mike Williams for a couple series as well. Those two should give most cornerbacks nightmares with their extreme height disadvantage.

Coach Carroll said the starters will play the first half compared to a couple series last week. I expect Seattle to play a lot more fluid and for them to beat a Minnesota team that is seeking their identity after a coaching change and Brett Farve's departure.

Quarterback: insert here

In football, quarterback play is everything. Their performance is vital to all success and all failure. But you say, doesn't the defense and the quarterback's receivers and runningbacks mean anything? Of course they do, football is the ultimate team game. However, in the last 25 years there have been twice as many Most Valuable Player awards given to a quarterback than any other position.

The league's most legendary players are quarterbacks and that is because at the very least they must touch the ball on every offensive possession. They need to know every play in the offense (very difficult). They must adapt to shifts by the defense on the fly, otherwise known as an audible. Oh yeah, a quarterback must also make a lightening fast decision on where to throw the football with the world's most aggressive and ferocious men bearing down them within seconds.

Their importance cannot be underestimated, nor can the unified effort from the offensive line and skill position specialists around them. No quarterback can reach hero status on their own. Football demands a one-track mind shared by 11 men at a time.

Each year the NFL is updated and refilled with fresh meat from the college ranks. And of course the most talked about players are the incoming rookie quarterbacks that teams hope to rest their future on. Many times these high draft picks don't work out. Sometimes they work perfectly. It is far from an exact science but I have a hypothesis as to what commonly does work.

A rookie quarterback succeeds quickest when all the parts are in place before he gets there. It's like instant oatmeal, just add water and then presto, you got a delicious breakfast.

The Seattle Seahawks are building the recipe right now by adding all the necessary parts before they add the water, i.e. 2012 first-round pick. Right now Seahawk quarterbacks Tavaris Jackson and Charlie Whitehurst are placeholders. Meanwhile, coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider are piecing together a beastly offensive line, a brutal rushing attack and a broadside-of-the-barn receiver core that you just can't miss.

Starting a rookie quarterback is all about minimizing margin-of-error and the Hawks are definitely setting themselves up for a delicious breakfast as soon as next season...