Dilfer Starting Season on High Note

Trent Dilfer won the Super Bowl, then lost his job.

He found his way to a new football team, only to be a backup.

A year later, he’s on top again, as the starter for the Seattle Seahawks in a season already surrounded by hype.

“Maybe the neatest thing I experienced in the process was I’d always been the star, like most guys--high school, college,” he said. “You start in the NFL and you never had to be one of the guys that was in the background and yet still had an impact.

“I got to appreciate that and experience it, and I’m forever thankful for that, because I think I’ll have a better perspective on my team because of it.”

The Seahawks are counting on Dilfer to get them into the playoffs and show some of the postseason poise he had in Baltimore. Seattle missed the playoffs last year with a 9-7 record, despite winning three of its last four games. Dilfer is riding a 15-game winning streak as a starter.

There are plenty other reasons for the Seahawks to be excited this season. The team will play in a new $430 million downtown stadium, wear new uniforms and compete in a new division, the NFC West.

“It feels good knowing you have somebody like Dilfer at the helm,” said second-year receiver Koren Robinson, Seattle’s top draft pick in 2001.

“You want to go out there and work hard for him because you know what type of person he is. You know he’s going to get you the ball. You know that he’s going to do everything that he can to make you better. So you do everything you can to help him out.”

Dilfer, considered one of the NFL’s most promising young quarterbacks when he was drafted seventh by Tampa Bay in 1994, never made his mark with the Buccaneers. He lost his job to Shaun King, who guided the Bucs to the 1999 NFC title game. Then Dilfer was released.

The Ravens signed him as a backup to Tony Banks, who was ineffective. Baltimore benched Banks for Dilfer, who went unbeaten the rest of the season.

But Dilfer lost his spot with Baltimore just over a month after leading the Ravens to the championship, making him the only Super Bowl-winning quarterback who headed into the following season without a job.

Then he signed a one-year contract with Seattle and vowed to be the best backup in the NFL, because Seattle coach and general manager Mike Holmgren already had decided Matt Hasselbeck would start.

As Holmgren stuck by Hasselbeck, who had never started a regular-season game, he faced criticism for not starting Dilfer. Fans often chanted “Dilfer, Dilfer!” during games.

But the man committed to being the best backup got another chance as a starter. Dilfer went 4-0 when Hasselbeck was injured, improving his string of victories to 15.

He signed an $8 million, four-year contract in the offseason and Holmgren promoted Dilfer to No. 1 this spring, demoting Hasselbeck.

The route Dilfer took back to the top made him a better player and person, he said.

“Some roller coasters are more public than others,” Dilfer said. “Obviously, my situation leaving Tampa to Baltimore and Baltimore coming here, backing up, starting--yadda yadda yadda--was big news and kind of a journey. But I kind of look at each year as a new journey and whatever my circumstances are, I make the most of them.”

Dilfer, 30 and the father of four, insists he has grown up and is ready for this role. He wants to forget some of the frustrating times from early in his career.

He even mentored David Carr, the overall No. 1 pick in the draft by Houston. Both played at Fresno State.

Seahawks quarterbacks coach Jim Zorn appreciates Dilfer’s attitude.

“He’s maintained his poise, and that’s probably a great sign for a quarterback that can take a team places,” said Zorn, Seattle’s first starting quarterback.

Linebacker Isaiah Kacyvenski says the Seahawks have faith in Dilfer because they’ve seen what he can do.

“We’re all behind Trent,” Kacyvenski said.

“There is obviously a warm and fuzzy feeling to have the attention, getting to be a part of all the excitement, but there’s also a great responsibility that goes with it,” Dilfer said.