The “Brock and Salk” sports talk show on the local ESPN radio affiliate is nothing if not a model of head-scratching inconsistency. What sets them apart from their competitors, who maintain a predictability and clear-headed assessment of events, is that it’s almost impossible to predict where their flights of fancy will take them—like children speculating what presents they are going to get for Christmas. Mike Salk in particular can open a show bemoaning a particular development in the sports world, but his views “evolve” over the course of a half-hour to the point where he is belittling a caller for merely reiterating the same view he had enunciated seemingly only moments earlier. Brock Huard the other day wrote an “open letter” to Peyton Manning, suggesting reasons why Seattle would be his best “fit” if he is released by Indianapolis. There was the suggestion that Brock would try to find a way to email this plea to Manning. I can easily imagine how this fantasy would play out: “Brock? Brock who? I’ve got to talk to my agent about letting stuff like this get through the pores. I’m not completely without a sense of humor, but this isn’t even funny.”
Any team with Tarvaris Jackson as its “best” option at starting quarterback is bound to have a fan base that fantasizes about the alternatives. Before Brett Favre entered the scene in 2009, most Minnesota fans expected (or hoped) that journeyman Sage Rosenfels that would win the starting quarterback job over T-Jack. Despite the fact that Seahawk’s coach Pete Carroll has implied that T-Jack will be the starter for at least another season, and most local commentators have accepted the limited nature of the team’s choices, Brock and Salk have courted listeners’ incredulity for months. First they dreamed about what it would take to get Andrew Luck. Once reality on that score settled in, Salk fixated on Robert Griffin III like a kid in a candy store; that lasted for about week or two. There was the possibility of Mark Sanchez coming to Seattle, before that was laughed off, although it was just as funny as the previous notions entertained.
Salk’s musical chairs then landed on Russell Wilson; I’m a Wisconsin Badgers fan, so I knew who he was, but I wasn’t so sure he was better than many quarterbacks the Badgers produced who played well in college but never panned out on the professional level. After the 1963 Rose Bowl and then in leading an upset win over the Green Bay Packers in the College All-Star Game, Ron VanderKellen seemed poised for substantive NFL career, but he didn’t survive long, and little has changed since. Randy Wright, Darrell Bevell, Brooks Bollinger, John Stocco and Jim Sorgi all followed him; good college quarterbacks, no better than back-ups in the NFL. Last year, Scott Tolzien also had a productive season, even though the Badgers were a few yards short of having 3 1,000-yard rushers. This past season, Montee Ball was the focus of the running attack, and Wilson—who had a reputation as a quarterback who liked throwing the ball, was provided more opportunities to do so than Badger quarterbacks were generally allowed to do. But whether with his small stature he is more likely to translate in the NFL than his predecessors is another question altogether.
On and on, yada, yada, yada. Now the fantasy involves Manning. It’s highly ironic that these two personalities, who regularly find some reason to deride Favre, don’t recognize the fact that all this Manning talk sounds a lot like the talk surrounding the Jets and Vikings acquisition of the old gray-beard. They believed that Favre still had something in the tank, and that he was better than the options they had at hand. And now, the belief that even an 85 percent healthy (assuming he will still be healthy the first time his head hits the turf after a hard sack) Manning is a miracle waiting to happen for seven teams, according to Brock—to include Seattle. They are teams that want to win it all now, and they—like the Jets and the Vikings—are only a quarterback “away.” Seattle fans, we are now told, are willing to forgo a long-term solution for a one-shot at glory—which may in fact turn out to be a long shot of Manning isn’t as healthy as pretended.
Of course you might observe that Matt Flynn has not been mentioned; that is because he isn’t a “fantasy.” Over at Bleacher Report, Matt Miller gave his opinion about where the Seahawks are and how they should fill their principle need:
"It's incredible to think the Seattle Seahawks nearly made the playoffs with Tarvaris Jackson at quarterback. That goes to show the type of team Pete Carroll has built—strong on defense with a powerful running game to back it up."
And:
"Step one this spring will be finding a quarterback. That may come through the draft, although it's unlikely, and it could come in free agency if they can lure Matt Flynn with a big contract. Flynn would be a perfect fit for the offensive stylings in Seattle, and combined with a young offensive line on the upswing, Seattle would be in great shape with Flynn leading the corps in 2012."
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