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**RoyWilliams** · 08-09-2007, 09:07 AM

Seahawks | Hawks WR is catching on better now | Seattle Times Newspaper

Quote:

Nate Burleson struggled to pick things up his first season with the Seahawks.

That's not an exaggeration or a figure of speech or even a commentary on the difficulty of learning Seattle's offense. Burleson had trouble picking up the simplest things after he tore a ligament in his left thumb during training camp.

Like the bottle of Snapple he drank every day in training camp.

"I tried to pick it up to drink it," Burleson said. "I couldn't grab it. That was the first indication to me that I realized it was a pretty serious injury."

Serious enough surgery was an option, but that would have meant missing his first season playing for his hometown franchise. No way, Burleson said. Not for a thumb. So the O'Dea grad clenched his teeth and wore a cast and said absolutely nothing when reporters came asking him why he was having such a hard time getting his hands around the offense here in Seattle.

"I didn't want to use it as an excuse," Burleson said.

Fair enough, but the injury does provide an explanation for those three passes Burleson dropped in the first five games and why he finished with 18 receptions, his fewest in any year since entering the NFL in 2003.

That's hardly what the Seahawks imagined when they signed Burleson from the Vikings as a restricted free agent in 2006, giving up a third-round pick to acquire the guy who had 1,006 yards receiving and nine touchdowns in 2004.

Now it's easier to put a finger on one of the problems last season: Burleson's thumb.

"I remember when the ball was in the air I would think about 'How can I catch without it hitting my thumb?' " Burleson said. "I was often choosing a body catch over catching with my hands."

A year later he's no longer thinking about the thumb, which is a good thing. It means the injury healed over the past year.

"It feels great, 100 percent," Burleson said. "I can go out there, jump up, snag balls. I don't think about having to catch it with my chest before I catch it with my hands."

Burleson's biggest impact last season came on special teams. His 90-yard punt return for a touchdown was the game-changing play in Seattle's victory over St. Louis on Nov. 12.

Where Burleson fits into the wide-receiver rotation remains one of the biggest questions on a team that doesn't have too many questions about its lineup. Deion Branch will start at flanker, the position Darrell Jackson used to occupy, and D.J. Hackett has an inside track on the other starting spot.

Bobby Engram re-signed in free agency, and then there's Burleson, who's made quite an impression in the first eight days of training camp.

"He's playing fast and explosive," quarterback Matt Hasselbeck said. "Last year, he had the thumb injury that he didn't talk about because he's a man and he wasn't wanting to make any excuses."

And now?

"He's playing at such a high level in terms of his speed," Hasselbeck said.

And as Burleson catches he's able to use both his hands to grab hold of an opportunity, catching with a confidence his thumb injury took away last season.

"He's having a better camp," coach Mike Holmgren said. "He's catching the ball better. He's a gifted young man, he really is. He's got to consistently catch it.

"When he gets his hands on it, great things happen for us."

erikfootball51 · 08-09-2007, 04:44 PM

Burelson supposedly played with a broken thumb last year. If that is true then we can expect much better things from him this year.

**Serrated Shadow** · 08-09-2007, 04:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by erikfootball51

Burelson supposedly played with a broken thumb last year. If that is true then we can expect much better things from him this year.

Let's hope so..you can't bank on hackett being a solid #2 just yet.

erikfootball51 · 08-09-2007, 04:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Serrated Shadow

Let's hope so..you can't bank on hackett being a solid #2 just yet.

Ya. Well, with Branch, Engram, Hackett, and Burelson I really think Matt will have no trouble spreading the ball around.

**RoyWilliams** · 08-09-2007, 05:18 PM

That and the offense is pretty open to begin with. Lots of balls to go around.(Insert joke)

**Professor** · 08-09-2007, 09:52 PM

Burelson has been supposed to break out for some time now, he played his best games with moss playing alongside him, he is not a big game player

erikfootball51 · 09-05-2007, 12:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by professorellisdtrails

Burelson has been supposed to break out for some time now, he played his best games with moss playing alongside him, he is not a big game player

Well, Matt is a very accurate QB so the least Burelson can do is catch the ball when its placed in his hands.

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