| 10 January 2012
Dear Tarvaris,
Hey, it’s Seattle. Looking back at this year, we’ve been through a lot together, haven’t we?
When Pete Carroll brought you in to replace Matt Hasselbeck, fans were unimpressed. You didn’t really do anything worthwhile when you were the starting quarterback in Minnesota, even playing terrible at times. An average NFL fan’s perspective of you was a young, inexperienced QB with a strong arm that most of the time made boneheaded decisions.
Add all that to replacing a Seattle legend in Hasselbeck, and it was predicable how Seahawks fans would react to you: negatively. Fans flooded Seattle talk radio stations calling for your head even before the season started, as backup QB Charlie Whitehurst outperformed you during preseason. But nonetheless, Pete Carroll kept you at starter going into the season opener against the 49ers.
And it was disaster.
The Seahawks offense couldn’t get off its feet during the first three games scoring an average of just 10 points, and much of the blame was put on you, T-Jack. The boo-birds at CenturyLink field were even louder now, routinely chanting “CHARLIE! CHARLIE!” during the Seahawks’ 13-10 victory over Arizona in week 3. We all wanted you to quit. Yes, give us Charlie Whitehurst, we thought. Just end our misery now.
But you persevered.
After those first three abysmal games, you fought through a torn pectoral muscle on way to throwing for 2564 yards, 12 touchdowns, and a 60 % completion rate in your final 13 games. Once we got our chance to see Charlie Whitehurst fail miserably in Cleveland, we all shut up and admitted you’re not half bad.
You became enamored to Seattle fans once we realized your mental toughness. Not a lot of guys can transfer to a new team with fans biting at your neck and have a decent season leading a young, growing team to a 7-9 record that could have easily been 9-7 if not for a couple close losses.
But you did have your “what the heck are you doing Tarvaris?” moments like your fumble at the end of the 49ers game or your three interceptions in Dallas. Those moments made us wonder whether or not you can truly be a franchise QB, but hey, that issue is a whole other letter.
In the end however, you were pretty good. That’s it. You weren’t amazing, not terrible. Just good.
Just know, Tarvaris, that we all appreciate what you went through this season. Against many odds, you persevered and fought until the end.
And that’s all we can really ask for.
Sincerely,
Seattle
--Nathan Parsons (@nathanparsons98)
