Here’s the catch

Published on December 13, 2010 by Tacoma News Tribune (Feed)     

With starters Mike Williams and Ben Obomanu out, Ruvell Martin stepped in and stepped up for the Seahawks. But he wasn’t pleased with his performance on Sunday.

Ruvell Martin had just caught four passes for 73 yards and his first touchdown since 2008. But all he could think about were the plays he didn’t make in the Seahawks’ 21-point loss.

Never mind that he just rejoined the team last month and was inactive for two of the previous four games.

Forget that he had not caught a pass for the Seahawks this season.  Big deal if he was forced into a starting role in Sunday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers because of injuries to leading receiver Mike Williams and flanker Ben Obomanu.

As much as he did, Martin felt he should have done more.

“Actually, I’m kind of disappointed in my performance,” said Martin, who was standing in a corner of the Seahawks locker room at Candlestick Park with one towel wrapped around his waist and another draped across his shoulders.

“A lot of the mistakes I made, people probably wouldn’t know about. But I feel like I can put together a better game than that.”

Martin was there when the Seahawks most needed him, however. And they’ll likely need him again in next week’s game against the Atlanta Falcons at Qwest Field because Deon Butler had his leg broken while making a touchdown catch late in the fourth quarter, Brandon Stokley went out in the third quarter with a strained hamstring and Williams and Obomanu remain questionable with ankle and hand injuries.

“It’s always difficult,” Martin said of playing without two receivers and then watching two more go down.

“Any time you take away a guy who’s going to help your team make plays, that’s always difficult.

“For the rest of us, we need to step up and adapt. That’s something we didn’t do today.”

Martin already was thinking about the next chance to step up, and adapt. The Seahawks will have to have everything he and everyone else can give against a very good Falcons team that pushed its record to 11-2 on Sunday.

“That’s what you’ve got to do,” he said. “You’ve got to go and get back to your playbook and get back to practice and get it right.

“That’s completely what I expect from our guys, and hopefully it gets done.”

Coach Pete Carroll and quarterback Matt Hasselbeck were not as hard on Martin as he was.

“Ruvell was battling hard,” Hasselbeck said.

Offered Carroll, “Ruvell did a nice job today. He made some big plays for. It was a good response and performance by him.”

One that was needed, because Williams and Obomanu could not play. Carroll said both wanted to play, but it was decided to make each inactive after they worked out before the game.

“Both were close,” Carroll said. “Ben was catching with a cast on his hand, but it was killing him. Mike was really close. But it’s a couple weeks now of not working and I felt we were stretching it just to get him out there. We’ll get him better and see if we can get him right.”

Tags: Atlanta Falcons, ben obomanu, Better Game, Brandon Stokley, Candlestick Park, Deon Butler, Flanker, Four Games, Fourth Quarter, Goo, Hand Injuries, Locker Room, Qwest, Receivers, Ruvell Martin, San Francisco 49ers, Seahawks, Standing In A Corner, Starters, Touchdown