QB controversy? Pete Carroll ‘not in that mindset at all’

By Liz Mathews

Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll declared Tarvaris Jackson the team’s starting quarterback on July 30 and put to rest any notion of a quarterback controversy.

“In this situation, I think for it to be the most competitive for our team, Tarvaris needs to be our starter right now,” Carroll said during his July announcement. “He comes in as our starter. He’s going to own that position until Charlie and the next couple of fellas that are playing at this spot get a chance to catch up and then the competition will begin from their end.”

Three weeks later, is the position now open for competition?

In Saturday’s preseason loss to the Vikings, Jackson started the game and played the entire first half, completing 11 of 21 passes for 75 yards and a QB rating of 40.8. Whitehurst came in to start the second half and went 14 of 19 for 97 yards and a rating of 102.3.

So has Whitehurst had his chance to “catch up?” Will the competition “now begin” from his end?

Carroll doesn’t think so.

“I’m not in that mindset at all,” Carroll said in his postgame press conference on Saturday. “I love that Charlie played well, and I think we need to give Tarvaris a chance to play well, too, with the guys around him. I felt like he was out there fighting for it and did a good job of competing.”

But not against Jackson.

“I’m kind of competing against myself,” Whitehurst said after the game. “I’m trying to be as good as I can and help the team in any way they ask me. I think I’m a better player now than I was last year, if that answers your question.

“Like I said, reps and experience can only help you I think. I feel more comfortable now. I feel like I’m seeing the field what the defense is trying to do and making good, quick decisions.”

But the decision as to who will be the starting quarterback for the Seahawks remains up to Carroll, and as for now, that decision has already been made.