Updated Jul 5, 2012 - 4:24 pm
Kurt Warner weighs in on Seahawks' quarterback battle
Take one guess as to what dominated the conversation when Kurt Warner – the former NFL quarterback who made four Pro Bowls and won a Super Bowl MVP – joined Dave Grosby and Matt Pitman Thursday on "Bob and Groz."
As you might expect, their 16-minute discussion focused mostly on the Seahawks' quarterback competition between Tarvaris Jackson, Matt Flynn and Russell Wilson.
A few highlights:
And the winner is ... Warner thinks Matt Flynn will be Seattle's starter, but it sounded as though his reasoning was based more on a perceived lack of confidence in Tarvaris Jackson than anything he's seen from Flynn.
![]() Kurt Warner thinks Matt Flynn will be the Seahawks' starting quarterback, but he suggests that Flynn's adjustment to a new team and a new offense might take some time. (AP)
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Warner stressed the importance of finding a great quarterback. He spoke of Flynn's addition as something that improved the competition at that position, not one that necessarily gave the Seahawks their long-term answer. He doesn't seem completely sold on Flynn, in other words.
Knowing vs. mastering an offense. Warner spoke from experience when he talked about the challenges of splitting reps between quarterbacks, which the Seahawks plan to do when they begin training camp later this month. In Flynn's case, Warner thinks that will make it harder to master the offense, something Jackson shouldn't have to worry about given all the time he's spent in coordinator Darrell Bevell's system. Warner said memorizing an offense isn't the same as understanding it well enough to execute it efficiently.
Warner: "It's always one thing to study your playbook and draw plays on the board and be able to decipher stuff. It's completely different when you have to actually call the play in a timely fashion, you have to get up there and be able to react and make it second nature to you. So you can get as many mental reps as you want; it's never the same as a physical rep. The less of those you get, the less you're going to be ready because that's really where you learn and where you grow is under fire, whether it's preseason games, whether it's live scrimmages or just competitive situations in practice."
Connecting with receivers takes time. Flynn had been with the Packers for nearly four full seasons when he set franchise records with 480 yards passing and six touchdowns in his only start of 2011. Now, he's not only running a new offense but throwing to new receivers. Again speaking from experience, Warner said that is much more difficult than it might seem -- even for a Pro Bowl quarterback and Pro Bowl receivers.
Warner: "When you're used to certain guys doing things certain ways, it's tough. And I learned it actually when I came to Arizona [in 2005]. When I played in St. Louis I had some tremendous receivers, but they played the game differently than the great receivers I had in Arizona, Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin -- great receivers in their own right, but they played the game different. I saw the game a certain way based on how he played in St. Louis, and it took me a full year to be able to transition to seeing guys open differently, watching them run routes differently. And they were great receivers. It didn't have anything to do with them. It was me having been so ingrained to play the game a certain way that I had to kind of change my thinking to be able to be successful in a similar system but with different guys.
"And I'm sure that's what Matt is going to go through as well with the little things, the little nuances of the game or the little nuances of certain players that's different there than it was in Green Bay."
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Bob Stelton is the co-host of "Bob and Groz". He came to 710 ESPN Seattle from 101 ESPN in St. Louis and had previously worked for Sporting News Radio in Chicago and Santa Monica, Calif. Bob began his radio career in Seattle in 1997 after a failed attempt to become a rock star.
Dave Grosby is the co-host of "Bob and Groz." The Groz has spent the last 21 years of his 39-year broadcast career as a Seattle sports talk show host. Dave is also the play-by-play announcer for Seattle U basketball on KTTH 770. Before coming to Seattle, Dave worked at KFI in Los Angeles and KFBK in Sacramento. He's been married to his wife Bonnie for 23 years.
After two years as the producer for "Brock and Salk," Colin Paisley now produces "Bob and Groz." Colin also hosts "Seattle Sports at Night" with Tom Wassell and Matt Pitman. Colin came to 710 ESPN Seattle after five years at various FM music stations in Bellingham and Seattle. In addition to his time as producer and host, Colin likes to spend his time embracing his "Slacker Gen-Y" persona by napping and not caring about stuff. Plus he likes tons of bands you've never heard of, and once you hear of them he'll stop liking them.


























