Jennings wilting in Seattle Seahawks' secondary

Twenty-five-year-old Kelly Jennings was Wilson this time last season: a second-year player who had moved into the starting lineup and improved each week. Those days seem so far away now.

Since Jennings got demoted to the role of Wilson's backup, he's trying not to let his confidence waver.

"You've just got to let it go," he said of the negative energy that comes with losing a starting job. "It's tough to let it go because you want to be good, and if you're not, you feel like you're letting people down. But if you hold on to that, you'll never get back to where you need to be."

Seahawks fans have seen how confidence can affect a players' career -- both good and bad. While former first-round pick Marcus Trufant gained so much confidence early last year that he went on to have a Pro Bowl season, former starting safety Michael Boulware lost so much confidence during his third season in Seattle that he eventually got shipped out of town.

Confidence, at the defensive back position more than any other, can be the fine line that separates the Pro Bowler from the unemployed.

"As a defensive back, you have to be able to brush things off very quickly," Seahawks safety Brian Russell said. "There comes a time when every defensive back gives up a play. You've got to get ready for the next play because if you let it linger in your mind, it's going to get ugly for you."

While teammates say that confidence has been a big part of Wilson's emergence, they claim that Jennings has shown no signs of losing his. Even after the third-year player missed a tackle to help set up the Philadelphia Eagles' second touchdown last Sunday, Jennings kept his head high.

"Kell, his confidence level is there," safety Deon Grant said. "He's just real quiet, so when people see his demeanor, they think his confidence level might not be high. It's high; he's just a quiet dude."

Defensive coordinator John Marshall said he hasn't noticed any change in Jennings's psyche.

"He's not in the tank or anything like that," Marshall said. "He's very workmanlike about what he's doing. But I didn't ask him about how he's feeling or anything -- because I was afraid he'd tell me."

Defensive back Jordan Babineaux is among the players who have rushed to Jennings's defense this season. When reporters descended on Jennings' locker after the benching, Babineaux tried to shoo them away.

It brought back memories of a postgame locker room incident in 2006, when Babineaux barked at reporters who had surrounded Boulware's locker minutes after the safety had given up a game-winning touchdown pass against San Diego.

Babineaux did not want to compare the situations, and he added that he isn't trying to single Jennings out.

"At this point right now, being in the situation we're in, we could all use a little uplift," Babineaux said this week.

Jennings started 20 of Seattle's past 22 games -- a concussion relegated him to a lesser role in the Oct. 5 game against the New York Giants -- before officially losing his starting job on Oct. 12. He had given up too many long passes, including two touchdowns, in the first four games of this season.

This week, Jennings said that demotion came as no surprise.

(heraldnet.com)