Patrick Kerney, Lawrence Jackson prepare for season opener

By Frank Hughes | Tacoma News-Tribune • Published September 05, 2008

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BUFFALO - The last time we checked in with Seattle Seahawks defensive end Patrick Kerney, he was getting double- and triple-teamed by the Green Bay Packers and recorded the same number on the stat sheet as injured teammate Marcus Tubbs, who was not in uniform: zero.

So it’s not precisely accurate to say that Kerney is going to try to pick up where he left off last season when the Seahawks visit the Buffalo Bills on Sunday in what will be both teams’ season openers.

But when you take Kerney’s Pro Bowl season as a whole, which included a conference-leading 14 1/2 sacks and five forced fumbles, it is possible that Kerney very well could revisit that level of excellence in this game at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

If there is one noticeable advantage the Seahawks have over the improved Bills, it is at both defensive end spots, with Kerney and rookie Lawrence Jackson, Seattle’s first-round pick, now starting.

Bills left tackle Jason Peters has been in a contract dispute the entire preseason, failing to even communicate with the team. He reportedly ended his holdout on Friday, in part because it was costing him $15,000 a day, and missing games would have lightened his wallet by $191,000 per Sunday. However, he still is not expected to play against Seattle.

With Peters out, the Bill have been forced to slide right tackle Langston Walker, all 366 pounds of him, to the left side, while the inexperienced Kirk Chambers has the unenviable task of facing the relentless Kerney.

“I have to be honest for you, it doesn’t do anything for me,” Kerney said. “Any time anybody says you have a tough game, you have a tough matchup, or you supposedly don’t, I say, ’That guy has an NFL logo on his uniform. You have to respect the fact that he is a professional football player.’

”At one point, Walter Jones was inexperienced. You have to start somewhere. There are plenty of guys who are great players who don’t have a name in this league. I go into every Sunday thinking that.“

Kerney has the ability to change the entire nature of a game, as he displayed often last season. Most notably, he harassed first Marc Bulger and then Gus Frerotte all afternoon in St. Louis. And he was at the forefront of a pass rush that harried Washington quarterback Todd Collins in the Seahawks’ home playoff victory in January.