The dichotomy that has been his NFL career will be joined at the past and the present Sunday, when the Seahawks play the Vikings at the Metrodome. It will be Burleson’s first regular-season game in Minnesota since he signed with the Seahawks as free agent in 2006.
“I’m excited, man,” Burleson said Wednesday. “I spent three years of my life in Minnesota – three important years – kind of finding myself as an adult and they were the first team to give me an opportunity to play this sport in the NFL.
“I’ve been thinking about it ever since the game ended on Sunday.”
That’s when the Seahawks lost to the Cardinals 31-20 in Arizona, and Burleson went without a reception for the first time this season.
Robert Prince, the Seahawks’ first-year receivers coach, could sense Burleson’s overload of emotions – a mix heavy on excitement but also laced with apprehension.
“I talked to Nate and I said, ‘Hey, you getting jacked up already?’ ” Prince said. “He said, ‘I’m getting a little excited.’ But we try not to dwell on it too much.”
Easier for Prince to say than for Burleson to do.
It was the Vikings who selected him in the third round of the 2003 draft out of Nevada. It was in Minnesota where he had his only 1,000-yard receiving season and caught a career-high 68 passes (2004) – although he’s on pace to catch 80 balls for 1,000 yards this season.As Seattle as Burleson is – which is very – he still has fond memories of his time in the Land of Purple and Viking Horns.
“Just going back and playing my old team and seeing some of the guys, seeing the city again, it’s going to be a good feeling,” he said.
Then he smiled before adding, “I hope I don’t get booed.”
One of the main things Burleson learned during his stint with the Vikings is how seriously the fans in the NFC North take not only the game, but the allegiance to their teams.
“I know how they get, man,” he said. “The Packers, the Vikings, the Lions, the Bears, those are some of them most loyal fans there are. From the time you’re born, if you’re born in Wisconsin, you’re going to be a Cheesehead; if you’re born in Minneapolis, you’re going to be a Vikings fan. That’s when I first actually understood that loyalty of the fans.
“With the Vikings, regardless of how much they did like you when you played for them, they always boo you when you come back with a different team. So hopefully, I get a few cheers. If not, I’ll try to win them over with my play again.”
Burleson’s play in road games compared to his performances in home game could serve as the roadmap for the inconsistency that has detoured the Seahawks’ during their 3-6 start.
In five games at Qwest Field, he has 31 receptions for 396 yards and three touchdowns. In four road games, he has 14 catches for 166 yards and no scores.
“I was thinking about that, and I don’t know what it is,” Burleson said. “I definitely have to figure that out, because I want to do some things here in the final seven games and I know we play four of them on the road.
“Is it an energy thing? Do I need to hype myself up? Because I do feed off the home fans; I do feed off what’s going on in Seattle and at Qwest Field. I’ve got to find a way to excite myself, because once it gets past running out of the tunnel I can’t look in the crowd and see 81 jerseys or hear people yelling my name. It’s got to come from within.”
And what better location to find his way on the road than where his career path began?
While with the Vikings, he played for a head coach who was a former Seahawk – Mike Tice; and with one of the best receivers in the game – Randy Moss.
“Coach Tice did a great job of teaching us how to be a family,” Burleson said of a trick Tice learned from Chuck Knox while playing for the Seahawks. “I felt like when I was on that team, as soon as we left the facility, I still wanted to fight for my guys. Regardless of what was going on, I still had my teammates’ backs.”
As for Moss and some of his other former teammates, the lessons were sweet and also bitter.
“The thing about being in Minnesota, I was surrounded by a lot of guys who cared about the younger players – Randy Moss, Daunte Culpepper, Michael Bennett,” Burleson said. “These were guys who were established and making a lot of money, but they brought everybody in – whether you were a high draft pick or a free agent.
“I was fortunate for that, and I was able to learn from them. Not only football, but finances, relationships, how to handle the media.”
And the bitter? “That was another thing I learned in Minnesota when Randy got traded – anything can happen in this league,” he said. “They traded away one of the best receivers in the league, so now I’m not surprised by any moves made by any team.”
Football lessons. Life lessons. Lasting memories.
“It was a great experience,” Burleson said. “I grew a ton as an athlete and as a man.”
