Mora didn't see Vick in his current light

KIRKLAND — Jim Mora sits three times zones and seven months removed from the controversy now at full boil in the opposite corner of the country.

He reached out to Michael Vick on Wednesday, sending a text message to the man indicted for dogfighting, the one told by the league to stay away from his team for the time being.

"That's not to condone what he supposedly did at all," Mora said. "It's just on a human level, it's a guy I've known for three years and I wanted him to know that I was here."

That's as close as the Seahawks came to controversy on the first day of their new season as a group of reporters asked the former Falcons head coach what he thought of his former player.

"It's really tough for me to comment on what's going on with him," Mora said. "Because I don't know how I feel about it. I go back and forth. I think you can probably understand that ...

"It's a tough call for me so I'm trying to keep my focus on my family and the Seattle Seahawks."

No pickets here in Seattle. No public present either. Just a team with three consecutive division titles taking the field of a small school in the suburbs without so much as a squeak of acrimony.

Clouds hung in the sky over the team's headquarters, not questions. The franchise quarterback is back from offseason surgery and defensive tackle Marcus Tubbs is the only Seahawk who didn't pass his physical.

Nothing sensational unless you count US Weekly mentioning quarterback Matt Hasselbeck. Those looking for scandal had to ask about what's going on with the Falcons and Vick.

"What I saw was a real professional," Mora said. "A kid that cared about his teammates, cared about people in general, was a hard worker, was always there, was always on time.

"And once again, he's accused of these things. He hasn't been convicted so I didn't ever see anything that indicated that side of him."

Neither did Patrick Kerney, the Seahawks' new defensive end and Vick's former teammate in Atlanta.

"I certainly wouldn't have expected that," Kerney said.

Kerney never heard anything regarding dogfighting and Vick, and he characterized his former teammate as quiet. Mora said he had no clue either. He knew Vick as a flamboyant player, not a flamboyant person. Someone with high-voltage athleticism, but a low-key personality.

"I think it's a real unfortunate situation," Mora said. "I hope for the best for him. You obviously hope the charges aren't true, but like I said, my focus has been on what's going on here."

So what is happening here? Not all that much by comparison because things have been pretty docile for the Seahawks.

Almost boring in fact as the season started beneath a steady rain for the morning workout that started just a little bit after 9.

Shaun Alexander stood beneath the tent erected outside the Seahawks' locker room, taking a few extra seconds of shelter from the weather. Hasselbeck confirmed the weather report that cited a 100-percent chance of rain — "Rich Marriott is never wrong," he said — and then tackle Walter Jones wondered just how he was supposed to lose weight in this weather.

The Seahawks' first steps into this season were slow and a little bit soggy and you had to look three time zones away to find a hint of controversy.

Danny O'Neil: 206-464-2364 or doneil@seattletimes.com