Deon Butler's Rookie Diary

Deon Butler is spending the bye week wishing that it wasn't a bye week.

He's healthy because he hasn't played much lately. He wishes the break would hurry up and end, so that he can get back to work — and, perhaps, winning.

In this installment of his weekly rookie diary, the Seahawks' wide receiver discusses coming oh so close to making a big catch in last week's game against Arizona, shopping for clothes to wear in the rain and his mother's comical struggles learning to drive his new BMW X5. In addition, Nate Burleson makes a special guest appearance at the end.

'I'm in this giddy, rookie mode'

"I'm not sure what I'll do during this bye. If I do anything, it's going to be probably a last-minute trip to Ann Arbor (Mich.) to watch Penn State's game against Michigan on Saturday. I'd probably just go there for a day. But I've got to check the prices to see what these prices are looking like. I don't make that much money, you know.

"To me, I guess the bye really doesn't matter. I'm anxious to get out there and get some more games and get some more opportunities to win games. I guess it's good for the team as far as getting guys back, getting guys healthy and getting away from it for a while. But for me personally, I'm in this giddy, rookie mode. Let's get it going until we start winning a bunch in a row, and let's keep it going. I'm not tired of football or anything like that. It's not like I need a break or anything like that.

"Physically, I feel good. I've been down there racing people at gunner all game. If the people see me, they see me at gunner. I'm out there racing on the corner and showing off some speed. But I'm not logging a whole bunch of plays, so my body feels good. I'm getting in the cold tub, doing stuff like that, so I'm feeling good about my body. I think I'm ready for the season to continue."

'I know we're better than this'

"After we lost the Arizona game, I went out and ate with my family and my financial advisor. Josh Wilson and I have the same financial advisor, so his family was there also. We just went out and had dinner, talked some about the game, talked about other stuff and laughed, joked and had fun. It was kind of good to escape from the obvious feeling I had after the game.

"The feeling was just disappointment. As a team, we know we're better than this. Personally, I know we're better than this. We're not a 2-4 kind of team, but that's our record. There's some frustration because I had a look Sunday. I got behind the defense, and it was just kind of out of my reach where I needed to pick up some speed. It's just frustrating. Plays are so close, especially for me. It's a play I feel like I need to make to help this team win. I'm not getting a lot of opportunities, so when those opportunities do arise, you want to take advantage of them. But I don't want to push. I don't want to be out there trying to force plays, but you definitely realize as a player in this league you have make plays when you're called on. It's just frustrating, and it's so minute of a difference from it turning into six points and it being an incompletion.

"On a deep pass, once the ball starts to come down, you definitely know whether you're going to get to it or whether it's going to be real close or whether it's just overthrown. And that one was, 'Man, this one is overthrown. I've really got to get to this.' As soon as I started to see it come down, I was like, 'Man, if I get to this, I probably won't stay on my feet. I'll probably dive.' And I ended up diving. It was just a frustrating feeling when I landed, and I didn't have the ball. It was a third-down opportunity. It was a chance for a big gain early in the game, and Arizona had gotten out to a fast start. So it was a chance for us to change momentum. With so few opportunities that I'm presented right now, when I have a chance to make a play, I definitely want to be able to make it."

'It still smells like the store'

"The weather has changed. I've got this rain coming now. It's different, but it hasn't been too bad right now, but it's the Seattle people have been telling me about. But it's not too depressing, so hopefully it won't be 40 days and 40 nights of rain."

Butler looks a couple of lockers down and says, "Nate Burleson, what do you think?"

Burleson (joking): "We've had longer streaks than that! Haven't you heard?"

Burleson walks over to Butler's locker.

Burleson: "Hey, he just bought a Northface jacket. Brand new. Nice. And he got him a little hat. It still smells like the store."

Butler: "Yeah, I forgot about that. I went to Nordstrom. Shout out to Nordstrom. And I got some winter gear. A little nice, lightweight Northface and a hat. The weather changed on me, and I realized throwing on shorts and a hoodie every day is not going to cut it. So I did a little bit of shopping to prepare since this weather has changed. That was my weekend. I bought my mom some shoes. Went to Naturalizer. Shout out to Naturalizer — they hooked us up. It was a good weekend besides, obviously, the game."

'What happened to the different speeds?'

Burleson: "Your mom's still driving your vehicle, right?"

Butler: "Yeah, I'm still letting her drive it a little when she visits. She's messing up my seat adjustments."

Burleson: "It's too futuristic for her, isn't it? She's like, 'I'm old school. I'm old school. I need something simple.'"

Butler: "She's like, 'What is this? The navigation?' You know what, though? I need her not to change my seat."

Burleson (laughing): "The steering wheel all on your chin, man?"

Butler: "Oh, my goodness, I had to put the seat back. I've finally got it back right. But that was something for her, learning how to drive the car. I've got this feature with the windshield wiper. You press the button and automatically, based on how much precipitation there is, it does all the work. She's like, 'What happened to the different speeds? Where are the speeds?' It's funny. She's starting to get more comfortable driving it. At first, she wouldn't drive it at all. Now she's moving around town on her own."

Jerry Brewer: 206-464-2277 or jbrewer@seattletimes.com, Twitter: @Jerry_Brewer