Opportunity knocks, Heller answers

Players get branded. Like actors, they are stereotyped into certain roles, stuck in situations that are difficult to escape.

Take Will Heller, which is just what the Seahawks did last season.

Heller is a blocking tight end. He is the guy who wedges a hole for running back Shaun Alexander on third-and-short. Or protects quarterback Matt Hasselbeck from some ill-intentioned linebacker.

Heller is the football equivalent of a character actor. An almost-anonymous, glamorless figure in a high-visibility game.

Even though he wears the same number as Cincinnati's spotlight-seeking Chad Johnson, Heller is no "Ocho Cinco." He is the mute button to Johnson's booming bass. He is the whisper to Ocho Cinco's screams.

But in Sunday's 33-6 ramble over "The Lamest Show on Turf" — the 2007 St. Louis Rams — Heller caught two touchdown passes. Across the country in Cincinnati, Johnson caught none.

And heading into the last Sunday in October, Seattle's No. 85 has only one fewer TD catch this season than Ocho Cinco.

"Will's probably not the guy people think about when they think about tight ends," said former Seahawks fullback Mack Strong, who played the game with that same kind of quiet selflessness for 15 seasons. "But he's a heck of a player, and I think Seattle found another weapon today."

Heller, 26, took the hard road to the NFL. He walked on at Georgia Tech. Got a degree in civil engineering. Went undrafted and signed with Tampa Bay in 2003. After two seasons with the Bucs, he split a year with Miami and Tampa Bay before signing with the Seahawks last season.

He did what he was told. Blocked whom he was supposed to block and caught a mere four passes in 2006.

And he was quiet as snowfall.

"People get stigmatized in this league as being a certain way, but it really has nothing to do with what type of football player they are," Strong said. "Nobody really knows until you give them an opportunity. They gave him an opportunity today, and he came through."

Heller bookended this game — catching a 1-yard pass from Hasselbeck to finish the game's first drive, then grabbing an 11-yard pass in the fourth quarter for the final Seahawks score.

"He's a beast," said wide receiver Nate Burleson. "He's a former basketball player, so he knows how to position his body. Great hands. Soft-spoken. Doesn't celebrate. Just goes out there and plays ball and does the dirty work.

"Today we all saw that he can run good routes and get in the end zone. Today he was rewarded for all the weeks putting in extra work on the special teams and on the offensive side of the ball."

With Alexander still in a running funk and tight end Marcus Pollard and receivers Deion Branch and D.J. Hackett hurt, the Hawks offense was looking for inspiration. Heller responded.

"Yeah, I have been kind of labeled as a nonreceiving tight end," he said, "but that's how this league works. That's how life is. This was a big day for me. It was a lot of fun. I'm glad it worked out the way it did. In this business, that's what you're expected to do when you're a backup. You're expected to go in there and replace the first guy like there's nothing different."

On this past Saturday's football eve, sitting around the dinner table, Hasselbeck teased his new starting tight end.

"Have you ever started a game for us?" Hasselbeck asked.

"Yeah, I started last year against the Giants," Heller said. "Caught a touchdown pass."

Someone else at the table suggested that since this would be Heller's second start, he should catch two TD passes.

"We all were like, right, like that will ever happen," Hasselbeck said.

It happened.

"Our secret weapon," Hasselbeck said.

If you looked at Sunday's game as an opportunity for the 4-3 Seahawks to forge an identity, they didn't. The same nagging problems persist.

They couldn't run the ball. Their offense sputtered in the red zone. And although they kept the winless Rams out of the end zone, remember St. Louis has scored just five TDs all season.

Take this win for what it is — a division win at home that puts the Hawks in the NFC West's catbird seat.

And remember it for the day Will Heller's hard work was rewarded. Good things happened to a good person.

"It's kind of been my deal. I just come to work. Work hard, do what I'm supposed to and hopefully do it right," he said. "I've always been quiet. But that's not to say I'm not having fun. I'm lovin' it."

For the first Sunday in his career, an important chunk of the game plan was written for him.

Will Heller escaped the stereotype. Will Heller was a star.

Steve Kelley: 206-464-2176 or skelley@seattletimes.com