Gray just gets job done on offensive line

KIRKLAND, Wash. – In Chris Gray’s mind, the biggest game of his career so far came in his senior year at Homewood High School in Birmingham, Ala.

Not the NFC title game the Seahawks won to reach the Super Bowl. Nor any of those Iron Bowl matchups with Alabama he played in while at Auburn.

In Gray’s biggest game, Homewood’s players thought they would win the Alabama high school championship because Gadsden High School had had some injuries that season. But Gadsden’s injured players had recovered and they won 13-7.

That loss still rankles Gray, a 13-year NFL veteran who is the Seahawks’ starting right guard.

“It was a good game, but we lost,” Gray said.

The NFC champion Seahawks are in their first Super Bowl because, in large part, their offensive line – featuring Pro Bowl selections Walter Jones, Steve Hutchinson and Robbie Tobek – has played so well.

Coach Mike Holmgren calls it the best offensive line he’s ever coached, and Gray said it’s the best of eight offensive lines he’s played with in Seattle.

The quiet, reflective Gray has gone mostly unnoticed while starting a Seattle-record 107 consecutive games – except to the guys he’s playing with.

“He’s a great player, man,” said Jones, a five-time Pro Bowl left tackle “To play in this league as long as Chris has, he’s one of those guys who goes out there and gets it on each week. Just to play this game for that long is a compliment to him.”

Gray, 35, entered the NFL out of Auburn in 1993 as a fifth-round draft choice of the Miami Dolphins. He played four seasons with the Dolphins, three for coach Don Shula and one for Jimmy Johnson, before playing in Chicago in 1997. Then he signed with the Seahawks as a free agent in April 1998.

The Super Bowl will be his 10th NFL playoff game.

“It’s the biggest game in football,” Gray said. “That’s what you always play for. It’s a great opportunity.”

The 6-foot-4, 308-pound Gray has survived the NFL through 13 seasons with the help of surgeons. He’s had four operations – on his left knee, his left ankle and both hands.

Sometimes he gets nervous before games, and other times he doesn’t. But that nervousness goes away after the first time he smacks into a defensive lineman. He’s not sure what to expect when the Seahawks offense runs its first play against the Steelers.

“I don’t know if I’ll be nervous,” he said. “I’ve never played in a Super Bowl before.”

The bulk of the publicity on the Seahawks’ offensive line goes to Jones, who has been called by some people the best offensive lineman in the league, and Hutchinson, the left guard.

“For this lineup to click, everybody just has to be on the same page,” Jones said. “A lot of time, they say so much about the left side. But the left side could be doing their job and the right side has to be doing their job, too.”

Holmgren got to Seattle from Green Bay, where he coached the Packers into two Super Bowls, in 1999 – one year after Gray came to the Seahawks. He’s become a big fan of Gray.

“Chris has had a great year,” he said. “He is very steady. He’s kind of a calming force with the offensive line. He gets overlooked, and they tease him about it. But he’s a good player. And he’s a good human being, too. He’s really a good guy.”