Veteran Ty Law says Hawks offer chance to win
By CLARE FARNSWORTH
SEATTLE P-I REPORTER
KIRKLAND -- Ty Law has been to the pinnacle repeatedly, only to find the view obscured by what should have been.
During his 11-year NFL career, Law has been on four Super Bowl teams, voted to the Pro Bowl five times and led the league in interceptions twice -- including last season, his first with the New York Jets after playing 10 years with the New England Patriots.
It's not enough. The free-agent cornerback desires more, and can see himself achieving it as a member of the Seahawks.
"What's there left for me to do? There's a whole lot left to do," Law said Monday during a telephone interview from an airport in Florida, where he was catching a plane to New York City to visit his 6-year-old daughter, Tya.
"I've made five Pro Bowls. I should have made nine, because I feel I got ripped off for four others," he added. "The last time I went to the Super Bowl (after the 2004 season with the Patriots), I feel like I got shorted because I didn't get to play in that game.
"So I'm still trying to play catch-up. That's just what I do with my own psyche, to want to improve."
Law visited the Seahawks last week, and liked what he saw and heard.
After he departed, coach Mike Holmgren raised what seem to be the two biggest factors in signing Law: What does he have left mentally as well as physically; and how much will it cost to have him playing opposite Marcus Trufant in 2006 as the Seahawks defend their NFC championship?
Law chuckled when informed that Holmgren had said, "The great ones don't come cheap."
"Mike's been around," Law said. "He knows how it goes. As great a coach as he is, he doesn't come cheap, either."
As for being 32 and seemingly having nothing left to prove -- or play for -- it was as if Law had been waiting for someone to broach that subject.
"I want to play football," he said. "I love to compete. I'm confident in my abilities. I can be a big assist to any team. This 'old man' has something left in his tank."
More significantly, Law's actions speak louder than his words.
During the offseason, he leaves his material trappings in Florida and moves into a corporate apartment in St. Louis to work out with renowned track and field coach Bob Kersee -- whose wife, Jackie Joyner Kersee, won five medals in three Olympics in the heptathlon and long jump.
"Actually, the decision to work with Bob came from being overlooked," Law said. "I figured it was something that could take me to the next level."
It did. His first offseason with Kersee in 1998 led to Law's first Pro Bowl selection that season.
Law and his agent also are talking with the Tennessee Titans, Cleveland Browns and Patriots. But Law likes his chances of adding to his legacy with the Seahawks.
"Although I did have a season no one thought I would have last year, it just didn't satisfy me at all," he said of intercepting 10 passes and being voted to the Pro Bowl for the 4-12 Jets.
"I'm used to winning. So the objective is to go somewhere with a chance to compete and an opportunity to win. I really, really want an opportunity to win again, and I definitely think that could come in Seattle."
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