It’s finally time. For most of the wannabe Seahawks anyway.
The Seahawks kick off their 2016 preseason Saturday in Kansas City (1:30 pm PT), and Pete Carroll and his coaches will take the next step in evaluating these guys.
“There (are) so many things to see, so many areas to watch,” he said Friday. “For the coaches, so many exciting guys that see challenge for the first time in a game situation and we’ll start making sense of this thing. This is one huge opportunity to do that.”
Tom Cable has been working with a mostly new cadre of offensive linemen for over three months now, and — like all of us — he is eager to see them “block someone that has a different helmet on.”
He will get his chance Saturday in Kansas City, and we will finally see what Justin Britt looks like at center, how first-round pick Germain Ifedi fits at right guard, whether Bradley Sowell has any shot of playing left tackle and more.
With J’Marcus Webb injured again, it appears the Hawks might start with a line featuring (left to right) Sowell, Mark Glowinski, Britt, Ifedi and Garry Gilliam. We’ll probably see the tackles move around a lot — e.g., Gilliam or George Fant on the left with Terry Poole or Rees Odhiambo on the right.
“It’s really more just to see the different combinations,” Cable said. “Maybe we missed something — like this guy is better at left than at right or vice versa. This is the time to do that, obviously.”
Continue reading Like us, Cable is ready to see line in action
Thomas Rawls and Jimmy Graham were key players in the Seahawks’ surprising offensive evolution in 2015 — Rawls replacing injury-ravaged Marshawn Lynch and offering more speed through the hole and Graham helping the Hawks become more potent through the air.
Of course, just as the offense started to click in November, both players were lost to injuries in a three-week span.
Considering the severity of the injuries — a torn patellar tendon for Graham and a broken ankle for Rawls — it was no surprise that the Seahawks loaded up at tight end and running back this offseason.
So, as Rawls and Graham return to practice this week, they find themselves on an offense that is even more stacked than the one they helped set a team yardage record last year.
Continue reading Rawls, Graham return to stacked position rooms
Pete Carroll has big plans for C.J. Prosise — call it the Prosise Project — so the hamstring injury that has sidelined him all camp has been a major pain for the coach.
“He’s missed a ton — there’s no other way to put it,” Carroll lamented Tuesday. “He missed a lot in the end of OTAs also. He finished OTAs with three days of good work that showed us what we’re looking for, so it’s just frustrating for everybody — because we know he’s got a lot to learn, he’s got a big role that he has a chance to fill.”
Continue reading Carroll frustrated over delayed Prosise Project
The Seahawks have been hit hard with injuries at the skill positions early in camp — so hard that Pete Carroll quipped Sunday, “We’ve got a bunch of hamstrings on the receivers. They all have two.”
**Bass drum, cymbal crash**
Minor injuries early in camp are pretty common — and not a big concern as long as the team handles them with patience. But, when the injuries stack up at one position, it can cause a domino effect as other players become overworked.
That is what the Seahawks have been trying to avoid through the first 10 days of camp as they have lost five receivers, three tight ends, three running backs and two fullbacks.
When the Seahawks won Super Bowl XLVIII, they were still a bunch of upstarts, misfits and castoffs who really didn’t know what to expect and were just following the Pete Carroll way: Always compete.
By the time they got back to the Super Bowl the next year, they had become seasoned veterans despite still being one of the NFL’s youngest teams.
But they were still young and immature — as so many of them proved during and after Super Bowl XLIX — and they failed to mentally or physically recover from that debacle in time for the next season. They still lacked focus and cohesion early in 2015, and it ended up costing them in the postseason.
But they have rediscovered their sense of purpose this offseason, largely because Carroll has changed the way he delivers his mantra.
Continue reading Carroll, Hawks discover ‘Road to Character’
The addition of Jahri Evans to Seattle’s line is both exciting and confusing — exciting because the Hawks are adding a highly decorated veteran and confusing because Evans plays the position where the Seahawks appear most set.
Mark Glowinski and Germain Ifedi have received glowing praise from Tom Cable and Pete Carroll, leading everyone to believe they will be starting at the guard spots when the season starts. Along with Garry Gilliam at left tackle, those positions looked like the only ones where the Hawks had figured it out.
But the addition of Evans, a six-time Pro Bowl right guard, certainly bolsters the competition there — assuming he is healthy and able to play at age 33.
“He’s not been told he’s the starter or anything like that,” Pete Carroll said. “He’s been brought in to compete; (we’re) hoping he’ll add to the level of our play.
Fans and observers were all atwitter Friday over what they perceived as a major shakeup on the Seahawks’ offensive line: J’Marcus Webb being demoted.
Word that veteran guard Jahri Evans was in town (and reportedly received an offer) spawned speculation that the former All-Pro would step in at right guard and Germain Ifedi would slide to tackle to replace Webb.
When three other guys got work at right tackle Friday, many saw that as confirmation that the Hawks were indeed dissatisfied with Webb, the oft-maligned journeyman who is now on his fifth team in seven years.
But Tom Cable shot down that perception after practice, telling KJR, “I don’t know where that came from. That would be completely unfair and inaccurate. I think he’s done quite well. I love what he’s doing.” Cable added that Webb is adapting to the Hawks’ tempo and expectations.
Continue reading Hawks ‘just mixing guys’ on O-line; Cable not unhappy with Webb
Everyone knows the offensive line is the biggest concern about this otherwise Super Bowl-ready Seahawks team, so it’s no surprise to hear Tom Cable say we are a long way from knowing how that unit is going to shape up.
After Day 4 of camp on Tuesday, the assistant head coach said he was pleasantly surprised at the retention of the spring lessons by the entire unit. But he also made it clear they are just getting going and there is a ton of work to be done as they look for new starters at all five positions.
Continue reading Cable: Gilliam on ‘pitch count,’ Webb starting from scratch
Kam Chancellor has changed his tune — back to the original refrain — and the rest of the Seahawks are whistling along.
The once-beloved safety lost a lot of fans with his ill-fated holdout last year, and he didn’t win too many back with his average play from Week 3 on.
He made the Pro Bowl on name recognition (as so many have over the years), but the fact is he wasn’t the same hard-hitting leader who had been a major factor in each of the previous two Super Bowl runs.
On Monday, he called his 2015 play “up and down” — which probably was an overly favorable analysis.
Asked what he learned from last year, he said, “I learned that this is a business; this is the NFL. But more importantly, it’s about a brotherhood. We started a brotherhood here, and we’ve got to continue what we’ve started. That’s the most important thing.”
Continue reading Chancellor’s renewed commitment: ‘It’s about a brotherhood’
CHAWK TALK: Everything being said about the Seahawks 