Preseason

Offense, run defense, Dickson could carry secondary

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Logo -- PreseasonWhile the Seahawks work on figuring out their secondary early in the season, it looks like their offense and run defense should be able to carry them.

Playing without senior vet Bradley McDougald, the shuffling secondary had issues stopping Mr. Guaranteed, Kirk Cousins, and Minnesota’s backs and receivers Friday in a 21-20 win by the Vikings. But the run defense was stiff and Russell Wilson and the offense put the Seahawks in the lead by halftime. And Michael Dickson flipped the field on almost every punt — showing what a huge weapon he will be.

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Preseason, The roster

What we’re watching in Minnesota

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Logo -- PreseasonIt has been an eventful week leading up to the big dress rehearsal game.

Among other things, we learned J.D. McKissic is out 4-6 weeks, Doug Baldwin and Rashaad Penny could be back next week, George Fant is going to compete against Germain Ifedi, and Brian Schottenheimer isn’t satisfied with the running game.

As the Seahawks head to Pete Carroll’s formative NFL stomping grounds in Minnesota for the all-telling third preseason game, the coach has a few goals.

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Contracts, The roster

Wagner sends clear messages to Schneider

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Salary cap logoBobby Wagner fired a couple of warning shots at John Schneider on Wednesday — well-placed markers that should have buzzed right by each of the GM’s ears.

Wagner’s messages to Schneider: (1) Make sure you re-sign K.J. Wright and (2) get ready to pay me a lot of money next year. Wright is in the final year of his contract, and Wagner will be up for an extension next offseason, entering the final year of his deal.

There apparently have been no talks between the Seahawks and Wright to this point, which seems to indicate that Schneider is willing to let the 29-year-old star leave rather than pay top dollar next offseason. That would fit Schneider’s new MO of not paying third contracts to the team’s Super Bowl core.

We have already firmly stated we are in favor of extending Wright, a savvy, durable leader who should be good for four more years because his game is not based on speed.

Wagner made it clear he will be watching how the team handles Wright — and don’t be surprised if that affects whether he is amenable to a new deal next year.

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Injury report, The roster

McKissic out 4-6 weeks, Fant to RT, Darboh to IR? And more updates

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Seahawks bandagesJust as they seemed to be getting healthy, the Seahawks reportedly suffered another big injury.

With two and a half weeks remaining until roster decisions must be made, Pete Carroll and his coaches are making their midway tweaks and setting timelines for injured players. And now word comes that J.D. McKissic is out 4-6 weeks with a broken foot.

Among the other big developments Tuesday, based on Carroll’s comments: George Fant will move to right tackle to challenge Germain Ifedi; Doug Baldwin and Rashaad Penny might play next week and will definitely be ready for the opener; Amara Darboh has a new injury that could land him on IR; and Dion Jordan is probably not going to be ready for the opener in Denver.

On top of that, both kickers released Monday were picked up and the Hawks brought in another pass rusher, troubled Junior Galette, for a tryout.

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Coaches, Preseason, X's & O's

Offense developing consistency, creativity

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Logo -- PreseasonWe’re two preseason games into Seattle’s new offensive era, and the reviews on Brian Schottenheimer and Mike Solari have been pretty glowing so far.

Last week, Pete Carroll reiterated that one of his concerns about the old offense was that coaches were starting to “jam our players into the system” rather than play to their strengths.

The obvious example there is Jimmy Graham, who was forced to become a blocker and was not used downfield as well as he should have been. But Carroll also meant the offensive linemen. As he said in May, “We needed to shift gears a bit to match up with the guys we have here.”

Well, after two preseason games, they seem to be making progress.

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Preseason, The roster

Roster projection at midpoint

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Logo -- PreseasonPhilip Rivers and Melvin Ingram gave the Seahawks a great test in Game 2 of the preseason, a 24-14 win by the Chargers, and we can only hope young guys such as Tedric Thompson, Tre Flowers and Germain Ifedi will learn from it.

Meanwhile, Chris Carson again showed why he is the No. 1 tailback (unless he keeps fumbling), Jaron Brown entrenched himself as the No. 3 receiver, David Moore secured a roster spot with a couple of stellar plays, and Maurice Alexander, Dontae Johnson and Poona Ford all gave the coaches something to think about as we head into the final two weeks.

Here’s our roster projection after two games:

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Preseason

What we’re watching in Los Angeles

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Logo -- PreseasonThe Seahawks have had a couple of surprise changes since their first preseason game.

As they head down to Los Angeles to face the Chargers in preseason Game 2, they will be without Rashaad Penny and Marcus Smith – the latter a surprise release Friday due to personal issues.

The Seahawks were going to have to make a roster transaction to accommodate new pass rusher Erik Walden, but cutting another pass rusher was a surprise.

It’s not like the Hawks are flush with pass rush, but Smith apparently has some personal issues he is working out and Pete Carroll said Smith agreed “it was the right thing to do.”

The Hawks also swapped out a cornerback for a running back, since Penny and Gerald Holmes (concussion) won’t play. In good RB news, C.J. Prosise is expected to play. Of course, he was expected to play last week, too, and then failed to.

Here’s what Carroll is looking for in L.A.: “We need to clean up all of the stuff that happened in the second half (against the Colts). We had 10 penalties in the second half. We need to get rid of that. That was terrible. First half was fine and clean and all that; we moved the ball well and did a lot of good things, but that got in the way in the second half – and it was all the young guys (who) were on the field and they need to be poised and make good decisions and play good, clean football.”

Here’s what we’ll be watching, by position:

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Injury report, Training camp

Penny aside, roster is getting healthier

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Seahawks bandagesThe Seahawks have had a few big injury issues this camp — missing Dion Jordan, Doug Baldwin and Ed Dickson, among others — and now we can add Rashaad Penny to the list.

Along with a handful of guys coming off surgeries and a bunch of short-term ailments (at least seven hip flexor issues), it seems like the Hawks have had a lot of injuries. But the good thing — even in the case of Penny — is that very few of them are big deals. And the roster is getting healthier.

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The roster, Training camp

Roster projection ahead of second game

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Training camp logo2As the Seahawks gear up for their second preseason game (at the Chargers on Saturday), the roster already seems to be firming up — with only a handful of spots appearing open at this point.

The position with perhaps the most questions is cornerback. With Byron Maxwell and Neiko Thorpe missing over a week now, it has given others a chance to show what they have. Rookie Tre Flowers has grown daily, coaches say, Trovon Reed was a pick machine until he got nicked up, and Akeem King played very well against the Colts last week. Jeremy Boykins impressed enough that he got reps with the first defense this week, and Dontae Johnson is finally healthy enough to get into the starting mix a bit in practice.

It’s hard to see Maxwell not starting opposite Shaquill Griffin, but there’s enough talent that he or Thorpe could be in peril — especially if their injuries linger late in the month and other guys excel.

Other spots that seem up for grabs are RB4 (can C.J. Prosise get healthy?), WR5/6 (is Amara Darboh in danger?) and the back end of the offensive line.

Here are roster projections based on what we know at this point:

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Preseason

Rookies, pass rushers show well vs. Colts

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Logo -- PreseasonIt was Rookie Night at C-Link, with most of Seattle’s draft class and a few other newbies showing pretty well in the Seahawks’ first preseason game, a 19-17 loss to Indianapolis.

Third-round pick Rasheem Green was in on two sacks, including one with sixth-rounder Jake Martin; fifth-rounder Shaquem Griffin led Seattle with nine tackles; and fifth-rounder Michael Dickson boomed three punts for a 47.3 average, landing one inside the 20.

First-rounder Rashaad Penny showed good feet, even if he didn’t gain much ground (16 yards on eight carries), and Trey Flowers played pretty well for his first game as a corner.

“The young guys did really well. The draft picks were all involved with doing good stuff tonight,” Pete Carroll said. “They have been looking that way in practice as well, so it’s not really a surprise. It’s just really pleasing to see it showed up at game time. That’s very promising for us.”

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