Here’s a few interesting tidbits from Seahawks coach Pete Carroll’s press conference Wednesday at the Virginia Mason Athletic Conference:
– Matt Cassel is expected to start at quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys against Seattle on Sunday. Cassel is famous for being an NFL starting quarterback despite never starting a game in college. Carroll happened to be Cassel’s coach at USC when Cassel was backing up Matt Leinart, and here’s what Carroll had to say about Cassel’s time as a Trojan:
“He was an amazing kid. He had extraordinary energy and toughness. He played two sports and when he couldn’t get in at quarterback he just wanted to play. He got in on special teams, he played some tight end, and would do anything. He was just a great, competitive kid. I thought it was really a cool story when he went to New England and how he kind of captured them when he first got there. They really liked him as a back-up and kind of moved him into some good opportunities as soon as he got there. I’m not surprised he can do anything because he’s such a tough kid and so smart. He just couldn’t get it going at SC.”
How close was Cassel to beating out Leinart?
“He was really close. What tipped it? At the time it was really kind of a coin toss. Leinart took over and did really well.”
– In five of Seattle’s seven games, the opposition’s leading receiver has been a tight end. What did Carroll have to say about that?
“I think it’s because we do play aggressive outside and the ball does get pushed inside a lot, pushed inside and underneath. And we’ve played very good players. We’d like to do better against those guys, but the first thing I think of is we’re lined up on those wide guys as much as we can and getting right up in their face and trying to make it hard on them outside, and the ball gets pushed inside more because of that.”
– On the injury front, Carroll said a lot of guys would be back in practice this week. He already said CB Marcus Burley (thumb) and FB Derrick Coleman (concussion) should be ready to play this weekend. Wednesday he added that the likes of DT Jordan Hill (quadriceps), DE Demarcus Dobbs (shoulder), LB Nick Moody (ankle) and C Patrick Lewis (ankle) should make it back to practice this week. Carroll didn’t know exactly where those guys were in terms of their recovery, but he expected them to be able to play.
The one real question mark is RB Thomas Rawls, whose status remains uncertain because of a calf strain/bruise. Carroll said the team signed RB Bryce Brown on Tuesday (waiving WR B.J. Daniels for the second time this season) specifically because of the uncertainty surrounding Rawls.
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