RENTON — Days like these are made for optimism.
On a near perfect July afternoon along the shores of Lake Washington, the Seahawks opened training camp hoping this is the beginning of a something good.
Under first-year head coach Jim Mora, the Seahawks are hoping to turn a 4-12 record from last year into a distant memory and return to the playoffs.
“I think we can,” said veteran left tackle Walter Jones. “We’ve just got to come out here, work hard every day and get the winning tradition back.”
And if you can’t believe that now, when can you?
Of course there has to be a reason to be optimistic other than just a change in the calendar. But with the likes of Jones, Patrick Kerney, Matt Hasselbeck, Nate Burleson and Deion Branch all in uniform, the Seahawks believe Friday was the start of a better season. After losing so many key players to injury last year, the Seahawks were buoyed by the presence of so many of those players at Friday’s practice, many of whom missed or were limited in the offseason minicamps.
“It’s good,” Hasselbeck said. “I saw Walt next to me in the stretch today, and that was good. It was great to get a chance to throw for real to Deion and Nate today. Part of our challenge this year is for all the guys that went on Injured Reserve last year to come back and have an impact.”
If all of that happens, things should be looking up for Seattle. Of course, it’s no guarantee that the likes of Jones, Kerney and Hasselbeck, all of whom are on the wrong side of 30, can stay healthy for the duration of the 2009 season.
“That’s the million dollar question,” Mora said. “I’m certainly hopeful they can. I’m optimistic they can. I believe all three have worked very hard with our training staff and our doctors to do everything they can to make sure that is the case. They’ve all been very dedicated to their rehabilitation. We’ll see. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.”
Despite the feel-good feelings of Day 1, it wasn’t all good news Friday. Mike Wahle, a 12-year veteran and the Seahawks starting left guard last season, was released by the team after failing a physical, and his NFL career is likely over.
Veteran cornerback Marcus Trufant was placed on the physically unable to perform list with a sore back. Mora didn’t think the injury was serious, but then again, nobody was saying Matt Hasselbeck’s back injury was serious when it first happened last year.
“We want to be cautious with backs, given our history, so when Marcus is ready to go, he’ll be back out there,” Mora said.
First-round draft pick Aaron Curry remains unsigned and therefore was not at practice. While it is hardly unusual for a first-round pick to miss the beginning of training camp, Mora said he is eager to get the linebacker on the practice field.
“We’d always like everyone here for every practice,” Mora said. “That’s a coach’s dream, to have everybody on time and healthy for the start of training camp. … It hurts (Curry not being here). There’s repetitions that you can’t make up, but fortunately, Aaron had a very, very productive offseason. He got a lot of work in. He’s a smart young man. It’s important for him to be here as soon as possible, and like I said, I just have confidence that something will get done.”
Also, the practice itself simply didn’t go quite as well as the coaches or players would have hoped. Mora said the team was a bit sluggish, having started the day at 6 a.m. for physicals and meetings.
“It was Ok,” Hasselbeck said. “It wasn’t good enough. Coach Mora let us know it definitely wasn’t good enough, and we’re aware of it. It’s understandable why everything wasn’t as smooth as it needed to be. Today was not up to the standard that we set, we didn’t hit it today. We’ll hit it again tomorrow we have two chances to improve.”
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more Seahawks coverage, check out the Seahawks blog at heraldnet.com/seahawksblog
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