The Hawks were back at it bright and early today. Here’s the update I filed for tomorrow’s paper:
By John Boyle
Herald Writer
RENTON — A pretty good amount of gray has worked it’s way into Walter Jones’ hair, but even at 35, even coming off of knee surgery, the Seahawks future Hall of Fame left tackle still believes he’s got it.
“This is what I love, and I still feel like I can compete with the best of them, so as long as I feel like that I’m going to continue to stay on the football field,” he said.
And few doubt that a healthy Jones is still one of the best in the game.
“It’s really fun to be on the same side as him,” said Seahawks coach Jim Mora. “He’s a great player, he’s destined for Canton. You watch a guy like Walt who has been in the league as long as he has and who has accomplished as much as he has, and you wonder if they’re going to come out here and work hard or just rest on their laurels, and Walt’s a guy that just puts everything into it every day.”
But keeping him healthy will be the tricky part, so he won’t be putting everything into it every day. Early in camp anyway, Jones will only practice every other day to rest his left knee, which he had micro fracture surgery on in December.
That’s not an ideal situation given that the team has a new coaching staff and a new scheme, but Mora said he has little doubt that Jones can be ready even with an abbreviated training camp.
“He’d been in the same system for so long and he understood it inside and out, but now he’s having to learn,” Mora said after the Seahawks’ second practice of training camp. “So I think puts a little extra burden on him mentally. He’s going to have to pay attention in meetings and be out here for walkthroughs and things like that. But he’s certainly a guy who can handle that. We have a timetable for him, and I feel confident that by the time we kick it off against the Rams, he’ll be right where he needs to be both physically and mentally.”
Jones admits he had his doubts after having knee surgery, but said after Friday’s training camp opener that he’s feeling good now.
“Every time you have a surgery you have concerns: are you going to come back and be the same person?” he said. “To have it on my leg, it was a tough rehab. You have days where you don’t feel like things are going to turn around, and you have days that are great days. That’s the same way with being back at practice for the first time. You’re going to have good days and bad days.”
A long day: Rather than go with a more traditional two-a-day schedule of one practice in the morning and another in the afternoon, Mora has the team practicing at 8:30 a.m., then not again until 6:45 p.m.
He said the added time allows the team to have two meals in between practices, as well as meetings that would be tough to schedule if the practices were closer together.
“It’s a schedule that a lot of teams have gone to throughout the years, it’s what we did in Atlanta…” he said. “You’re able to watch film of a practice before you go out on the field for the next practice. I just think it’s a really productive schedule.”
Hitting time: The team practiced in pads for the first time Saturday night, but Mora said that doesn’t mean the hitting will become ferocious.
“I caution them that that doesn’t mean it’s a slugfest out there, full speed, [tackling] to the ground,” he said. “It’s still important that they take care of each other while they compete hard. And that’s sometimes a little bit of a dance. You’re asking them to come out here and make the team and get better and compete every down, but at the same time you’re asking them to take care of their teammates, and that’s a fine line that they’ve got to learn to walk.”
Tackle switch: It looks like Patrick Kerney will be moving from left end to right end this season, with Lawrence Jackson and Cory Redding splitting time on the left side. Mora said he likes Redding on the left side for run-stopping down, and that Redding will likely play tackle in passing situations.
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more Seahawks coverage, check out the Seahawks blog at heraldnet.com/seahawksblog
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