RENTON — Are you ready for some (sloppy) football?
Because tonight in San Diego, the Seahawks will kick off their preseason in what figures to be a less-than-stellar display of football.
For teams around the league, it has been a scramble to get ready for the season after the lockou
t wiped out an offseason worth of minicamps and organized team activities. Throw in the fact that free agents weren’t allowed to practice until the new collective bargaining agreement was ratified a week ago, and you’ve got a formula for a game that should probably be accompanied by the “Benny Hill Show” theme. For teams around the league learning a new offense — and Seattle is one of those — the challenge is even greater.
But ready or not, there is a game to be played tonight, so the Seahawks and Chargers will do their best to put on something that resembles a football game.
“The hope here is that we see a team that’s ready to play football and go out and run around the field and make this first step,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. “We have no idea what’s going to happen. Fortunately, it’s preseason, so we have a chance to figure it out. That’s most important right now. … It’s a very unusual start. This is an unusual first game with the different levels that guys have come to camp and the times that they’ve been here. But we’ll figure it out and we’ll make the most of it.”
And while no coach wants to see mistakes, be it in practice or a playoff game, Carroll knows he and his coaching staff will have to be a little more patient than usual.
“Guys are still struggling to catch up right now,” he said. “We have to kind of look at it a little differently than we have at other times.”
Still, the players know that, no matter what they lost because of the lockout, their only choice is to push forward and do their best to be ready when the regular season kicks off in a month.
“Blaming that is just not a luxury we have,” said rookie guard John Moffitt. “The time is the time we have and we’ve got to get things straight as soon as we can.”
So no, it probably won’t be pretty tonight, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be anything to learn from what we see on the field in San Diego. Here are, in no particular order, five things to keep an eye on in tonight’s preseason opener:
The new guys
The Seahawks added several key players in free agency, including quarterback Tarvaris Jackson, receiver Sidney Rice, guard Robert Gallery and tight end Zach Miller. Jackson will start, and Carroll said Tuesday that he had not yet decided how much playing time the other free agents would see given that they only began practicing a week ago. And when those players are on the field, be sure you’re paying attention. Starters, including Jackson, aren’t expected to see much playing time tonight, so save your trips to the fridge for the commercial breaks or you might miss the first chance to see Seattle’s new additions.
O-Line cohesiveness (or lack thereof)
The Seahawks are starting two rookies — guard John Moffitt and tackle James Carpenter — on the right side of their line. Their center, Max Unger, is a third year player who missed 15 games last season, the left tackle, Russell Okung, is beginning his second season, and the only veteran of the group, Robert Gallery, has never played with anyone else on this line. In fact, no two players on this line have ever played a regular-season snap together. In other words, there will be growing pains. Throughout training camp, there have been a number of penalties whistled on the line for false starts, and more fumbled snaps that you’d ever expect to see at this level. Inevitably, some of that sloppiness will carry over into tonight’s game. How quickly the line can come together as a unit will go a long way towards determining how much success this offense will enjoy in 2011.
Battle in the secondary
While the likely starting four in the back of the defense is set — Marcus Trufant and Walter Thurmond at corner, and Kam Chancellor and Earl Thomas at safety — there will be a fierce battle for the rest of the roster spots available in Seattle’s secondary. With Thurmond (ankle) out, expect to see Kelly Jennings get the start, but the real fun will be watching all the new faces who come in later in the game. How will draft picks like Richard Sherman, Byron Maxwell and Mark LeGree look in their first game action? And also be sure to keep an eye on 6-foot-4 conerback Brandon Browner, who is trying to make it in the NFL after spending the last five seasons starring in the Canadian Football League
Lofa-less linebackers
Just as it will be strange to see an offense run by someone other than Matt Hasselbeck, the Seahawks’ defense won’t look quite the same without Lofa Tatupu playing middle linebacker. How will Leroy Hill, who missed all but one game last season, look after so much time off? Hill has the athletic ability to still be a very good linebacker in the NFL, but how much rust will he have to knock off to get to that point? Also, can David Hawthorne go back to the playmaker he was at middle linebacker when Lofa Tatupu was injured in 2009? And can Aaron Curry finally break out and be the player the Seahawks were hoping to get with the No. 4 pick in 2009?
The guys fighting for roster spots
Every preseason features a player or two who casual fans have barely heard of turning themselves into fan-favorites with big plays in the preseason, and this year will be no different. Anyone could break out with a spectacular play or a big game, but some of the early candidates based on their play in training camp are undrafted rookies QB Josh Portis, who will see plenty of playing time, WR Ricardo Lockette, who has blazing speed and DE Pierre Allen, who has impressed as a pass rusher. Also be sure to keep an eye on Jameson Konz, a seventh-round pick in 2010 who moved from tight end to defensive end only last week, but has already proven to be a menace to opposing blockers thanks to his blazing speed.
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more Seahawks coverage, check out the Seahawks blog at heraldnet.com/seahawksblog
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