With their first preseason game only three days away, the Seahawks were back on the field Monday after getting a day off. And if it feels like that first game sneaked up pretty quick, well, the players agree. For free agents, this was only the fourth day of practice. For rookies, their heads are still swimming with information after reporting to camp two weeks ago.
“Fast, really fast,” rookie guard John Moffitt said. “Hard to believe that a week and two days ago, I wasn’t here. But I’m enjoying it a lot.”
Moffitt and the rest of Seattle’s young line has been sloppy at times, and we’ve seen plenty of flags fly for penalties on both sides of the ball. Still, lack of preparation time or not, Moffitt says he and the line can’t make excuses come Thursday.
“Blaming that is just not a luxury we have,” he said. “The time is the time we have and we’ve got to get things straight as soon as we can.”
At one point Monday, there were flags on three consecutive plays, though one was on the defense.
Center Max Unger admitted that there have been growing pains for the line: “It’s slow. It’s just frustrating. You want to get off the ball and just start rocking, but we’re thinking a lot and it’s slowing us down.”
One rookie who enjoyed himself Monday was seventh-round pick Malcolm Smith. The USC product is a long-shot to win a starting job, but his coverage skills could allow him to earn playing time right away on passing downs. Monday he nearly intercepted a pass after stepping in front of a running back, then later he broke up a pass after staying stride-for-stride with TE Zach Miller, a Pro Bowler in 2010.
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