KIRKLAND — The Seattle Seahawks will make their public debut on Saturday afternoon, but there’s a chance they will do it without two of their defensive stars.
Middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu and defensive end Patrick Kerney could be held out of Saturday’s intrasquad scrimmage as a precaution.
Tatupu sat out Thursday’s morning practice with what coach Mike Holmgren called “little bumps and bruises somewhere,” but he was back on the field in the afternoon. Kerney is trying to come back from a calf injury, and the training staff is slowly easing him back into action.
“Those guys are very, very valuable; good football players,” Holmgren said. “We need them.”
Kerney returned to the practice field in a limited role Thursday morning, when he saw his first action in four days. He said that the calf tightened up on him early in camp but that he’s ready to ease back into the flow.
“It’s back to the progression we were starting to build on the first day (of training camp)” said Kerney, who missed all the summer minicamps following surgery on a torn labrum. “We’re going to up the volume on everything — my shoulder, my calf — and work on the progression from there.”
Holmgren said the team is being cautious with Kerney’s injuries. But Kerney doesn’t like sitting out.
“You definitely want to be out there,” he said. “You build a brotherhood; you build a bond. Guys are suffering out here at camp, they’re suffering and in pain, and you can’t help but to feel a little guilty when you’re not feeling it with them.”
The Seahawks are not going to rush Kerney back into full-time action.
“With his body type, and the way he practices full-speed, we have to be careful with him,” Holmgren said. “But he feels good. So we’ll just ease him into it.”
Several starters could sit out the Saturday scrimmage. Tatupu and Pro Bowl left tackle Walter Jones are among a group of players who have been given practices off to relieve general soreness. Center Chris Spencer has been out since the first day of camp because of a sore back, while wide receiver Deion Branch will likely miss the entire preseason with a knee injury.
“Our goal is to make sure everyone is healthy and ready to go in the first ballgame,” Holmgren said.
The scrimmage begins at 11 a.m. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster.
Moon apologizes: Seahawks broadcaster Warren Moon apologized for his recent court case Thursday, saying that he appreciates the team for sticking with him despite the circumstances. The Seahawks will continue to use Moon on their radio broadcasts, despite a recent charge for negligent driving.
“They pride themselves on running this organization with high character, and I did something to tarnish that. So that’s something I don’t feel great about,” said Moon, who plans to serve a five-day sentence of home detention later this month. “I’m going to do everything in my power to change that tarnished image for me right now. I’m going to work at that.”
Moon added that he has voluntarily entered a substance-abuse evaluation and a 20-week outpatient treatment program.
“I just want to say how deeply sorry I am,” he told a group of print reporters on Thursday afternoon. “I’m just sorry that something like this had to happen — especially again. (Moon was charged with driving under the influence in April 2007.) I look at myself as someone who has high integrity and high character, and I’ve worked a lot of years to get to that.
“To have those errors in judgment is not a part of my character, and it’s something I’m deeply sorry about.”
A year wiser: Cornerback Josh Wilson doesn’t feel like a rookie anymore, and not just because he’s got a year under his belt.
When Wilson showed up for training camp, he had a locker in between teammates D.D. Lewis and Kevin Hobbs. That’s an improvement over where his digs were at the end of the 2007 season: in the center of the Seahawks’ locker room without anyone next to him.
Led by veteran Jordan Babineaux, teammates conspired to move the messy Wilson out of his original locker space.
“We take great pride in our neighborhood,” Babineaux said on Thursday. “It’s not good when I come home and have trash in the front yard — his illegal droppings, as I like to call them. So we, as the homeowners’ association, got him evicted.”
On the field, Wilson got the rookie treatment as well. He struggled at times while learning what it takes to play at the NFL level.
“It’s a whole new game,” he said. “In college, I was the man. I’m out there checking receivers like it’s nothing. I get here, and it’s a whole new scene. Matt Hasselbeck is looking to the left the whole time, and then he snaps the ball and throws to the right, I’m not used to that.
“I’m used to the quarterback staring right where he’s throwing. So it was a big adjustment last year.”
Quick slants: Rookie defensive tackle Red Bryant is out with a knee injury, the extent of which the Seahawks won’t know until he gets medical tests back. … Holmgren said that Spencer is out with a sore back, not due to any complications from shoulder surgery. Spencer missed summer minicamps following the surgery, but Holmgren said that the latest injury happened during conditioning drills that led up to training camp. … Thursday’s practice included a couple flyovers from the Blue Angels, which were training for this weekend’s Seafair performance. “You want to stay focused during practice,” Kerney said, “but we are all humans. When jets fly 500 feet over your head in formation, you are going to get distracted.”
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