The Seahawks open preseason play with a game against Tennessee Saturday night, and if today’s practice was any indication, they’re ready to face someone other than each other. Twice today players had to be separated, and the first dust-up somehow had QB Matt Hasselbeck in it. DT Kevin Vickerson and G Mike Gibson got into a bit of a scrum, and Hasselbeck tried to pull his offensive teammate away, but ended up in the fray a little bit.
“Wrong place, wrong time,” he said.
Later in practice, a much bigger scrum broke out involving a bunch of offensive and defensive linemen—and CB Josh Wilson (go figure)—this one featuring a few punches being thrown.
“It’s not OK, but it’s understood that it’s going to happen sometimes,” Pete Carroll said.
Carroll talked to the team about it after practice, and according to a couple of players, the message was that they need to know the line between being aggressive and doing things that can hurt the team. Carroll has three rules he likes to use with his football team, the first of which is “always protect the team.” (the other two, if you’re curious, are “2. no whining, no complaining, no excuses, and 3. always be early).
“We had some rule one violations,” Hasselbeck said, “That’s not good.”
Speaking of things not good for the team, LB Leroy Hill left after getting caught in a pile-up during a goal-line drill. Carroll called the injury a “minor knee sprain” and said Hill will likely be back soon.
LB Aaron Curry, who has been out with a concussion since the first day of training camp, was back for the first time today. He was limited in practice, but should be full-go tomorrow, and Carroll said he has a chance to play Saturday.
Today was originally scheduled to be a two-a-day, but that was cancelled, meaning the team is done with two-practice days after having just four in training camp, a low number. Carroll said the team put in good work in the offseason with OTAs and minicamps, and that the idea was to keep players fresh.
The defense had one of its better days, intercepting three passes, including one by DE Foley that might have gone for a touchdown had it not been blown dead. Russell Okung was back with the No. 1 offense at left tackle, a place this franchise hopes he’ll stay for a long, long time.
With Okung at left tackle, that freed up Ray Willis to move to right tackle, the position he has played for most of his career. Carroll said Willis will compete with Sean Locklear for the starting job.
Talk to us
- You can tell us about news and ask us about our journalism by emailing newstips@heraldnet.com or by calling 425-339-3428.
- If you have an opinion you wish to share for publication, send a letter to the editor to letters@heraldnet.com or by regular mail to The Daily Herald, Letters, P.O. Box 930, Everett, WA 98206.
- More contact information is here.
