Surprise: Seahawks practice report not the real story of who will play vs NY Giants

A baker’s dozen missed some or all of the Seahawks practice Wednesday.

Including, well…Jerome Baker.

Yet the 3-1, first-place team’s injury situation for its game Sunday against the 1-3 New York Giants (1:15 p.m., channel 7) is likely not that dire.

As Wednesday practice reports go for a Sunday game, this one didn’t mean much.

The Seahawks got back home from their five-hour flight following their 42-29 loss at Detroit late Monday night at about 4:30 a.m. Tuesday. Coach Mike Macdonald gave the players the remainder of that day and Wednesday off until a 1 p.m. team meeting.

The practice Wednesday was a light, walk-through drill in T-shirts, shorts and no helmet — far less than a normal Wednesday of pads for a Sunday game.

Seattle’s first practice participation and injury report of this game week was merely an estimate of what the involvement would have been had it been a full practice. And guys got days off because they were still basically a day-plus removed from playing a whopping 90 snaps on offense and 53 on defense against the Lions in a hard-hitting, frenetically paced game.

Two of the five starters on defense who missed the Detroit game did not participate in the walk-through Wednesday: outside linebacker Boye Mafe (knee) and tackle Byron Murphy (hamstring), the rookie first-round draft choice.

The other three defensive starters who missed the Lions game were limited but participated Wednesday: Baker (hamstring mostly since mid-August), the weakside linebacker, plus outside linebacker Uchenna Nwosu (out since he sprained his knee Aug. 24) and defensive Leonard Williams (ribs), a former Giant.

Macdonald said following the game Monday night Baker was the closest of those injured starters to playing in Detroit. He’s been sidelined for the last two games. He first injured his hamstring early in training camp.

The coach then cut to the essence: The Wednesday practice report didn’t mean much.

“Again, with all those guys it’s a process of, Can we get him to the line? Are they feeling comfortable? Is it the best for them to go (Sunday)?” Macdonald said. “I know all of them are chomping at the bit to get out there, but we’re going to do what’s best for them and what’s best for us. So that will come.

“Today’s a walk(-through), so it’s hard to gain a bunch of insight on where they’re going to be after today. (Thursday), we’ll probably have a better idea.”

Safety Julian Love left Monday night’s game in the first half with a thigh injury. Macdonald said before practice he thinks Love, a Giants captain until the Seahawks signed him before the 2023 season, “is doing OK…things are all right.”

Three of Seattle’s four tight ends were limited: Noah Fant (toe), Pharaoh Brown (foot and knee) and Brady Russell (shoulder). But there are no indications three tight ends are going to miss the game with the Giants.

At least not as of the ultra-light Wednesday.

The big injury watch for the Giants this week is on rookie phenom Malik Nabers. The big-play wide receiver is in the NFL concussion protocol. There is hope around the team Nabers could clear that protocol in the 10 days between the Giants’ loss to Dallas in which he got concussed and the game Sunday here in Seattle.

Defense seeks turnovers

The players on Macdonald’s defense have been talking about it for week, even after they shut down Miami in a 24-3 win eight days prior to their shootout loss in Detroit:

They need to create turnovers.

It’s a major talking point entering this game against the Giants.

Asked last week what the next step is for a Seahawks defense that entered the Lions game ranked fourth overall in the league (its now eighth), safety Rayshawn Jenkins said: “If I had to pick one thing, just getting more turnovers.

“We’re doing a good job as far as 3rd down, red zone, short yardage,” Jenkins said. “I think the next step for us would just be taking the ball away.”

Seattle hasn’t done that since week 1 against Denver, when Love and cornerback Riq Woolen each intercepted Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix and Baker recovered a Denver fumble. Love forced a second fumble after a catch the Broncos recovered.

That is now almost a full month ago: Sept. 8.

“Everyone’s got their theories on it, but you can’t go three games with no takeaways, and two games in a row losing the takeaway battle, and expect to have success,” Macdonald said.

“So, that’s definitely a point of emphasis with us.”

The rookie head coach and coordinator for Baltimore’s top defense last season says the turnovers will happen when the defense gets more consistent with fundamental play.

“You’ve got to do it the right way,” Macdonald said. “The ball comes alive when you play the right way on defense. You can’t sacrifice tackles for the ball.

“All those things are important to stress. But I think it’s more important that we focus on playing the right way and attacking the ball when those opportunities come alive. Then, I think you might see some of those numbers start to jump.”