SEATTLE – The most important call of the entire 2006 Seattle Seahawks season may have come during the second offensive drive of the last meaningless preseason game.
Taking all necessary precautions to keep their star players healthy, the Seahawks pulled running back Shaun Alexander out of the game and replaced him with Leonard Weaver.
Weaver carried the ball one time, gaining 9 yards and twisting his left ankle. He had to be helped off the field, underwent X-rays and could miss part of the regular season.
The injury was a tough one for the Seahawks to swallow, but it wasn’t nearly as devastating as the alternative.
Not having Alexander on the field may well have saved the league’s most valuable player from the kind of injury that has sent recent defending NFC champions back to mediocrity.
“You can’t go into any football game thinking about that, otherwise you’ll drive yourself crazy,” coach Mike Holmgren said. “Sometimes when you’re trying to be careful, that’s when guys get hurt.
“Shoot, football’s football; it’s unfortunate, but it happens. We had a good preseason that way (in terms of few injuries).”
While the Seahawks went on to beat the Oakland Raiders 30-7 on Thursday night, the most important news in the final preseason tune-up was that none of the Seattle starters got hurt. Alexander scored a touchdown shortly after Weaver’s injury, but was replaced by second-year player Marquis Weeks on the next drive and did not return. Matt Hasselbeck played just two series before giving way to backup Seneca Wallace.
Pro Bowl left tackle Walter Jones (sore shoulder) and defensive end Grant Wistrom (offseason shoulder surgery) didn’t even play, while most of the first-team defenders lasted only one quarter.
When the starters were on the field, the performance was mostly positive. Hasselbeck overcame a three-and-out on the opening series to lead an 11-play, 80-yard touchdown that culminated in Alexander’s 5-yard touchdown run.
The defense gave up just 10 yards of total offense in the first quarter, when Oakland’s lone touchdown came on a 71-yard punt return by second-year player Chris Carr.
Wallace and David Greene were solid in relief of Hasselbeck, while receiver D.J. Hackett and Weeks added touchdowns to lead Seattle to a relatively easy win. The Raiders had just 104 yards of total offense, while the Seahawks finished with 366 in the one-sided affair.
The worst news was the injury to Weaver, who was one of the stars of the preseason while playing both halfback and fullback. The second-year player from Carson-Newman was also showing improvement as a special teamer, and looked like a good bet to make the final roster again. His X-rays came up negative, meaning there were no broken bones, but the timing of it could affect his status with the team.
“It’s a high ankle sprain,” Holmgren said, “and it’s tough to predict how long those things take to heal.”
Fortunately for the Seahawks, Alexander and some of the other key components to the 2005 NFC champions will start defending their title with a clean bill of health.
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