RENTON – While the Seattle Sea-hawks’ offense has coughed and sputtered through the exhibition portion of the season, the defense has quietly performed well.
Seattle is giving up 16.7 points a game, tied for ninth in the league.
In the process, the defense is also making impact plays. The Seahawks have forced a league-leading 11 fumbles, recovering three of them. And Seattle is tied for 11th with eight sacks.
Seattle need only look to last season to see what the results are when the turnover battle is in its favor. In the Seahawks’ seven wins, they had a plus-8 turnover margin. In their nine losses? It was a minus-17.
“Every day we talk about getting the ball,” cornerback Marcus Trufant said. “That’s the main goal, and that’s our theme of the whole team, is to get the ball. And every day we work on it, so I think it’s starting to be natural for us to go after the ball and try to give it back to the offense.”
Defensive end Red Bryant said he expects even more big plays once the regular season begins and defensive coordinator Gus Bradley starts to dial up the pressure.
“I feel like we’re trying not to show our hand so much when we’re blitzing,” Bryant said. “We haven’t blitzed a lot in the preseason. But during the season, (we’ve) got a lot of blitz packages.
“And last year, teams always knew that I was coming and Clem (defensive end Chris Clemons) was the dropper. So we want to switch it up a little bit, and they’re just asking me to fall into the zone, and they have a lot of confidence that I can do it.”
Added defensive end Raheem Brock: “We’ll start game planning better. We didn’t really game plan that much during the preseason. So when the regular season starts, we’ll make more adjustments and game plan more.”
Trufant created one of Seattle’s impact plays against Denver last week, sacking Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton for a 15-yard loss.
“That’s part of the game that I really haven’t explored a lot,” Trufant said. “I only have a couple sacks in my career. But I’m out there having fun. And I’m flying around trying to make plays.
CARLSON OUT
Seahawks tight end John Carlson will go on the season-ending injured reserve list with a torn shoulder labrum that will require surgery.
Talking about the injury to reporters for the first time, Carlson said he suffered the injury during a practice two days after the team’s first exhibition game at San Diego on Aug. 11.
In one-on-one drills, he made a dive for the ball.
“… I think the initial injury was there,” he said. “And I think later in practice I aggravated it blocking.”
Carlson said team trainers at first thought he could avoid surgery by rehabbing and strengthening his shoulder. But when the injury did not improve, he had to face the choice between surgery and playing hurt.
“The decision was kind of made by my shoulder,” Carlson said. “It kind of resolved itself by not coming along as far as we wanted it to. Obviously I’m very disappointed. But that’s where my shoulder is, and I need to get it fixed and start the rehab process.”
Carlson’s injury will hurt the Seahawks, but they got some insurance by signing Zach Miller in free agency, and reserve tight ends Anthony McCoy and Dominique Byrd have played well.
EXTRA POINTS
The Seahawks brought back receivers Patrick Williams and Chris Carter to the 80-man roster. They made room by releasing cornerback Ron Parker and punter John Gold. … Receivers Sidney Rice (shoulder), Ben Obomanu (shoulder) and Mike Williams (toe) all watched from the sideline Wednesday. Others sitting out were receiver Isaiah Stanback (hamstring), running back Marshawn Lynch (ankle), safety Josh Pinkard (knee), linebacker David Hawthorne (knee) and defensive end Pierre Allen (hamstring). … Safety Kam Chancellor (foot), defensive end Dexter Davis (hip) and linebacker Aaron Curry (knee) returned to practice. And offensive tackle Russell Okung (ankle), who worked through some team drills, appears to be progressing with his rehabilitation.
Eric D. Williams: 253-597-8437 eric.williams@thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/seahawks
