Fans at a Seahawks home game for 1st time in 600 days. Will they see Russell Wilson play?
Six hundred days.
That’s how long it’s been since the Seahawks played a home game in front of their fans.
So Seattle hosting the Denver Broncos Saturday at 7 p.m. inside Lumen Field is not exactly another ho-hum preseason game.
It’s a return.
It’s the first time ticket-holders will be inside the Seahawks’ stadium (for anything other than a mock-game scrimmage two weeks ago) since Dec. 29, 2019, the team’s NFC West title-game loss on the final play against the San Francisco 49ers.
“It feels like forever since we’ve had a chance to play in front of the fans,” coach Pete Carroll said. “So coming back, to us, it’s our first chance to make an impression on them, and how we’re going to play, style of play, effort, and what they can count on.
“This relationship with our fans has been famous, and this is our chance to reunite and get rolling, so we need to play good football to do that. That’s what we intend to do. It’s exciting to come back and just see it all happen, so we are looking forward to that.”
Who will those returning fans see play, though?
There were signs in practices this week Russell Wilson may play. He and nine other starters on offense stayed out of the team’s preseason opener at Las Vegas.
One of those signs Wilson might play against Denver is Jamarco Jones returning to practice this week.
The fourth-year veteran left tackle has been the Seahawks’ first choice to fill in for Duane Brown, the 35-year-old Pro Bowl veteran who continues to skip practices and preseason games while wanting a new contract. But Jones missed weeks with back spasms.
He returned to practice Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Carroll said Seattle’s fifth-round pick from 2018 is ready to play Saturday.
“We are happy to have him back,” Carroll said of Jones. “He’s ready to go.”
Cedric Ogbuehi was Plan C at left tackle. He’s been out weeks with a biceps injury. That’s had rookie Stone Forsythe at left tackle the last two weeks, including for the first three quarters of the game against the Raiders. He and three other reserve offensive linemen starting at Las Vegas was why Wilson did not.
Starting left guard Damien Lewis is also back from injury. If he and Jones play against Denver, and center Kyle Fuller starts for the second consecutive week, that’s a majority of the current first-team offensive line to protect Wilson from the Broncos. Denver played most of its starters on both sides of the ball last week in its first preseason game against Minnesota.
Carroll, as usual, was coy Friday when asked if “maybe” the starters might play Saturday. He nodded his head up and down, then uttered an unconvincing “yeah” with a grin.
Asked if that “yeah” meant “yeah, maybe,” or “yeah, starters are playing against Denver,” Carroll said: “We’ll show you. We’ll show you what’s going on when we get there. We are not announcing what we’re doing.”
Wilson said Wednesday: “I mean, I’m always hoping to play.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen. That’s Coach’s decision. I’m always ready. I’m always ready to play.”
If Wilson does play, it may be only for a series or two. Then it will likely be Alex McGough and more of Sean Mannion — more than the latter half of the fourth quarter the former Rams backup and Oregon State quarterback got in Las Vegas.
As hard as Smith got hit in the head against the Raiders on a blitz Forsythe failed to pick up, it’d be a surprise if he plays against Denver.
In a normal preseason in the 12 summers under Carroll, Wilson and veteran Seahawks starters play a series or two in the first preseason game, the first quarter or so of the second exhibition, into the third quarter of the third game and not at all in the fourth and final exhibition.
This month the NFL has one fewer preseason game, a total of three. That was a compromise to the players’ union to get a 17th regular-season game for the first time in this 2021 season.
Only five of 22 projected starters on offense (one) and defense (four) played last weekend against the Raiders.
Carroll could decide to wait until the third preseason game, Aug. 28 at home against the Los Angeles Chargers, to play Wilson and most starters. That would buy time for Brown (unlikely) or Jones and Ogbuehi (more likely) to return for a veteran left tackle to protect Wilson’s blind side from unnecessary danger in August.
But this summer echoes 2012, the year Wilson became Seattle’s starter for good. Once again, he is running a new offense. Does Carroll believe Wilson needs to play preseason games to fully install first-time coordinator Shane Waldron’s quicker, more run-based and shorter-passing scheme?
Maybe without Brown he doesn’t.
Here’s who has the most to gain by playing against the Broncos:
1. Fuller: Simply put, he has to get better. He needs game reps and game speed to do it.
The fifth-year veteran has started one more NFL regular-season game at center than you have. That was in November when Ethan Pocic had a concussion and Fuller was the center at the Los Angeles Rams. Four days later, with Pocic still out, coaches moved rookie starting guard Damien Lewis to start at center for a game against Arizona, to a position he hadn’t played before and hasn’t since.
Pocic remains out into at least next week with a hamstring injury that’s sidelined him for all but a couple days of training camp. He may be more valuable to the offense as a swing tackle and guard and backup center. Pocic was a backup tackle and guard his first three NFL years for Seattle. He was a college center at LSU.
2. Tre Flowers: Flowers surged two weeks ago when he replaced injured D.J. Reed as the starting right cornerback in practices. Then last week in Las Vegas he struggled reacting to passes in flight, a common problem in his four NFL seasons. He gave up a 28-yard pass to Tay Jones on the Raiders’ opening drive to a touchdown because Flowers did not turn his head before Nathan Peterman’s line-drive pass arrived over his helmet.
Reed is still out indefinitely with a strained groin. Flowers will get the chance against starting Broncos receivers and quarterbacks Drew Lock and Teddy Bridgewater, because Denver is trying to settle its starting-quarterback competition.
Flowers says he’s learned patience in his three seasons in Seattle.
But this is no time for patience. This is Flowers’ time to assert himself back into the job he had as Carroll’s hand-picked rookie in 2018 and in ‘19.
3. Rashaad Penny: He’s back after weeks away with a thigh injury. It’s not too crazy to say this could be the often-injured former first-round pick’s last chance to be the featured running back in Seattle’s offense — ever.
Lead rusher Chris Carson may rest through all three preseason games, then will get the featured role again once the games get real Sept. 12 at Indianapolis. That leaves between now and then for Penny, who did not play from Dec. 2019-Dec. 2020 following reconstructive knee surgery, to prove his value. His rookie contract ends after this season.
“I just want to see him play football,” Carroll said. “He’s been very explosive when he played. He’s had a lot of big plays when he has opportunities. I just want to see him play good, hard, physical football. And we think the results are going to be really good.”
Waldron called passes on 10 of the first 10 offensive plays in Las Vegas last week. He and Carroll were trying to showcase veteran quarterback Geno Smith, and Smith got a concussion behind the patchwork offensive line.
The new coordinator is going to run the ball more Saturday, more than zero times in the first 10 plays. Penny needs to take advantage.
4. Tre Brown: The rookie fourth-round pick was the starting left cornerback in practices for the first time this week, moving above Ahkello Witherspoon. That was to prepare Brown to play more against the Broncos.
The 5-10 Brown had a brilliant breakup of a pass by Wilson to the 6-4 DK Metcalf down the right sideline Thursday. He has a chance Saturday to push for regular-season time at a cornerback position that isn’t exactly locked down air tight right now, on either side.
“These games are really important for him to make a bid for how much he can contribute,” Carroll said. “He’s been really active. He’s tough. He’s been really competitive with the ball. He has not given up plays. He’s just been really consistent. He’s been a real bright spot in camp. ...he’s battling.
“I’m really excited about just the competitive side of this because he’s trying to earn a job to start. He’s that close already, so we’ll see what happens.”
5. Darrell Taylor: This will be just the second NFL game Seattle’s second-round pick from last year has played. Each game rep he gets in his new role as early-down strong-side linebacker and passing-down rush end is going to get Taylor playing faster.
Young NFL players slow down when they are thinking too much and not simply playing with familiarity. Taylor looked fast in his first game last week at Las Vegas. He should look faster Saturday.
6. Gavin Heslop: The 2020 free agent and practice-squad player from Stony Brook in the Colonial Athletic Association has excelled as a backup right cornerback behind Flowers. Carroll and his defensive coaches want to see how well he can play nickel defensive back inside against slot receivers.
Nickel is an open job with Marquise Blair still out with a sore knee, 11 months after reconstructive knee surgery ended his 2020 season as the primary nickel. Ugo Amadi has been the first nickel in practices for the last week. Heslop is 6 feet tall, three inches taller than Amadi.
Expect Heslop to get many snaps Saturday in that nickel role.
“All the time that he’s been here he’s been an active guy that makes plays, knocks the ball down at the right time, has been tough,” Carroll said. “He’s had a really good camp. He’ll get some work in the nickel spot. He’s been practicing there because he’s done well.
“We’re looking to find a way that he can contribute.”
7. Cody Thompson: The former high school quarterback and punt returner and University of Toledo wide receiver has opened coaches’ eyes catching passes from Wilson in traffic across the middle and with precise route running. He’s taking advantage of top rookie pick Dee Eskridge missing all but the last three days of camp because of his injured big toe.
Thompson, a Seahawks practice-squad player, nearly set up a score on Seattle’s opening possession in Las Vegas last weekend. He had a 17-yard catch and run over the middle to the Raiders 25-yard-line negated by Forsythe’s holding penalty on Seattle’s opening possession.
“It’s nice to kind of get comfortable with the play calls, the offense, no matter what quarterback’s in there,” Thompson said, “and just making plays.”
This story was originally published August 20, 2021 at 5:12 PM with the headline "Fans at a Seahawks home game for 1st time in 600 days. Will they see Russell Wilson play?."
