Seahawks Insider
where there is no offseason

Eric D. Williams took over the Seahawks beat and Seahawks Insider blog in December. Williams has covered the Seahawks, Sonics and high school sports for The News Tribune since joining the paper in 2006. Eric lives in Tacoma with his wife and two children.

Tacoma News Tribune columnist Dave Boling also contributes to the Seahawks Insider blog.

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Seahawks Insider
Friday, August 1st, 2008
Posted by Frank Hughes @ 12:16:56 pm

This was an interesting practice, which ended with a two-minute drill in which both the first team and second team offenses scored game-winning touchdowns. Both offenses were bailed out by nice catches by their tight ends right up the middle of the field, John Carlson for the first team and Joe Newton for the second team.

The first team was facing a third and 5 when Matt Hasselbeck made a perfect pass over Carlson shoulder for the first down. Three plays later, Hasselbeck found Leonard Weaver on the left side for an eight-yard TD.

The second team seemed to be stymied, facing a fourth and 9 after Mansfield Wrotto failed to snap the ball for an illegal procedure penalty. (It was his third snapping miscue of the day.) But Seneca Wallace found Newton sprinting down the middle of the field for a first down. One play later, Wallace hit Joel Filani in the back of the end zone for a touchdown.

[More:]

The offense was not all spectacular, though. Holmgren was upset about the snaps, as well as the receivers' sloppiness while going in motion. He jumped on Trent Shelton for that and admonished his players to start figuring out what they need to do correctly.

Jordan Kent made a very nice catch in the corner for a TD, once again teasing with his athletic ability. Seneca just threw the ball up and Kent went and got it. I spoke with Kent afterward, and contrary to what Tim Ruskell told me yesterday Kent said he was not offered a deal by another team last year. He said his agent told him to expect something between Weeks 9-13 but nothing ever transpired. Perhaps Hasselbeck was right and it was Logan Payne who got the offer from another team, the reason the Seahawks signed him off the practice squad.

In any case, we also asked Kent about the upcoming Olympics, for which he may have had an outside shot. He said this is his job and he is completely focused on this career, and he does not spent any time thinking about "what ifs." He said he will watch TV and see those guys running and think, "Hey, I ran against those guys," but he never feels like it should be him competing. Besides, he said, a half second is the difference between the elite and the rest of the world -- There is no middle class in track, he said -- and I think he considers himself the rest of the world when it comes to track.

Forget for now what I said earlier about Chris Cooper and Larry Tripplett getting chances with Red Bryant missing the next four or five weeks following arthroscopic knee surgery. (Bryant already had the surgery, which repaired cartilage damage.) Both were missing for this practice, though their injuries have not yet been disclosed. With Bryant and those players out, the second team defensive line was made up of Craig Terrill, Baraka Atkins, Jason Babin and Howard Green, who had another nice play when he came down the line on one play and munched Maurice Morris.

Speaking of the running backs, they are doing something that I don't really remember them doing when Shaun Alexander was here. Even after they get tackled, they get up and run another 20 or 30 yards down the field. Julius Jones started doing it in mini-camps, and now all the backs are doing it on every play. I sometimes remember Shaun doing that, but not on a consistent basis.

Ben Obomanu continues to work out as the third receiver, alongside Engram and Burleson. To me, Obomanu looks solid and like he is getting more comfortable each day. Obomanu beat Lofa Tatupu on one downfield route, but Hasselbeck underthrew him and 51 was able to knock away the ball. Though he doesn't have much of a shot, Michael Bumpus also continues to make nice plays. Perhaps he is destined for the practice squad.

The officials were back out on the field. We are meeting with them at 1:30. I'll blog something after that about they discussed with us.

Defensive backs Kevin Hobbs and Marcus Trufant made some noticeable plays, including Trufant and Engram both catching a ball at the same time and Trufant winning the wrestling match, ripping it out for a fumble.

I watched John Carlson for a while, mostly running routes during 11-on-11 offense. He doesn't do anything fancy, but somehow gets open. One on route, his jersey was being held by Lance Laury and Matt Hasselbeck still found him for a red zone touchdown. Carlson did drop one ball today, the first I have seen him miss during camp. He gets extra attention from the coaches, as well. After almost every series, when he comes out he is approached by somebody giving him instructions, usually tight ends coach Jim Lind.