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The Hawks Prepare for the 2006 Season |
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The confines of the campus of Eastern Washington University at Cheney, East Washington have become all too familiar to Seahawks players down the years. Characterised by relatively austere accommodation and baking heat it is not the sort of place where NFL players choose to spend their holidays, but after all this is no holiday.
This will be the Seahawks penultimate year at the facility before moving into their purpose built and altogether more sumptuous, lakeside home in Renton, Seattle in 2008. I'm sure that some will miss the familiarity that Cheney has gained over the years but the new facility looks like it is going be incredible.
So on to camp and although it is still early days the early reports are interesting.
The QB situation is that Mike Holmgren thinks Seneca Wallace is a capable back up for Matt Hasselbeck. Now whilst that is great most Seahawks fans would like to see Seneca involved on the field as a receiver or returning punts or trick plays or anything really where he could show his athletic talents off. The problem is that the risk of injury is so great that until either David Greene or Gibran Hamdan can show Holmgren they would be capable of coming in and doing a job in the regular season then Seneca is not getting on the field. If neither Greene or Hamdan can cut it and don't look to be developing, there has been talk of Tim Rattay from Tampa where he might be surplus to requirements.
Of the relative unknowns making something of a splash are TE Mike Gomez who played for the 2005 Amsterdam Admirals before making the Seahawks practice squad. TE is a position where the Seahawks are not running that deep so maybe he has a chance. On the wide receiving corps Maurice Mann had an impressive scrimmage with a TD reception and continues to impress. Again he'd do well to earn a spot on the roster but training camps are all about competition and for now at least he sounds like he is creating some.
Amongst the rookies 1st rounder Kelly Jennings has been relatively quiet but 2nd round Darryl Tapp has been impressive. Sims at guard has been doing OK and I must admit that I've not heard much about 5th rounder FB David Kirtman. Plackemeier looks set to win his punting competition with Gabe Lindstrom who turned out for Cologne in NFLE this past season which leaves us to fellow 7th rounder WR Ben Obomanu. Like Mann he has been impressing but he's more likely to end up on the practice squad.
UPDATE 1: Well we had a hit and a miss in the above 2 paragraphs. TE Mike Gomez picked up an injury and was cut whilst Maurice Mann continued his good form by being the pick of the WR's in the opening pre-season game loss 13-3 against the Dallas Cowboys.
I don't worry at all about pre-season games but to only put up 3 points is obviously not that pleasing. From the reports it seems that Kelly Jennings was good enough whilst safety Mike Green got in some good hits. Sad to relate that rookie punter Ryan Plackemeier probably had the best game but it bodes well for the future in an area we struggled in last season. Kevin Bentley also did OK at LB whilst none of the back up QB's distinguished themselves. All in all a typical sort of pre-season game and nothing to worry about just yet.
UPDATE 2: Just as we weren't getting downcast after losing against Dallas, then the 30-17 victory against the Colts at the RCA Dome must remain of only very marginal excitement. Mike Green had another good game despite the secondary looking spotty against the No 1 Colts offence. With Mo Morris injured, Leonard Weaver saw plenty of action at RB. He scored a TD on a 1 yard run and was one of those singled out for praise by Mike Holmgren after the game. Another short yardage attempt from Weaver saw him fumble before Chris Spencer recovered the ball for a TD. The other Seahawks TD came when Green returned an interception 18 yards for a TD. Josh Brown kicked 3 field goals and in other Special Teams news the Hawks actually returned a kick off and a punt reasonable distances. No significant injuries were reported.
UPDATE 3: The Seahawks roller coaster of a pre-season continued with a 31-20 defeat in San Diego. Rocky Bernard opened the scoring with a fumble recovery in the end zone after 12 seconds and I wish he'd saved that one for the chat room. Shaun Alexander then went in from 9 yards for an early 14-0 but the Chargers levelled it up with 2 rushing TD's of their own. The second half was for back ups only and the Chargers pulled away. The really bad news was that back up safety Mike Green suffered a foot injury that could keep him out for the whole of the season. He had impressed during camp and looked a more than capable back up and legitimate starter if needed leaving a hole to fill. In better news a knee injury suffered by Itula MilI was not as bad as feared and he should be OK for the regular season.
One item of news that caught my eye this week was that the Patriots have given WR Deion Branch until 1st September to seek a trade and there was an indication that the Seahawks were one of the teams HE was interested in. I'm sure he would be a valuable addition but it's not really clear where he would fit with Darrell Jackson Nate Burleson and Bobby Engram seemingly entrenched in the starting positions. In addition with Peter Warrick, DJ Hackett and one out of rookie Ben Obamanu or free agent Maurice Mann waiting in the wings there doesn't seem to be an obvious gap but never say never on this one.
I will be updating that page as camp progresses and assessing more positions so be sure to check back.
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