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It’s late July
and if the 2005 season is not exactly on the next corner at least
it’s a sort of turn right at the Kings Arms, left by the bus
shelter, straight on at the mini-roundabout and you’re there.
The right turn
for the Seahawks is a trip to Cheney for Training Camp and the
question on the lips of all UK Seahawkers is if course….”where the
hell is Cheney?”.
I have to admit
that 15 miles south west of Spokane didn’t really have me on the
precise spot but with reference to my Big Boys World Atlas there it
is just a smidgin outside Seattle.
Did I say a
smidgin? Well that’s what it looks like but I for one wouldn’t like
to walk the 250 miles to the campus of Eastern Washington
University.
OK, so you’ve got
a surer grasp of where it is than Walter Jones but what is it about
Cheney?
The Seahawks held
camp there from the inaugural 1976 season until 1985 before spending
the next 10 years at the somewhat closer quarters of the Kirkland
training base in Seattle.
1997 saw a return
to the superior all round facilities available at Cheney and that’s
where the Seahaks training camp remains.
Rookies report on
July 28th with camp proper starting the following day.
The training
pattern is given the relatively harmless sounding tag of
‘two-a-day’. Things start early with a two hour session starting at
8:45am followed by a slightly shorter afternoon practice from
2.45pm.
The two-a-days
are a bit of a throwback to the days before mini-camps and to when
players perhaps paid a little less attention to conditioning during
the off-season. It’s thought that in 2005 that they aren’t the best
way of tuning an NFL player but they still persist.
Back in the early
Seahawks days in Cheney, coach Jack Patera used to run the punishing
schedules in 90 degree heat without allowing the players any water!
Playing during the regular season must have seemed easy after that.
One thing the
Seahawks can be proud of is that all of their training sessions are
open to the public. This is a dying trend with only 14 teams
retaining the once common practise.
In some positions
there will be competition for starting spots on the roster. On
offense the situation at right guard, right tackle and tight end
could be up for review. There could also still be some movement on
the wide receiver front.
On defense there
is some doubt over both tackle positions and it will be interesting
to see if rookie Lofa Taputu can do something special to unseat Niko
Koutouvides at middle linebacker.
The situation on
special teams is hardly settled with situation vacant signs hanging
over punter and kick returner.
By nature Mike
Holmgren is a conservative coach so put your money on him going with
the guys with experience to start the season.
That will be
interesting but the fiercest battles could be seen between guys
simply competing to get on the seasons roster.
By my count the
Seahawks have over 90 registered players going into camp. By August
30th that will have to be cut to 65 and by September 4th
it has to be further reduced to the season maximum of 53. It is from
this last cut that the Seahawks will establish their practice squad
of 8 consisting of players that can be brought on to the roster in
case of injury.
The Seahawks will
play one pre-season game on the road at New Orleans during camp then
play a further 3 games in 11 days after camp breaks on August 20th
before this final decision has to be made. The back ups will get
plenty of playing time to try and prove their worth.
By the time we’ve
left Cheney and passed over the mini-roundabout we should have a
surer idea of exactly where the Seahawks are headed next. |