Wednesday practice report: Hasselbeck sees time under center
Posted By Eric Williams on November 11, 2009 at 2:31 pm
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Heading into this week, Seahawks head coach Jim Mora made it sound while talking to reporters that quarterback Matt Hasselbeck would be held back during the first, couple practices this week.
And that was the case – for the most part. Hasselbeck was a limited participant in practice, although he did see some time with the first unit.
Cornberback Ken Lucas (neck) also was a limited participant in practice.
Sean Locklear was a full participant in practice, and was back working at his customary position at left tackle. Whether Locklear or Damion McIntosh starts at left tackle remains to be seen, but the Seahawk head into Sunday’s game against Arizona looking the healthiest they’ve been on the offensive line during the season this week.
The Seahawks added big receiver Mike Jones to the practice squad today. The 6-foot-4, 205-pound product out of Arizona State was last with the Houston Texans. Jones was a free agent pickup and one of the first roster cuts in training camp for the Texans.
WR Mike Hass also likely will be added back to the team’s practice squad if he clears waivers.
For Arizona, LB Gerald Hayes (back), T Mike Gandy (pelvis), LB Chike OKeafor (back), WR Sean MOrey (head), De Kenny Iwebema (knee) did not participate in practice.
WR Steve Breaston (knee) and TE Ben Patrick (knee) were limited participants in practice.
And WR Anquan Boldin (ankle), S Antrel Rolle (foot), CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (finger) and G Reggie Wells (thumb) were all full participants in practice.
At this point I agree w/ Duke in that we should leave the line alone for now to generate continuity. However, if the coaches absolutely insist on Lock rejoining the starters, he should replace the weakest link(IMO that would be Spencer). That means the OL looks like McIntosh,Sims,Unger,Lock, Willis. Especially since it looks like Unger will be the C of the future and McIntosh seems to be doing pretty well at LT.
Also, I'd like to see Forsett get more carries on a consistent basis and get a look at what Rankin can do. The running game is by all means not JJ's fault. But, we know what he can and can't do. I'd like to see the young fellas get a look.
Eric,
With regards to Mora's comment earlier this week about Hasselbeck's arm strength, why would he admit that this was why they didn't take any shots down field vs Detroit? Why not just say they took advantage of the Lions' soft coverage underneath and settled for check-downs? Maybe it's not that big of a deal and I'm looking too much into this but I don't see why you'd tip off your next opponent on your QB's arm strength. Hasselbeck isn't known for his long ball ability but I don't understand why you'd part with that information when you could've made up another excuse that's equally believable (unless he's putting up a little smoke and mirrors but I don't see Mora doing that).
I too am anxious for Forsett to get some more carries. Not that I don't think Jones has ben running hard but Forsett never seems to go down at first contact. I would be fun to see them both line up in the back field in certain situations. Both are game blockers and both can catch the ball well. There might be some fun HB screens or dumps in the flats without the D being able to focus on either one.
By the way, I'm watching NFL Network's Playbook right now and they are breaking down parts of the Seahawks / Lions game. Brian Billick just said, on a pass to Jones over the middle, "He's got Jones over the middle. Their great running back Julius Jones..." Yes folks, he called Julius Jones great. I wonder what he thinks of someone like Adrian Peterson or Michael Turner? Lol.
JJ gets the game ball... I don't foresee any one but JJ getting the 80% of the snaps. (Not that I agree with Mora, cause I don't think JJ is our future running back either.)
I don't want to build continuity without doing it with our best options. And since continuity hasn't really been built yet (it's certainly not in the results).
McIntosh is playing best at LT. Leave him alone.
Sims is our best option at LG. Leave him alone.
Willis is our best option at RG. He's much more powerful than Unger, who gets blown up too often from this position. He's also a hell of a lot better at run blocking than Unger.
Lock is our best option at RT. He's very good in pass protection and this would allow Carlson to get into his routes right away without having to help out and chip because Willis isn't great in pass protection.
I sincerely think it's obvious that this is what needs to happen to our OL if everyone is healthy.
The only debate is at Center. I can see reasons for leaving Spencer at Center for the rest of this season, but I don't agree. Unger can't be any dumber at making line calls and I think things could only improve. Unger had plenty of C experience in college and played in a ZBS too. I just think he's a good center prospect and not an overly good guard prospect. He hasn't always been strong enough against some DTs this year, but at Center it's more of a technicians game and that's what he's suited for.
BobbyK-I agree with your assesment of the O-line and wouldn't mind seeing that combination. The only problem is one of our 5 best lineman would be on the bench (Spencer). It seems we'd be putting a higher value on Unger's potential than Spencer's known talent. While his talent doesn't blow me away, I think he's done a decent job while healthy this year. I definitely agree that Carlson needs to be allowed to get into the passing game more. I had someone argue with me on Sunday that Carlson wouldn't be productive now that Holmgren's gone. I couldn't seem to explain in simple enough terms that JC has essentially become a 6th lineman and hasn't been able to get into the mix. If he could become a threat again I think we'd see our down-field passing game open up a lot more.
Is anyone else wondering who besides Brian De La Puente has been held accountable this week? I thought heads were going to roll?!
Does anyone think we have a chance this Sunday? I think the talent is there, I just think they need to gel on D and get healthy on O.
Go Hawks!!!
Give'em Hell
Audible - You haven't drank enough Kool-aid dude. You didnt notice we got the W?
Never mind that the Detroit Lions out rushed us by 3X! Don't look behind the curtain, and keep drinking the rainbow kool-aid.
I think we have a chance. It's the kool aid in me.
bird_spit,
Yeah...some of us have been drinking so much Jone's Soda that our teeth are falling out. Man, I wish a come-back win against Detroit was something to feel good about.
Mora has a silver tongue, and I just want to see evidence that he follows up with action. And, by action I don't mean release mr. irrevelant from the practice squad and cutting back a player's X-box time.
Sitting Mac and starting lock seems contrary to what Mora says he's trying to teach this team...Mac stepped into his role mid-season, no training camp, no conditioning, and he's done a terrific job protecting Hass, all things considered. I think Mac has earned the starting job at LT. Lock couldn't sac up and get back out there, so he should replace another player who can't seem to get it done...hmmm, who could that be?!
Hambone: I wouldn't read too much into Mora's comments on Hasselbeck's injury. Like you said, it could be a smoke screen to make others think his injury is worse than it is.
When you think of a guy name Mike Jones you dont think Wide Reciever, you think the rapper who know for saying Who Mike Jones?
The 'Hawks most definitely "have a chance" this Sunday. All this "urgency" non-sense aside (apparently word of the week, following consistency and accountability in previous weeks) I don't think anyone in the Seahawks locker room needs to be reminded of what Darnell Dockett had to say after last game:
"I guess they are making excuses, saying Walter Jones is out and [Sean] Locklear and all those guys," Cardinals defensive end Darnell Dockett said. "At the end of the day, man, you've got to come play on Sundays. Whoever they put out there, they've got to play. We played with guys hurt, even myself. … We're not going to make no excuses because they have backup offensive linemen. They get on the field, they get whooped. It's like that."
And on Matt:
"I think by the third quarter, he started bailing up out of there real fast and at some point, I was thinking he wasn't even looking for the receiver. He was just taking off with the ball." and "I don't think he likes playing us,"
Man, I would love nothing more than them to go down there and play their best game of the season and smack the Cards square in the mouth.
http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcwest/post/_/id/7216/cards-victory-shows-how-far-seattle-has-fallen
I can't wait to destroy Arizona on Sunday on their home field.. F em..
Dockett is so stupid he can't even count how many Super Bowls he has won. Now that's a dumbass.
Who is Darnell Dockett?
Lol, Don't be brave. You remember how it hurt when he dumped you as a Twitter friend. (That was incredible how you got under his skin, by the way.)
Lol, Don't be brave. You remember how it hurt when he dumped you as a Twitter friend. (That was incredible how you got under his skin, by the way.)
do tell
I'm feelin' the rivalry. Big divisional game this week, a primary goal for any team, any time. I want to take our hurt, "weak armed", ( ahem...Pro Bowl), QB, our slew of receiving threats, and our "underacheiving" defense, and go pluck some feathers in the desert. I can't wait to see some more picks this week. The quietness that will overcome the stadium, so we can hear Matt bark out his calls. Ahhhhh......priceless : ) ~
GO HAWKS!!!
Bk has a good assessment of the OL.
BobbyA made a good point that i happen to agree with and believe we don't stand a chance in AZ. Might not be a blow out and might even be entertaining (even for us seattle fans), but the hawks don't stand a chance of winning this game.
What would it take for W though? AZ coming in overly confident and making errors early in the game that would bleed them enough to lose. All the hawks would have to do is play mistake free football.........yeah right!
If we get blown where matt throws 3 int's to cromartie i'm going to be really ticked if i hear about a sore shoulder. it does seem like he's lost what little velocity he had.
If Mora wants to throw out a sh!tass OL where the best players aren't playing, where the hell is the "accountability" for him and his staff? It's not about being loyal to the guys who have been here all season, it's about playing the best players who give us the best chance to win (and one would think that would be important to him too). Mora is really starting to lose me if Lock lines up at LT and McIntosh rides the pine... No matter what injury we're talking about, Lock struggles when he comes back (him struggling would still be better in pass pro than Willis at RT though). Remember last year when he took back over from Lock after missing about the first month? That's just one where he wasn't at full stregth even though he was healthy.
"back over from Willis"
best option of starting O-line would be
McIntosh- LT
Sims-LG
Spencer-C
Locklear-RG
Willis-RT
Unger would be backing up spencer and both guard positions
I don't have a problem with that lineup yellaman. Either that, or replace Willis with Lock....
The only reason that they would put Lock at LT is for long-term assessment, which makes some sense to me. I want to win now, but also am realistic in that this team is not going bowling this year. We need to be sure in what we have in Lock. And the injury bug that hit him is not very reassuring.
Mora is not going to replace McIntosh with Locklear out of loyality. If he does start him there, it's because he feels he is an upgrade, nothing more. I'd prefer to see the line stay as is, but whatever Mora does will be with improvement in mind. I'm sure of that.
If Locklear is healthy and ready to go he replaces McIntosh. Reason being is "consistency". Lock has been tabbed as Walts replacement. Wouldn't make sense to leave McIntosh and put Lock somewhere else.
For the game against AZ...we should be looking for a competitive game in the 4th quarter. All road games this year have been decided by halftime. If the game is close, that is progress. Never happy with a loss but we need to see progress. Especially with a full squad.
If we're quitting the season and looking for long term answers... that's fine... then put in Unger at Center and leave him alone for a decade and get rid of the worthless buffoon that's currently playing that position.