Hawks Playbook Podcast Eps.24 Preseason Game 2 Review: Seahawks vs Vikings

Open: Greetings Seahawks fans, welcome to another episode of the Hawks Playbook Podcast.  Join your Host Bill Alvstad, and featuring Seahawks writer and football analyst Keith Myers.  In this week’s show, Bill and Keith Discuss another great preseason game for the team and take a closer look at the players that are standing out on both sides of the ball.

In the News:

  • Seahawks acquire offensive tackle Matt Tobin in a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles. Hawks receive Tobin and a 7th round pick in the 2018 draft, and the Hawks send a 2018 5th round pick back to the Eagles. Tobin has started 21 games in his career, none of them at tackle. Sigh.
  • The Seahawks on Monday also signed left tackle Tyrus Thompson, who has yet to appear in a regular-season NFL game in his two seasons. To make room on their 90-man roster for Tobin and Thompson, the Seahawks waived injured tight end Marcus Lucas and rookie tackle Justin Senior.
  • Justin Britt signed a 3 year contract extension. 3 years, 27 million with 5 million in guarantees.
  • Seahawks sign Tramaine Brock CB. Vet minimum deal with no guarantees.

Featured Segment: Seahawks beat Vikings but Loose Fant for the Season.

The Seahawks dominated in all phases of the game again this week against a better Vikings squad. Russell Wilson continues to look like he is in mid-season form (that’s 2015 mid-season form!) Wilson completed 13 of his 18 passes for 206 yards and two touchdowns and looked decisive and sharp in doing so. Kasen Williams and Mike Davis made touchdown plays for Seattle and Blair Walsh kicked a pair of 52 yard field goals to give the Seahawks 20 total points in the Friday night game.

While that was the bulk of the plays that counted in the game, the most important play came with 9:01 left in the second quarter. That’s the play that Britt unintentionally rolled up onto Fant’s right leg which resulted in an air cast being placed on the leg and Fant exiting Century Link Field on a cart.  The worst fears were later confirmed as both ACL and MCL tears in the knee, and season ending surgery. Odhiambo appears to be the first man up to take over at left tackle.  Keep a close eye on him Friday night.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Seahawks did all the right things and shut down the Vikings for 10 points through 3-1/2 quarters until a meaningless 21 yard touchdown pass from Taylor Heinecke to Bucky Hodges with 2:49 left to play. The most Concerning issue I see so far on the defense is that we are not generating any significant pass rush so far in the preseason.  There is some pocket collapse, and a bit of presser on the edges at times, but this was a larger point of emphasis from coach Carroll and General Manager John Schneider in the off season.  Something to watch.

Player Spotlights:

  • Kasen Williams WR: Williams continues to make plays at WR, and maybe more importantly, on special teams. Through two preseason games, Williams has six receptions for 147 yards and one touchdown. But Kasen feels his most important play of the preseason came while defending against a kickoff return, making a nice solo tackle on the returning for a short gain.
  • Blair Walsh: The reviews on Walsh so far this preseason have been pretty positive. He does have one miss so far on 5 attempts, but the one miss was an attempt over 50 yards.
  • Nazir Jones: Again, super consistent run stopper, hole plugger, pocket collapser. After two preseason games, I’m sold that Jones will be a key rotation guy in 2017.
  • Chris Carson: Yep, Chris Carson is making the team and Collins is not.

            Players on the Bubble:

  • Amara Darboh: Everything you read about Darboh is glowing, except for his time during actual football games. Carroll says he’s smart, makes tough plays, good route runner, plays fast, he can block…etc. etc…. What Darboh has not done, is do any of that during games, because Darboh has been injured when it counted. He missed the first game because of a Peck injury, and received a concussion in the last game.  The good news is that Amara has passed his concussion protocols for the week and will dress up for the KC game on Friday night.  His job is on the line.
  • Pierre Desir: While Desir has played solid so far in camp and during the pre-season games, he has not stood out. What does Pierre need to do to make this team?
  • DeAndre Elliott: Another corner who likely makes most NFL teams rosters, finds himself on the outside looking in after the team signed Tramaine Brock.
  • Mike Davis: Mike Davis is solid but not spectacular as a running back. I mean, we sure could have used him during last year’s running back fiasco of a season, but this year, it’s a numbers game.

Game Preview: A look ahead to the 3rd preseason game. Seattle vs Kansas City on Friday night at Century Link Field in Seattle.  The Chiefs are head coached by Andy Reid and feature Alex Smith at Quarterback. The Chiefs are loaded with up and coming talent and should provide the perfect gage for the Seahawks to see if they are indeed ready for week 1.

Why is this game important? Which players need to step up to have a chance at making the final 53-man roster? Reminder, there are not the usual 2-3 stage roster cut downs this year, making the final game even more important than this one for all the bubble players on the team. Should be a very interesting two weeks coming up.

Close:  Thanks so much for listening to the podcast. Please bookmark the website www.seahawksplaybook.com and comeback often to check out all the shows and other content.  Subscribe on ITunes and follow us on Twitter.  Keith is @MyersNFL and Bill is @NWSeahawk. Take care and we’ll see you next week!