Seahawks Blog
Danny O'Neil covers the Seahawks for The Seattle Times.
Blog Home
|
E-mail Danny |
Subscribe |
Twitter feed|
Seahawks forum
Comments (2)
E-mail article
Print view
Share
Lofa Tatupu, Chris Spencer return to practice
Posted by Danny O'Neil
| SEAHAWKS TRAINING CAMP: Day 13 One practice, Closed to the public, full pads, 2 hours, 20 minutes | ||
Roll call: LB Lofa Tatupu returned to practice after sitting out Tuesday's workouts, same for center Chris Spencer, who was back after suffering a sprained ankle on Friday. Spencer participated in individual drills.
CB Josh Wilson and S Deon Grant also returned after sitting out a day because each suffered a slight groin strain. DE Cory Redding was practicing, too, though Patrick Kerney remained out.
The only new absence from practice was guard Mansfield Wrotto, whose injury has not been specified yet. With Wrotto sidelined, Max Unger took first-unit reps at right guard. Kyle Williams stepped in for Unger when the big man lost his shoe during practice.
INT-eresting development: The Seahawks' seven-on-seven portion of the afternoon practice is the kind of drill that would have driven coach Mike Holmgren nuts because it included three interceptions.
Well, that drew compliments from coach Jim Mora, who doesn't always see the game through the quarterback's eyes. That's not a knock on Holmgren. The man is a Hall of Fame coach with an incredible offensive acumen, but he always saw every practice and each game from the position he played and that was quarterback.
Mora's background is on the defensive side of the ball, and when Ken Lucas, Deon Grant and linebacker Dave Philistin each intercepted a pass during the seven-on-seven drill, the coach celebrated instead of fuming.
A minute to win it: Practice concluded with a 2-minute drill with the ball at about midfield and 54 seconds on the clock. The first-string offense got down to the 5 with 13 seconds left and hustled to the line as if it would be a quick spike to stop the clock. Nope. Hasselbeck lofted a pass out to Nate Burleson, who couldn't make the catch because of pretty apparent pass interference by Kelly Jennings. No penalty, though, much to the consternation of offensive coordinator Greg Knapp. That made it second down, and Ken Lucas knocked away a pass thrown to Deon Butler at the edge. Third down, Hasselbeck threw a third incompletion. There was 0.4 seconds left on the clock, but no more plays. The horn sounded and the second-string offense took the field.
The second-string offense scored in four plays as Mike Hass caught a short curl to begin the drive and punctuated it with a great leaping catch at the back of the end zone. Tight end Cameron Morrah and wide receiver Courtney Taylor also made great catches during the drive.
Cool hand Lucas: I never covered Ken Lucas as a Seahawk before this training camp. I began covering the team in 2005, the first season he played for Carolina after signing a whopping free-agent deal. He returned to Seattle after declining a paycut from Carolina, getting released and finding the market for his services more tepid than expected. He's here on a one-year deal.
Lucas is an eight-year veteran, and I expected him to cruise through training camp, maybe rev his motor a few times in exhibition games, but he's been in this game long enough he didn't have to prove himself in training camp.
I was wrong about that one because Lucas practices hard. That was apparent from the very first days of training camp. He is a cornerback who is very feisty and is willing to press receivers in the first few yards of their break.
He practices as hard as an undrafted rookie trying to make the team, which is pretty immpressive because it's not like he came to training camp with a lot to prove. This is a guy whose body of work in the NFL led Mora to name him the starting cornerback once he signed.
Green with envy: T.J. Houshmandzadeh spent years wearing the Bengals' orange so he's not sweating the possibility that the Seahawks may wind up sporting an alternative green jersey that is the color of nuclear cabbage. "I haven't really seen a [green] jersey," Houshmandzadeh said, "but if you got style, then you can rock anything. I think I got style, so I'm going to be just fine."
Copyright © 2009 The Seattle Times Company
Feb 9, 10 - 4:30 PM
Rush to improvement
Feb 9, 10 - 12:49 PM
Get to know: Jeremy Bates
Feb 9, 10 - 8:16 AM
Matt Hasselbeck on KJR 950 AM
Feb 7, 10 - 2:11 PM
Walter Jones says via Twitter he's retiring
Feb 6, 10 - 11:34 AM
Live Super Bowl Chat: Log-on now


- Alaska Air dropping Jones Soda beverages, going back to Coca-Cola
- Man found shot dead in pickup truck in Seattle
- Seattle is first U.S. stop for Picasso exhibit
- Husky Football Blog | Pac-10 expansion to get consideration over next year
- State Senate votes to clear way for tax increases
- Idol Confessions | "American Idol" hopeful from Seattle didn't make it to Hollywood afterall
- Belltown boulevard could be completed by early next year
- Nicole Brodeur | Chrisceda Clemmons' house wasn't the only casualty
- Brier Dudley's Blog | Google rolls its own Facebook & Twitter with Gmail "Buzz"
- Sex, drug rumors swirl about N.Y. Gov. Paterson
- Republicans may be no-shows at health-plan summit
278 - State Senate votes to clear way for tax increases
250 - Pac-10 expansion to get consideration over next year
249 - Lee undergoes foot surgery
231 - Obama: GOP and Dems together can spur job growth
210 - Fort Lewis soldier charged with abusing 4-year-old, holding her head in water
193 - Rivals names Martin one of Pac-10's best recruiters
143 - Belltown boulevard could be completed by early next year
128 - Bus-tunnel attack while guards watched prompts review of Metro security
119 - White House mocks Sarah Palin from podium
92
- Seattle is first U.S. stop for Picasso exhibit
- Belltown boulevard could be completed by early next year
- 747-8 soars smoothly on first outing
- Wine Adviser | Oregon's quality pinots join the bargain ranks
- Alaska Air dropping Jones Soda beverages, going back to Coca-Cola
- Snap out of your photo funk: How to make sense of all those piles of images
- How clean are those pre-washed salad greens?
- Answers to biggest Olympic TV questions
- Brier Dudley's Blog | Google rolls its own Facebook & Twitter with Gmail "Buzz"
- Jerry Brewer | Huskies softball pitcher Danielle Lawrie: A star on the field, not in her mind



