Seahawks Practice #5, 4:00 Monday 8-3

Honestly I had a great time enjoying the sun and watching football yesterday. I didn't take notes, and wasn't planning on writing one of these. Off the top of my head, here is an amateur's take on Seahawks practice #5, Monday August 3rd:

It was hard to get a good feel for the lines and running game, players were in shorts and shells and clearly playing at about 75%. Both Bryant and Vickerson made several big plays in the backfield. It was good to see, but I don't want to read too much into it as they could have just been hustling harder than the guys opposite them. Forsett looked quick, a couple times juking and stutter stepping guys in space. Julius Jones caught a screen pass and ran untouched for a TD, but I don't know if that is the offense looking good or the defense looking bad.

The backup quarterbacks were concerning. A couple times in 11-11 drills Whitehurst couldn't find an open man downfield and then under threw his checkdown, one time he just plain didn't see Mike Williams beating single coverage deep. Didn't see which corner that Williams was dominating on that play, but it wasn't Trufant or Wilson.

The offensive personnel on the field for most of the first team 11-11 drills was Housh-Tate-Butler at WR, Carlson at TE, and Forsett at RB. When we went to an I formation the WRs were Butler and Housh.

WRs

Golden Tate looked AWESOME when the ball was in his hands, both in kickoff returns and receiving. It seemed like he was having trouble separating from corners, but he made some tough grabs and out muscled Josh Wilson for a ball.

Houshmanzadeh was working hard. He seemed to beat himself up every time he didn't make a catch, I appreciated that. He was playing physical and making a ton of contact going after jump balls.

Butler caught two deep passes (one was well after Matt had been "sacked"). One was a streak and the other was a very deep cross, maybe 30 yards. I was not at all surprised that he could out run single coverage, but Hasslebeck throwing real quality deep balls seems like a good sign.

Carlson seemed to be everywhere, making tough catches all over the field. He's going to be a stud this year. I hope he's on the field every single offensive play.

- Branch was running with the second team and ABUSING those corners. Obviously.

- Mike Williams looked good, but was with the second and third teams. He's big and fast!

- Isaiah Stanbeck looked like camp fodder.

Defense

Trufant looked to be moving well and didn't screw anything up. It looks like he's fully recovered from last year's injury.

Josh Wilson made an athletic one handed interception in 7-7 drills, and came off the edge in a nickel blitz in 11-11. He looks awesome, and fought tough against Housh and Carlson.

Earl Thomas was fluid, mobile, and seemed to already have a grasp of the system. Super exciting to watch. He's smaller than I expected, and FAST! One play had 2 WR and a TE left and a single WR right, ET lined up on the single WR and covered him man to man on an island. He seemed comfortable playing as a corner and the play went the other direction.

Kam Chancellor is scary. Looking forward to him and ET in our defensive backfield, seems like we'll be getting the best of both worlds.

Overall I was excited by what I saw. Both Tate and Thomas seem to be picking up the game pretty well and will probably contribute early in the regular season. Hasslebeck and Trufant looked healthy. Wilson seems like he'll be a bigger factor as a deep threat than he was last year, and Carlson should dominate the middle of the field. The team looks healthy, energized, and excited. I'm ready for the regular season.