Hey guys, I have an extra ticket for the game today -- a friend flaked on me with short notice (and if this sort of post isn't encouraged, I apologize, I'm just kinda left hanging and if I have to give the ticket to a stranger, I'd rather it be a Field Gulls reader).  I'm heading down to the stadium around noon and we can figure something out.

The seats are in the south end zone, section 123, row KK. 

If anyone's interested, you can hit me up on AIM.  My username is strangito.

Apparently Engram cracked a bone in his shoulder, he's out 6-8 weeks (which would be, what, between the first Rams game and the Giants game?).   Danny O'Neil's blog post has more on it. 

Optimistically, I guess this gives the youngins more of a shot to step up in the preseason.  Better to have this now than right before Week 1...

He also posts on Tubbs -- apparently he failed a physical. His knee swelled up after some running.

Edit by John Morgan: There isn't much to add other than that Engram's injury was predictable. Not so much the specific type of injury but that Engram would suffer some kind of injury and miss significant time this season. I said it about 20 times in the offseason, and it wasn't a matter of prescience, just a sound examination of Engram's history, age, and style. 134 targets over the middle would punish Colossus. To my mind, this doesn't significantly affect Seattle's season. Engram was always underrated by most and overrated by some, and though I don't see one of Seattle's current receiving corps duplicating Engram's reliability, precision and toughness, I do think they can capably assume his slot duties and maybe add some speed and run after the catch.

Unfortunately, with Tubbs due just $830,000 this season, cutting him is probably purely because he's too far gone. I held out hope on Tubbs, thought he could recover from a procedure that's been demystified a bit in the past few years, but it sounds like no procedure will be enough to grant his knees the God given resilience to play in the NFL. Good luck Marcus.

Per Sando, the 'hawks cut Mike Green today.  They must have faith in Wallace or Adams (or faith in Josh Wilson and Kevin Hobbs to lock down the nickel and dime slots so they can make Babs strictly a backup safety).

He also notes that Plackemeier, Branch and Tubbs are on the Physically Unable to Perform list and that Will Herring is on the Non-Football Related Illness list.  The training camp PUP only means that they have to pass a physical before practicing, so it's probably not that important, but it's a little sad to see Tubbs still on the list...

Ahh, training camp -- the offseason's over!

Frank Hughes is reporting that Bobby Engram held out of minicamp yesterday because he's unhappy with his contract.  It's the last year of his deal (he's making 1.7m in salary).

I'm a little surprised but I guess that's mainly the fannish knee-jerk reaction of "how could you do this to us?!" when he's a 35 year old wide receiver who was the leading receiver at his position on the team last year... and who is on a team that is pretty much counting on him to contribute heavily again this year.

I hope this is worked out for both parties.  It seems like the sort of thing that Ruskell wouldn't jive with... and with a new head coach coming in next year... 

Seahawks.com has a bunch of minicamp pictures up.  Some good stuff.  I was shocked by the Jones signing and I'm still not sure how it'll turn out, but the dude looks like he's got some hands.

Frank Hughes also has a writeup of the day's practices.  I'm skeptical that changing o-line coaches can make that big a difference, but it sounds like people are very impressed with Solari.

http://www.wdtv.com/news/local/17127656.html

His name is Tim Lindsey.  He's formerly of the West Virginia Mountaineers and, you guessed it, the Atlanta Falcons.  Gee, the last ex-Falcons long snapper worked out so beautifully...

Oh well, at least his name isn't Boone (and he doesn't appear to have ridiculous hair).

Per Sando, Stump Mitchell has been hired as the 'skins assistant head coach/RBs coach.  

Hopefully it won't be as much of an issue this season, but he was the one in charge of the RB rotation last year.  

I wonder if Mack Strong might be considered (or if he's more interested in broadcasting).