The first day in pads, always a frightening ordeal, often coincides with the first wave of injuries.
Hasselbeck's plant leg seemed to buckle on a three-step drop and he dropped the ball and yelped in pain. I'm not sure if Hasselbeck got his foot stepped on or just rolled his ankle, but he seemed OK after practice.
The good news is this doesn't sound serious. The bad news is the way the injury occurred. Scanning the other reports, it sounds like Beck hurt his leg simply planting it. That can be bad. I'll leave it at that.
Additionally from Seahawks Insider:
-- Julius Jones picked up linebacker Wesley Mallard on an inside blitz with an audible thud, something usually unseen from a halfback around here.
I didn't see much of Jones last season, but in the tape I could study it was his blitz pickup that stood out. Jones is a complete back: block, receive and rush, and his well rounded abilities are one of many reasons I think fans will learn to love him.
-- Josh Wilson continues to impress, making a couple nice plays and deflecting balls in pass coverage.
Notable because Wilson continues to get good press. Him earning the nickelback spot would do wonders for Seattle's ability to prevent long third down conversions and, equally, would do wonders to compensate for Brian Russell's lack of range. Wilson is not yet a seasoned or heady cover man, but his range is impressive.
Mike Wahle is the real deal, and basically stuffed all comers in pass-blocking drills.
For anyone interested in an expansion on this idea, I scouted Wahle from the tape of last year's contest against Carolina. He's good, and should improve some in 2008.
But part of it was, well, poor effort. After dropping his third pass of the morning, tight end Jeb Putzier was banished to the sideline for the rest of practice by Holmgren.
Putz is mostly injury depth. I'm sure it won't be long before Putz is banished from the roster and must again wander in free agent exile. Maybe he'll write an epic poem, treatise on warfare, or book of philosophy.
PLAYER OF THE DAY
John Carlson. The rookie tight end continued to make up for his limited lost time by turning in several nice receptions.The best effort by the team's second-round draft choice, who signed his contract Saturday morning, came when he split coverage from linebacker Leroy Hill and strong safety Deon Grant to take a Matt Hasselbeck pass over the middle in the 7-on-7 drill. Carlson later made a falling catch of a Seneca Wallace pass in the full-team portion of practice.
And
QUOTE UNQUOTE
"He wouldn't have caught it, no question. And if he would have caught it, that ball would have been in the hospital with him." – Grant, when asked what would have happened if he had been allowed to unload on Carlson after he made the aforementioned catch over the middle.
It's a subtle reminder that training camp is about jockeying for position(s) and staying healthy and that in-depth performance analysis is foolish and can be misleading.
And finally, from Seahawks Blog
Punter Reggie Hodges was downright impressive this morning with his booming kicks. In one impressive succession of punts, he had punts of 53 yards, 45, 47, 35 and then back up to 50 and those kicks are from the line of scrimmage, not from the point of the punt. The 53-yarder sent Bobby Engram scurrying backward to catch it and it still ended up over his head.
Kudos to Danny O'neil for giving meaning to such broad verbiage as "booming" and, well, "boomed". I want Plack to get healthy, but it's nice to know Seattle won't be bottom feeding if he can't.