Pete Carroll, Kris Richard, Tom Cable press conference notes

Danny note: Nathan has been posting these press conference recaps over at the Seahawks' SubReddit, which by the way, is an amazing resource and great community, and he agreed to start posting his notes over here at Field Gulls as well. Here are Nate's notes, which are shorthand/informal, but do the trick on telling you what you need to know!

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Pete Carroll:

• Brandon Mebane got such a regimen from his intense rehabbing that I think he is in the best shape we have ever seen him in, all time high confidence.

• Justin Britt looked very comfortable at LG. Looked good.

• Garry Gilliam did well vs Justin Houston, looked very good over there.

• Second group guys will just continue to get better, make big mistakes due to youth.

• If the starting O-line puts together another good week, they will play week 1.

• One step at a time in looking for guys (Evan Mathis, etc). Will see some more names come up today. Lots of issues to take care of to get that in order. Carroll said visit with Evan Mathis went well and they now have the information they needed from it.

• Things remain the same with Kam Chancellor at this point.

• Swanky Kona Schwenke got his ACL torn.

• 5-6 guys coming back to full practice. Ryan Murphy, Will Blackmon, Richard Sherman, Jordan Hill, Marcus Burley, Tharold Simon etc.

• T-Jack is making pretty good progress. Pete is shooting for the opener for Jackson. Tavaris wants to play next week, would be a real accomplishment if that happened. (AKA won't be likely but possible).

• Bruce Irvin has to go through the concussion protocol.

• Chris Matthews is improving, close, not sure if he will be ready this week or not.

• Won't have to tailor anything to the O-line with play-calling. Gonna use our entire offense, no restrictions. Will play-call based on match-ups.

• KJ Wright working on giving up less TDs, Pete trying to return to what we did in the past to not let that happen. Changing a couple things to adjust that. (Wouldn't go into details, keeping it secret).

• Drew Nowak is very strong, stronger than the guys we played with over the years. A brute, very smart, still learning but has applied himself really well. Made some nice plays, blocks, combo work.

• Russell Wilson has to learn how to get hit, he has a style he employs, he's great at knowing how to and when to (talking about QB read option hits ie Bradford tackle by Suggs)

• D-line converts to O-line can help us deep in the season by playing D-line. Converting those athletic freak D-line guys to O-line really allows us to upgrade our O-line guys to being super athletes.

• George Farmer (WR to CB convert) has a long history with Pete, Pete watched him grow up. Tremendous athlete, track runner. Want to see what he looks like at CB. Made a couple plays, had a good day today.

• Dion Bailey continues to show he is a really good football player. Great instincts. Always been a play maker. Really fired up about what he has shown, great camp. Ronald Martin is a good football player, smooth, does everything we want him to do. Playing FS/SS/ST. Dion also good on ST (got confirmed he got a safety in the Chiefs game?).

• Ryan Murphy getting back could mix things up, missed so much of camp but he is so good. Gonna be a SS safety but "they" need to know both (SS/FS).

• BJ Daniels did well, him being a backup QB is great. Showed up well for it being his second game at WR, showed up big on ST. Carroll on B.J.'s versatility: "It's the more you can do. That's a motto in the league. I loved that he covered kickoffs so aggressively, too. This is his second game as a wide receiver ever, so we take that into account. He's shown a lot of good things. He's got a lot of good, natural ability. He is a very competitive kid. We like the heck out of him. And the fact he can play quarterback is huge. It's rare to have a guy like that."

• On Christine Michael: "He did, a couple of great blocks. Unfortunately the guy got hurt on one of them. But that's just an illustration that his game is rounding out. He's done a nice job. Ran the ball well when he had his chances. When he ran it he ran it really well."

• Rawls and Smith are just trying to make it, trying to find their way on ST. Like the way they have competed so far but unfortunately there are only two games left.

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Kris Richard:

• Ronald Martin is being taught to play FS and SS.

• On DeShawn Shead playing cornerback: "It's his value. It's his utility. We love him in this role."

• KJ Wright's growth has been great since he got year, every year he gets better. Smartest guy I've been around. Think coverage on TE's will improve.

• No timeline on converting a WR to DB, there is gonna be a maturation process. Cool thing is a WR knows what a CB does, but they gotta flip flop. The work is teaching them zones and stuff like that. They are clean, blank slates, don't have bad habits.

• Dion Bailey as a former Linebacker shows up in his SS play. Really excited for his future.

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Tom Cable:

• First unit was more consistent, really good communication, most impressive thing was "makign some moves" and having everyone on the same page. Great conversation between Russell Wilson and Drew Nowak at the end of the game, Russ felt he was able to target some things and Drew was already on it.

• O-line is getting close to getting set. Like where its headed, gonna play the same guys this week. Might see Alvin play some RT this week.

• Alvin Bailey is so valuable because he can play four spots, practiced all camp at guard so gotta make sure he can play Tackle, so he is still that utility guy that can play allf our four spots.

• Justin Britt at LG looked really really good, very physical, adds power and athleticism inside, if he can have another week of that, we are moving in the right direction.

• Lack of run blocking is fundamental technique issues, specifically guard play (their second step). Had some nice seams in there, but they got closed because of the bad back foot/second step (Britt and JR Sweezy).

• Competition has heated up tremendously at Center because of Drew. He's gotta stay in a good football position with his knees bent when he is in the second level, hes getting high in his stance at the second level an not getting more blocks. (aka he is standing too tall, losing leverage, not able to block as well as he should in the second level).

• Alvin's best performance showed up in Game 2. Patrick Lewis and Mark Glowinski as well. Will Pericak & Kristjan Sokoli looked better than last week too.

• Keavon Milton was with 1st-team in practice today at left guard, but that's due to Britt being absent with a personal matter.

• Cable is all about consistency, can you have a great play and then another? Can you get blown up but then have a good play next?

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My Thoughts:

O-Line:

• I am really pumped for our O-line. It seems like Gilliam and Britt have locked those jobs down and look good. Gilliam put up a solid performance against the second best pass rusher in the NFL (Houston) that was the best pass pro at RT we have seen in years. Britt apparently looked really good at LG, and if he and Sweezy can work on their "second step" to keep those running seams open then we can have a run game and pass pro. (They worked on it today, so I don't expect it to be a nagging problem through out the season).

• So far everything with Nowak at Center sounds great. He is a D-line convert (so physically he is the most powerful Center in our Center competition) and he is having great communication with Russ? And he is commanding the O-line well? Calling out protections? Is snapping the ball perfectly so far? Is not committing any penalties? Ummm...YES PLEASE! I'll take all that for sure!

• Bailey getting time to make sure he is good at Guard and Tackle so he can be that high quality 4 spot back-up sounds great. It's great to hear he had a good game against the Chiefs because so far word on him from camp and the first preseason game was extremely disappointing. Very encouraged to hear Soko, Glow, Lewis and Pericak all looked better in the second preseason game.

Linebackers giving up TE TD's:

• I love that KJ Wright knows covering TEs is a weakness of his and he is working on it. That he gave up too many TD's in coverage. I love that Pete recognizes this as well and sees that something was off in '14 in coverage of TE's (especially in the RZ) and that they have worked on it, changed some stuff and think they will get back to '13 TE covering dominance.

RB Competition:

• Sounds like RB competition has been hurt by Rawls and Smith not getting many opportunities because the O-line's have given them so little. Bummer. At least C-Mike has shown improvement in areas that he needs to (he's trying to carry ball with other hand, he is making plays in pass-pro blocking).

Safeties:

• It's hard to tell if Pete is raving so much about Dion (SS) because he deserves it or as a little pressure to Kam, but he is raving about him, Dion is obviously making plays in the preseason games...the more I see this guy play, the less I am worried about Kam holding out into the regular season (not saying Kam isn't better, not saying I don't think Kam will be back week 1). The competition of Martin, Bailey and now Murphy will be great.

Tukuafu trouble:

• Oh, and to anyone that was loving Tukuafu for his D-line versatility, that comment about our O-line converts (Sokoli, etc) playing D-line deep into the season if we are in need, I think that hurts Tuku. If Coleman is healthy by cut downs I think Tuku gets cut because D-line versatility was a big utility positive for him making the roster, but with monsters like Sokoli on the roster who are even bigger/athletic monsters with D-line experience than Tuku...not good for him.

Better DB play against Chargers:

• Expect better DB play against the Chargers. Sherman is gonna play, Burley is gonna play, Blackmon is gonna play (one of them will be our starting nickel), Simon is gonna play (probably second team but still he is a good-ish CB against starters, so against 2nd & 3rd team WR's? Should ball out).