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Jermaine Kearse returned a kickoff 107 yards for a touchdown and Brandon Browner returned a fumble recovery 106 yards for a touchdown and that's about how this game went for the Seahawks. Seattle played well in all three phases, offense, defense, and special teams, and dominated this preaseason matchup with their former AFC West rivals, winning 40-10.
Notes:
Russell Wilson was very efficient, finishing the game 8-of-12 for 127 yards, 2 touchdowns, a ten-yard scramble for a first down, and, if you care, a rating of 141.3. Tarvaris Jackson, not to be out-shined, finished with a 141.4 rating on 4-of-7 passing for 93 yards and a touchdown. Brady Quinn completed 3-of-4 passes for 13 yards in garbage time. As a whole, Seattle's QBs finished 15-of-23 for 233 yards, 3TD and no picks. Not a bad night.
Wilson in particular looked good - throwing daggers on the run, picking up a botched snap and calmly hitting Jermaine Kearse for a touchdown, dropping a dime down the sideline to Golden Tate, threading a needle past a Broncos defender for another touchdown - overall, a better outing for the Seahawks first-team unit after a rusty start last week. Wilson's velocity seems to be better this year and maybe it's just preseason and maybe I'm crazy, but he looks faster too. Everything about how he takes the snap and bootlegs out looks crisper; footwork, play-fakes, balance, getting his shoulders lined up on throws on the move - he looks good, fundamentally speaking.
Spencer Ware led the rushing attack with 9 carries for 54 yards and added a nice catch on a well-run route for 26 yards. Ware showed some juice on his runs and juked a few defenders to force missed tackles - overall he just looks like an NFL back and frankly I'm going to be pissed if he ends up on the outside at roster cutdowns.
Robert Turbin's day wasn't as impressive. He rushed 9 times for 35 yards and looked a little tentative - maybe he's just getting back up to speed after missing most of training camp with an injury, but he was caught with ankle tackles a couple of times and wasn't able to break anything longer than 8 yards. That said, he did run with physicality inside on a few totes, so there are things to build on.
Golden Tate had a nice game in limited snaps - he caught a deep bomb down the right sideline and returned a punt 33 yards. As of now, there's no reason to believe Tate isn't setting up build on his big season in 2012. Stephen Williams and Jermaine Kearse both caught touchdown passes and it's hard to imagine this 53-man roster without both of those guys. Kearse's touchdown came on a great route in which he set up the corner on a slant route, got him to turn his hips, and then cut back toward the pylon of the endzone. The corner had to turn all the way around and by that time Kearse was receiving the pass. He just gets open.
On defense, Seattle created three turnovers in the first half alone, and forced four fumbles on the game - one by Brandon Browner, one by O'Brien Schofield, one by Heath Farwell (at the goalline, which was recovered by Browner and run back for a touchdown) and one by Brandon Mebane.
Benson Mayowa had another big game with a sack and a QB hit, and Ty Powell added another sack later. O'Brien Schofield and Kyle Knox also logged sacks - Knox's in particular was pretty exciting, considering he was rushing from a three-point stance and showed nice bend and dip to get around the corner.
Allen Bradford looked good - notching two tackles for a loss, and John Lotulelei also added a nice TFL. The talent on the backend of this roster is exciting - guys like Michael Brooks (who had a great week one too) and Martin Parker are a couple of 3rd and 4th string guys that I'm going to hate to see end up with another team.
Walter Thurmond had a nice game, which was awesome to see after he got picked on a little bit in Week 1. He broke up a Peyton Manning pass on a third down and had a huge hit in punt coverage early on as well.
As usual, we'll have a bunch more this week, but those were a few observations off the cuff. Oh, and here's the important thing: apart from a rolled ankle by Phil Bates (Pete Carroll says he'll be ok), there were no major injuries for the Seahawks. That's good.
What did you guys see?