Seahawks’ Preseason: Key Players Getting Better
By Ben Renner
After the Seahawks’ 18-11 loss to Minnesota this week, several key players are stepping up to help a healthier, happier team.
No one remembers what the Seahawks‘ preseason record is in November when the team, at least during the Pete Carroll/ John Schneider era, is steaming towards another postseason berth. It’s never bad to win all four preseason games, of course, especially if victory is within reach, as it was against the Vikings this week, but really all we want to see from our favorite boys in blue is no one important getting hurt, and key players getting better.
We want question marks turning into exclamation points.
After two preseason games, the Seahawks have several players who need to step up for the team turning into exclamation points for Carroll headed into the regular season:
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- Kenny Lawler. The rookie out of Berkeley saw more playing time against Minnesota with Kevin Smith and Kasen Williams both nursing their hamstrings. He played well, catching three passes for 47 yards, including an impressive 16-yard toe-tapper tossed by the Golden Child Russell Wilson himself. Lawler has added weight since being drafted in May and appears to be fully over the hyperextended knee he suffered in minicamp this season. He’s fighting for a roster spot against a competitive group of receivers, including Paul Richardson, who is finally healthy and appears ready to help Wilson and company.
- Garry Gilliam. The Seahawks allowed four sacks of Wilson against Vikings, with Gilliam himself taking the fall for at least two of them. But the right tackle has to have made the coaching staff feel a little better about the offensive line with his performance so far in the preseason. Particularly against a mean Minnesota front seven, the offensive line held their own, and Gilliam was solid protecting the right side.
- Christine Michael. You knew his name was coming. Michael, who took a tour of the league last season until he ended up back in Seattle out of desperation, has looked like this in two preseason games. He ran for 55 yards on 10 carries in the first half against that tough Vikings front seven and looked like the aggressive slasher we were promised in 2013 when the Seahawks drafted him in the second round.
Despite the loss to Minnesota, the Seahawks are looking as good as ever as we march toward Week One. If key players can continue to show promise and improvement in the final two preseason games, well, get your popcorn ready.
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Everyone is happy enough with their contracts, and so far (everyone knock on wood), only Jimmy Graham and Thomas Rawls are recovering from serious injuries. This preseason is already better than 2015’s, which is scary.