This pair always goes at it

RENTON – This time of the NFL exhibition season, a common question arises from fans: Where are the best battles on the practice field?

For the Seahawks, the best competition has nothing to do with the depth chart. Hands-down, the fiercest battle is the nonstop verbal jousting between receiver Mike Williams and safety Earl Thomas during practices.

To clarify, nobody in the franchise wields a sharper needle than linebackers coach Ken Norton Jr., whose comments between plays can buckle the knees of a strong man at 50 paces.

Be they comical, constructive or critical, Norton is the all-time heavyweight champion of the spontaneous remark.

But for intramural mockery, scorn and feigned contempt, Williams and Thomas may be the best tandem the Seahawks have had in a long time.

“If it seems like practice is going slow, I’ll say something to Mike because he’s going to bite and take the bait every time,” Thomas said after practice Wednesday. “I joke with him, ‘Hey, 1-7, you practicin’ today … you’re finally on the field?’ Oh, he doesn’t like that.”

Thomas chuckled at his favorite barb, knowing that it gets to Williams.

“Yeah, I’ve been fighting injuries this whole camp,” Williams said. “So he always falls back on something like, ‘I don’t want to talk to you … you don’t even practice.’ ”

How does Williams respond?

“Yesterday I took him for a 50-yard touchdown with a one-handed catch.”

Afterward, he loudly announced: “Earl can’t cover Mike.”

The banter generally continues, even if they’re on opposite sidelines, all the way into the locker room.

The two make an amusing pair, anyway, as Williams is about a head taller than Thomas. But short jokes don’t bother Thomas.

“I’m one of the smallest persons on the team,” Thomas said, “but it’s been like this all my life, so it’s nothing I haven’t heard before.”

Thomas said he knew Williams was running low on material when he started going for jokes about his long braids, suggesting his performance might improve with a haircut.

“If that’s the best ammo he’s got, it means he doesn’t have much to get on me about,” Thomas said.

Thomas’ Afternoon at the Improv sessions are best with Williams, but not limited to him. And at times, “… the whole offense picks on me,” Thomas said. “If somebody catches a good pass on me, I’m going to hear about it the rest of the practice.”

What is clear about the shots fired between Williams and Thomas is that the insults are a currency of respect.

Thomas came in last year as a first-round pick from whom we heard hardly a peep.

“Last year, he played the perfect rookie’s part,” Williams said. “He was seen and not heard. He’s earned the right to be a voice and personality on this team.”

In a way, Williams looks up to the shorter and younger Thomas for the mature manner in which he came into the league.

“I kind of rewind back to when I was a rookie and I look at him (and think that’s) how I should have been … the way he approached the game and his attitude toward it,” Williams said.

In what ways?

“The way he won’t take no for an answer,” Williams said. “If you beat him, he wants you to line up and go again, always working toward being the best he can be.”

Thomas assessed his rookie season as “up and down.” But now he’s comfortable enough that he can be more instinctive – and expressive.

Please note that all the complimentary things each said of the other were made in separate interviews. If such sincerity and mutual admiration ever got out, it might destroy their act.

“Me and Mike are real close off the field,” Thomas said. “The amount of time we spend together relaxing and talking helps create good chemistry.”

And comedic timing, too.

So, thank you, thank you, they’ll be appearing together all season.

Dave Boling: 253-597-8440 dave.boling@thenewstribune.com