Russell Wilson returns, is wowed by Seahawks mock-game scene in Bothell; Mingo, Ford shine
Russell Wilson was back.
And he was wowed.
Straight off a plane back from his grandfather’s funeral in Virginia, the franchise quarterback was wowed by the 3,428 fans who packed the throwback wooden and newer metal covered stands of Pop Keeney Stadium in Bothell. They, including the city’s mayor and renowned high-school football coach Tom Bainter, watched Wilson and his Seahawks play their annual mock game on Saturday.
It’s the closest thing to a real one before the team’s preseason opener Thursday.
“Coming out here was amazing. This is cool. We should do it more often,” Wilson said of performing on a high-school field for perhaps the first time in a dozen years, since he was back at The Collegiate School in Richmond, Va.
“It was great to get out and change the scenery a little bit. To see all the fans, it felt like a big state-championship football game. ...
“So it was really cool.”
Coach Pete Carroll said the fans were so loud at times, the Seahawks’ offense had to go to a silent count. That’s good preparation for Thursday’s night exhibition opener against Denver at always-rockin’ CenturyLink Field.
“It made it a really special day for us, too,” Carroll said.
Wilson completed 4 of 4 passes for 45 yards on the starting offense’s first drive in the full-pads, no-tackle scrimmage against the second-team defense. That drive ended with Chris Carson’s cut-back touchdown run to the middle then right covering 17 yards for a touchdown.
Wilson finished 11 for 17 passing while leading six drives in all. Two went for touchdowns; Rashaad Penny’s 3-yard run for a score came after Wilson threw out in the left flat to Penny for 24 yards--though in a real game where defenders are allowed to hit the quarterback Quinton Jefferson may have gotten a sack.
Two of Wilson’s drives ended in field goals by new kicker Jason Myers.
The other two drives by the starting offense were three-and-outs. One of those was when Penny ran three consecutive times for 8 yards. It was a flashback to last season when Seattle ran it more, and more effectively, than anyone in the NFL.
The most noticeable aspect of Wilson’s day was that he wasn’t throwing to DK Metcalf, as he has habitually all spring and summer. The prized rookie second-round draft choice ran on the side during warm-ups, then stood on the side wearing a white bucket hat instead of a helmet. Carroll said Metcalf, often injured at the University of Mississippi, strained his oblique muscle on the final play of Friday’s practice.
The team hopes Saturday’s rest plus a players day off Sunday will allow Metcalf to practice again when the Seahawks return to the field Monday at team headquarters.
Myers made all three of his field-goal tries, from 44, 24 and what had to be a Pop Keeney Stadium-record 58 yarder.
Backup quarterbacks Geno Smith and Paxton Lynch split time with the second offense against the starting defense, which became fill-ins as the scrimmage continued. Smith continued his inaccurate passing from Friday. The former starter for the New York Jets and Giants was 5 for 10, but threw for two touchdowns late against backups. Both were, to undrafted rookie Jazz Ferguson.
Smith should have never thrown the first of those two scores. It should have been an interception. Smith’s pass into tight coverage down the left side went off both of starting cornerback Tre Flowers’ hands and into Ferguson’s for the gift score.
Ferguson is a former top recruit at LSU who failed out there then starred at lower-division Northwestern State in Louisiana. Carroll noted Ferguson lost 12 pounds from spring minicamp to training camp. That was after the Seahawks told the 6-foot-5 receiver he was too heavy, way more than his listed 228 pounds.
“He got the message,” Carroll said.
The funniest play came when from the 5-yard line Smith threw a pass so high over his intended receiver in the end zone it directly squared the crossbar of the goal post. The ball bounded 15 yards back to the line of scrimmage. That’s where training-camp star Poona Ford, who had been pass rushing, grabbed the ball out the air. Though the pass was incomplete by rule once it hit the goal post, the defensive tackle comically ran 95 yards to the other end zone for a would-be interception and touchdown. Wilson pumped his arms while his teammates and fans roared for Ford on his fun run.
The 310-pound Ford ran the entire length of the field carrying the ball. He had to be laughing the entire way.
“I’m counting on that. He’s going to do that again sometime,” Carroll said.
It really is Poona-palooza in this Seahawks camp. The Big 12 Conference defensive player of the year in 2017 for Texas, an undrafted surprise last year for Seattle stopping the run, has been outstanding against run and pass through training camp’s first eight practices.
Smith’s four drives ended with two “punts,” had All-Pro Michael Dickson been punting, and the two late touchdowns.
“I thought Geno did really nice down the stretch,” Carroll said.
Lynch has a chance to make up some early camp ground lost to Smith for the number-two job behind Wilson. The former first-round draft choice of the Denver Broncos wasn’t fabulous Saturday, but he was better than Smith. Lynch completed 7 of 11 passes, many of them short checkdowns to secondary receivers. The three drives Lynch led ended with a touchdown, a field goal and a punt.
Tight end Jacob Hollister, acquired this offseason from New England for a seventh-round draft choice, continued his strong spring and summer. The former quarterback from Bend, Ore., and the University of Wyoming had four catches and again showed his versatility playing tight on the line, in the slot and outside.
“His mobility really stands out,” Carroll said.
Hollister has an increased opportunity now that starting tight end Ed Dickson is out with a knee injury. Carroll said 10th-year tight end needed an MRI and may be out into this week, at least.
Seattle waived-injured two tight ends, Tyrone Swoopes and Justin Johnson, and signed two on Saturday: undrafted rookie Jackson Harris and Wes Saxton. This is Saxton’s sixth NFL team. He also played in the short-lived Alliance of American Football this spring.
Defensively, Barkevious Mingo made a push Seattle REALLY needs: at edge pass rusher.
The former first-round draft choice by Cleveland was more a stand-up, off-the-ball outside linebacker in his Seahawks debut season last year. He had one sack all year to show for that. This summer the Seahawks are using Mingo as a hand-on-the-ground defensive end. That’s what he was Saturday when he sped past 2018 draft choice Jamarco Jones on consecutive plays for sacks. The first time Mingo knocked the ball from Lynch’s hand; it was ruled an incomplete pass.
With Super Bowl-veteran starters Bobby Wagner, K.J. Wright and Mychal Kendricks’ Seattle’s best starting linebackers of the Carroll era, Mingo needs to show he can be a pass-rush end. Ziggy Ansah, the Seahawks’ biggest offseason signing, watched again on Saturday. Carroll has said it may be through August before Ansah practices for the first time. He’s coming off shoulder surgery that ended the 2015 Pro Bowl end’s time with Detroit.
Defensive end and rookie first-round pick L.J. Collier is out likely into September, at least, following a uniquely sprained foot and ankle this week.
But Wilson is back. His one-day absence was the first time he’s missed a practice in camp or a regular season since Seattle drafted him in 2012.
“I don’t like missing practice. Like, ever. It was a quick 20 hours, that’s for sure,” he said of his grandfather’s funeral across the country. “But it was worth it, that’s for sure.”
“It was great. It was a celebration of his life, my grandfather’s life. You know, 94 years old. Born in 1925. He’s seen a lot, done a lot. A lot of special things that he’s done, I think the legacy that he’s left is an amazing one. Being president of Norfolk State University for 22 years...”
Wilson told the story his grandmother told him Friday night after the funeral. When she met Wilson’s grandfather, he was raising Russell’s uncle, Ben, who was 16 at the time, plus Russell’s father Harrison, 12, and two more uncles aged 8 and 3.
“They had no mom,” Wilson said.
“For my grandfather to raise those kids, to raise my dad, to raise my uncles, to be the leader that he was, to be such the man that he was, it’s inspirational. So many people when I was there talked about how inspirational he was, how he inspired people. That’s what I want to do in my life, is to inspire, to leave memories.
“The reality is that we are all going to be gone someday. What can we leave for memories, and how can we leave an impact on the world?
“I think he was able to do that. So inspirational to me, and many other people.
“I know he’s in a good place right now. He’s up there with my dad, probably hanging out, watching the Hawks.”
BARTON OUT: Carroll said third-round pick Cody Barton, the sharp rookie linebacker who has impressed in the spring and first days of training camp, has a groin strain. He is questionable to play Thursday’s preseason game.
This story was originally published August 3, 2019 at 5:33 PM.
