Russell Wilson sitting out Seahawks preseason opener? Pete Carroll is changing in year 10
Why isn’t Russell Wilson playing in the preseason opener, for the first time in his career?
Because a 67-year-old sage who began coaching when Richard Nixon was president and Watergate was raging has come up with something new in year 45 leading football players.
Pete Carroll is changing how he plays his veteran Seahawks starters in the first preseason game tonight when Seattle hosts the Denver Broncos at CenturyLink Field beginning about 7 p.m.
Generally over his first nine years of training camps and preseasons leading the Seahawks, Carroll played his starters for a series or, if the first drive was short, a handful of plays at the beginning of the preseason opener. The reserves would play the final 3 1/2 quarters or so.
Week two of the preseason, starters have played into the second quarter. The third preseason game has been the final rehearsal for the season, with starters playing into the second half so they can come in at halftime, get cooled down and coached, then go out for a drive or two of the second half to get used to revving back up again after halftime. The fourth and final preseason game has been mostly a throwaway for veteran starters, some of whom haven’t even dressed for that game 10 or so days before the games get real.
Wilson has followed that formula since Carroll drafted him in 2012 and made him the starting quarterback during the preseason of his rookie year. Wilson hasn’t played in the useless final preseason game in each of the last two summers. But he’s always played in the first one.
Until Thursday night. Backups Geno Smith and Paxton Lynch will play exclusively against the Broncos. It is a big step in determining who will win the number-two job behind Wilson.
And it is a big—well, as big as moves can be for an exhibition game on Aug. 8—change for the way Carroll has done it in Seattle.
“A little bit of a different emphasis in that, yeah, he’s not starting,” Carroll said of Wilson, who signed a new, record $140 million contract in April.
“I think, more than ever, we have a lot of guys who are new to play. We’ve got a big competition at our quarterback position, in particular. We want them to play as much as they can, to play their way into those spots. I don’t want this to be a decision we have to make without a lot of great information. That’s what’s most important right now.
“We have a lot of competition at the receiver spot, a lot of competition on the offensive line. We are going to able to play a lot of guys in this game and see how they can do.”
Carroll’s decision to keep Wilson out of Thursday’s game is partly because of the experience Seattle now has behind him at quarterback. Smith is the former starter for the New York Jets and Giants. Lynch is a former first-round pick by the Broncos who failed as a starter in Denver.
“It has to do with other guys playing and not playing, as well,” Carroll said.
Ah, ha! The real reason.
Expect different starting offensive linemen Thursday, too. Don’t be surprised to see Jamarco Jones, last year’s fifth-round pick, at left tackle to rest veteran starter Duane Brown. Or center Justin Britt taking the night off and Joey Hunt starting.
Put it this way: In no way does Carroll want Wilson trying to throw behind Jamarco Jones blocking Von Miller, when the Broncos have their starting defense in to begin the game. Even for one play.
Denver’s coaches have said their starters, including Miller, will play a series or two Thursday. That’s a series or two too many to risk Wilson behind substitutes Carroll wants to see on the offensive line.
“This is the game that we dedicate to the rooks,” Carroll said.
Other candidates to start this different preseason opener: rookie middle linebacker Cody Barton, while Bobby Wagner recovers from a knee-injection therapy, rookie second-round pick Marquise Blair at strong safety to perhaps rest Bradley McDougald and second-year man Shaquem Griffin at weakside linebacker for veteran K.J. Wright, the longest-tenured Seahawk.
Carroll said DK Metcalf will play. The rookie wide receiver and second-round pick missed scrimmaging Saturday and Monday following a strained oblique. Then he wowed in scrimmageson Tuesday in his return.
“We are going to play our young guys a ton,” Carroll said. “You’ll see...there’ll be some mixes in the starting lineup that you’ll see right from the get-go.”
The coach said Will Dissly will not play Thursday. Carroll said the second-year tight end from the University of Washington is “way ahead of schedule” in his recovery from surgery last fall to repair a ruptured patellar tendon in his knee, and Dissly’s long runs and catches past starting defensive backs this week showed that. But the Seahawks are holding Dissly out of the game against Denver out of precaution.
Rookie running back Travis Homer will not play because of a quadriceps injury. Running back back J.D. McKissic may not play because of “a sore foot,” Carroll said. McKissic will be a pregame decision after warmups.
That left Chris Carson, Rashaad Penny and Bo Scarbrough as the only healthy tailbacks for the preseason opener as of Wednesday afternoon. And the Seahawks are unlikely to have Carson, returning from offseason knee surgery, and Penny get many carries Thursday, for the same reason Wilson isn’t playing.
So Wednesday the Seahawks signed rookie free-agent running back Xavier Turner from Tarleton State. Arizona waived him last week. Turner is likely to share the bulk of carries Thursday with Scarbrough, the former plow-horse back at Alabama.
To make room on the 90-man preseason roster for Turner, Seattle waived/injured undrafted rookie cornerback Davante Davis from Texas.
Another change Carroll made this week to prepare for Wilson and other starters not playing in the first preseason game: ones versus ones in lengthy scrimmaging throughout Tuesday’s practice, the last full one of the week before Thursday’s game.
Usually, the starters scrimmage mostly against the second team, such as in last weekend’s mock game when Wilson carved up the second-string defense.
“We had a big practice with the ones and they had tons of work out here. It was a little bit different emphasis for us,” Carroll said. “They got twice as much work as they normally would get going into a game to compensate for the plays they don’t get (in Thursday’s preseason opener), and I think we might have gained ground by doing it that way. More competition with the ones against ones out here that they won’t get if they play a handful of plays in the first game.
“I think we’ve made an effort to get more out of this process than to get less out of this process by them not playing in the game.
“So, it’s really dedicated to the young guys. You’ll see the lineups. There’s a mixture of guys playing, and always specific decisions along the way. Once the game gets going it will be like a really classic first game.”
This story was originally published August 8, 2019 at 7:24 AM with the headline "Russell Wilson sitting out Seahawks preseason opener? Pete Carroll is changing in year 10."
