Seahawks ‘nasty, mean’ Damien Lewis, Gabe Jackson set contest with big stakes — and steaks
It won’t be enough for Gabe Jackson and Damien Lewis to simply block people this season.
Then again, the way the Seahawks’ offensive line has struggled for years Jackson and Lewis simply blocking consistently will be plenty good for Russell Wilson, Seattle’s coaches — heck, all of the Pacific Northwest.
But to the Seahawks’ starting guards, it’s going to take more than that.
Jackson and Lewis are both natives of Mississippi. The 30-year-old Jackson is from Liberty, in the southwestern part of the state near the Louisiana border. Lewis, 24, is from Canton, in south-central Mississippi, a half hour up Interstate 55 from the state capitol in Jackson.
Upon Jackson’s arrival this spring in Seattle’s trade with the Las Vegas Raiders to upgrade their pass protection of Wilson, the Seahawks moved Lewis from right to left guard. Lewis was on the right when he started as the team’s rookie third-round draft choice in 2020. Lewis is moving to give Jackson right guard, where he’s been one of the NFL’s better pass-blocking guards the last half-dozen seasons.
Almost as if in exchange for that switch, Jackson got a friendly wager going with his fellow Mississippian.
“Gabe, man: fun,” Lewis said Thursday. “We’ve just been out there having fun, bonding with each other, and he just brings the excitement.
“Actually, we’ve got a bet on who gets the most knockdowns this season.”
As in, defensive players knocked to the ground by Jackson and by Lewis.
The stakes are really steaks. The loser, the guard with the fewer knockdowns, has to buy the entire Seahawks offensive line dinner at a soiree after this season.
“We are going out of town,” Lewis said.
That’s a pricey proposition. That dinner, on vacation, for 10 or so 300-pound giants, absolutely will not be salad.
So you’ll know why if you see Lewis and Jackson not satisfied with merely getting in the way of defenders this season but trying to plant them into turfs like flag poles.
“This is just me and Gabe, personally,” Lewis said. “He said he’s coming in doing a whole bunch of knockdowns, and I’m going to hold the title to that one.
“He came to me about two weeks ago. He asked me ‘Do you guys compete for who gets the most knock downs?’ I told him ‘Yeah, yeah. Me and you can get it right now.’”
The arbiter who is going to decide who has put the most defensive foes on the ground this season? Coaches, based on game film?
No way.
“We are going to let Kyle Fuller do that,” Lewis said of the center who may be the starter between Lewis and Jackson in Seattle’s opener Sept. 12 at Indianapolis. “We can trust him.
“Yeah, Kyle is my guy. He’s going to do all that.
“Yeah, the loser is going to pay for everything. We’ll be going out on an O-line trip and he’s going to handle his business.”
Lewis handled his last season. Seahawks coach Pete Carroll knew all about the LSU national champion from 2019 from his friend and former assistant head coach of his at USC, now-LSU coach Ed Orgeron. That’s why Carroll drafted Lewis.
So Carroll wasn’t surprised when he put Lewis as the starting right guard from day one of his rookie training camp last summer and the new guy never gave up the job.
The only time he moved was in November when coaches came up to him two days before a Thursday night home game against Arizona and told him he was starting at center for the first time in his life, because Ethan Pocic had a concussion.
Lewis did well there, too.
New spot, new offense
Despite having no offseason work with the Seahawks offense on the field because of the league’s COVID-19 restrictions in 2020, despite some penalty issues, Lewis became the first Seahawks draft pick to start all 16 games of his debut season since Seattle’s last Super Bowl team. That was 2014, when Justin Britt started as a rookie right tackle.
“When I came in, it was pretty tough. I had to set everything up through Zoom and look at all these different types of formations and plays. All of it kind of hit me at once,” Lewis said of 2020. “People had high expectations for me, coming in and keeping a job.
“It was tough at first, but I settled down and prayed about it. Everything came slow to me. I picked up on things. I felt calm and relaxed and just put it all together.”
Now Lewis is moving to the left side for the first time. He hasn’t played there. Not at LSU. Not at Canton High School in Mississippi.
“No, never,” he said.
This year, he’s not only on a new side, and in his big side bet with Jackson, Lewis is learning first-time coordinator Shane Waldron’s new Seahawks offense.
“We’re doing a lot of running, quick game,” Lewis said. “Really, just quick game, getting the ball off fast and blocking quick. Just doing us.”
And this Seahawks offense is faster. Faster into and out of the huddle. Faster to the line. Faster to snap the ball and run the next play, with or sometimes without another huddle.
Not that the 327-pound Lewis is a big fan of that
“Offensive linemen hate tempo,” he said.
“I know the defense hates it too, but the O-line hates it. It’s better for us because it makes us get on the ball fast, hurry up, get the defense going, and wear those guys out. We use it to our advantage.”
‘Mean, nasty’
On the field, Lewis showed what Jackson is renowned for — all the way back to Lewis’ days growing up in Mississippi.
“I’m still a fan of Gabe,” Lewis said. “Coming out of high school, I looked up to Gabe. I told people I wanted to be like Gabe someday, and now I’m on the same team as him.
“I like how he’s so nasty. He’s mean. He’s tough. He’s got a grit, and he always finishes guys. That’s one thing that stood out to me with Gabe. To watch his film and how nasty he is.
“That’s my role. I like to be mean, tough, and nasty. Perfect to me.”
Two mean, tough and nasty dudes from Mississippi on the interior of the offensive line. That’s a potentially great deal for Wilson and the Seahawks this season.
“I’m excited about this season, about what a guy like...Gabe Jackson can do,” Wilson said.
“D Lew his rookie year last year was phenomenal. Now he’s moving to left guard and he’s got great confidence.”
This story was originally published August 26, 2021 at 5:25 PM.
