Seahawks preseason finale: Starters sit, Shane Waldron, Alex Collins, Darrell Taylor shine
Russell Wilson didn’t play. Again.
Neither did eight other starters on offense. With Duane Brown still holding in wanting a new contact and center Kyle Fuller and left guard Damien Lewis the only starting linemen playing, there was no way coach Pete Carroll was going to risk his $140 million franchise quarterback in an August preseason game. Even against reserve Los Angeles Chargers.
Geno Smith started, Alex Collins starred and first-time play caller Shane Waldron finally gave the public — and rest of the NFL — glimpses of what Seattle’s new offense will look like this season.
And the glimpses, at least, looked fantastic.
Seattle had scoring drives of 16 and 14 plays, one of which took up 8:38 of possession time, in the Seahawks’ 27-0 win over Los Angeles’ reserves in the final preseason game Saturday night at Lumen Field.
“After the first couple games (this preseason, which Seattle lost by a combined score of 50-10), it was kind of (like) forgetting how we play around here,” Carroll said.
“We didn’t change the approach of how played and all that, with a few exceptions. ...We mixed the run and the passing game the way we like. ...
“Felt really good, and had fun doing it.”
With All-Pro linebacker Bobby Wagner not in uniform, even for warm-ups, Cody Barton started and shined in the middle of the defense that had only three starters playing. On the game’s first series, a third and 7 for the Chargers, coordinator Ken Norton Jr. sent Barton and safety Marquise Blair on a double blitz. Barton slammed into quarterback Chase Daniel and banged the ball into the air. Blair caught the fumble and ran 17 yards for a touchdown 2 1/2 minutes into the game.
And the first Seahawks game fun of this preseason was on.
Yet what was most telling toward the regular season: Waldron taking off some of the concealing wrap of the Seahawks’ new schemes. The offensive coordinator showed off some of what Wilson and the starters have been doing in practices all training camp. That will give Colts coaches plenty more for which to prepare between now and the Seattle-at-Indianapolis opener in 15 days.
“I feel like Shane’s come in and put in a great system,” said the 26-year-old Collins, who has played for Darrell Bevell (2016) and Brian Schottenheimer (2020) in his two stints with Seattle.
“Everybody’s on the same page. Just over practice and all the hard work and execution, you could just see great things to expect from the offense this season.
“I felt like this game was a great example of that.”
The best illustration: Seattle’s 14-play drive to Jason Myers’ field goal in the second quarter.
Waldron used two tight ends for most of the drive, as he is likely to all season with ultra-versatile newcomer Gerald Everett in with the play caller from the Rams, plus trusted Will Dissly. After a timeout before a third and 1 near midfield, Waldron actually used with those two tight ends a real, live I formation, a relative Woody Hayes-era relic in today’s NFL Fullback Nick Bellore, the special-teams captain who also played linebacker again Saturday, lined up in front of tailback Collins. There were no wide receivers.
Last year, under offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, Seattle usually went to spread, shotgun formation with multiple wide receivers on third and short. The results weren’t great.
The Seahawks were 7 for 11 converting on third and 1 running the ball in 2020. That was the 31st-best conversion rate in the 32-team league. Seattle was so bad running on third and short the offense threw it instead on third and 1 just over 31% of the time.
Saturday night, Collins followed Bellore off rookie left tackle Stone Forsythe, cut once and gained the first down — with 5 yards to spare.
Also in the drive, Waldron twice sent reserve tight end Cam Sutton out into the left slot in a tight, bunch formation with two wide receivers. He also flexed tight end Tyler Mabry behind Sutton as a wing, inside Sutton tight on the left end of the line. Waldron ran and passed out of his two tight-end looks, part of the Rams’ style of having much of their offense look the same, run or pass, to the on-its-heels defense before the snap.
The starters
With one fewer preseason game this summer and the first 17-game regular season in NFL history upcoming, Carroll used his veterans far differently this summer.
As in, hardly at all.
Carroll had only five starters (one on offense, Fuller) play the preseason opener at Las Vegas two weeks ago.
Last weekend for the team’s 30-3 loss to Denver, Carroll started seven players who will start this season, including Lewis and Fuller on offense.
Saturday, Seattle played five starters.
The lineups versus the Chargers:
Offense: Jamarco Jones left tackle; Lewis left guard; Fuller center; Phil Haynes at right guard and rookie free agent Jake Curhan at right tackle again; Smith was the quarterback, with Everett and Dissly starting in another two-tight end set, Penny the running back and Eskridge the lone starting wide receiver.
On defense, the starters were summer standout Rasheem Green plus L.J. Collier at end; Bryan Mone and Myles Adams at tackle; Darrell Taylor, Bellore and Barton the linebackers; former Packers starter Damarious Randall with Tre Flowers at cornerback; Ugo Amadi and Blair the safeties.
The Seahawks who started all three games this preseason: Taylor, Collier, Flowers, Amadi, Fuller and Curhan. Curhan has been impressive in pass protection, particularly. The former Cal right tackle has a real chance to be Seattle’s latest undrafted rookie to make the 53-man roster.
Curhan might have been too good, with too much preseason tape for other teams to see, to get through waivers next week and onto Seattle’s practice squad for the team to keep that way.
Dee Eskridge Debut Night
The top rookie draft choice played for the first time in an NFL game. The wide receiver had been on the physically-unable-to-perform list for most of training camp with an injured big toe, though he got up at 5:15 a.m. for dawn workouts with Wilson to stay current in the new offense.
Waldron sent Eskridge in motion from left to right across the formation and had Smith hand him the ball immediately after the snap. Eskridge gained 9 yards on that fly sweep, a play Seattle is likely to run with their speedy rookie a lot this season.
Eskridge expects it.
“I do,” he said, with a grin. “That’s my specialty.”
Later in the first quarter, Eskridge showed some of his 4.3-second speed in the 40-yard dash by zooming through the middle of the Chargers’ zone coverage for Smith’s easiest completion down the field all night, 19 yards.
Eskridge, Penny Hart, Freddie Swain and training-camp standout Cody Thompson give the Seahawks their best third-through-sixth wide receivers in many seasons. And they are all under 25 years old. Seattle kept six wide receivers out of the 2020 preseason, and are likely to on Tuesday, the league deadline for cutting the 80-man roster to 53 for the initial regular-season roster.
Taylor flying
Wearing sunglasses out of the locker room and throughout a postgame interview, Taylor looked like he’d finally arrived in the NFL.
He played like it, too. Taylor showed Saturday night why the Seahawks drafted him in the second round last year.
The rush end coaches are converting to part-time, early-down linebacker on the strongside of the 4-3 scheme was one of the fastest players on the field Saturday night. He continually rushed past the Chargers’ outside tackles. But early in the game he was doing what he had for much of the preseason and training camp, rushing too deep, not getting flat enough and cutting in on his blocker for a more direct, quicker path to affect the quarterback.
He did harass Daniel into an incomplete pass by deflecting the back of the ball, from behind, as Daniel threw it. But he generally was rushing behind the passer.
Then in the second quarter, Taylor flattened his rush against Chargers tackle Trey Pipkins and slammed into Daniel for a sack. That pushed Los Angeles out to the 29-yard line. Tristan Vizcaino, formerly a kicker for the University of Washington, then missed a 47-yard field goal and Chargers stayed scoreless.
“Oh, yeah man, it felt good. I can’t complain,” Taylor said. “It felt real good.
“I can’t wait until it’s the real thing, though.”
After the Chargers’ missed field goal, not-playing defensive tackle Poona Ford, with a ball cap on and his game jersey untucked, ran off the Seahawks’ sideline and did a leaping chest bump with Taylor, to celebrate the rush end’s sack. Ford sent the surprised Taylor flying 3 yards up the field.
“It felt good just celebrating with your teammates,” Taylor said. “It feels good to have those guys acknowledging you.”
Collins or Penny as RB2?
Chris Carson remained where the lead running back has been all preseason: idling.
Penny, who had a sore knee earlier this month after knee reconstruction and recovery into late last year, got the start Saturday.
Collins got the production. And the wow factor.
A few plays after Collins converted on third and 1 out of the I, Penny committed a blindside block while illegally facing his own goal line during a scramble by Smith. That created a third and 26. Collins took Smith’s quick pass in the left flat. Three Chargers ran at him, unblocked. Collins stopped, reversed his field to the right and zoomed past all the defenders down the opposite sideline for a 14-yard gain that was all on Collins’ own. That made Myers’ field goal an easy 30 yards, like an extra point, instead of 45 yards or more.
Myers made it to put Seattle ahead 17-0.
Collins gained 48 yards on seven touches in the first half, nearly 7 yards per touch (21 yards on four carries with a touchdown, plus 27 yards on three catches).
Penny gained 29 yards on eight touches (3.6 yards per touch). The team’s first-round pick in 2018 had 24 yards on seven rushes, plus 5 yards on one catch.
Collins made three plays that directly lead to 13 points. He scored six of those points himself.
In the first quarter, Collins made a Chargers defender miss in the open field to get the Seahawks a first and goal on their second offensive possession. Two plays later Collins waited patiently for left guard Damien Lewis to push his guy way left toward Elliott Bay, then cut inside that block for a 5-yard touchdown run and a 14-0 Seahawks lead.
In the third quarter, Collins again juked a Charger one on one with him following a catch on a swing pass outside. That got the Seahawks the first down that led to Myers’ 33-yard field goal and a 20-0 lead.
Collins said he could hear his teammates yelling “Sweet feet! Sweet feet!” as he was making Chargers tackle air.
“I was telling them, ‘Hey, come do some Irish dancing with me,’” Collins said.
Collins has played in just three regular-season games the last three years. That was last season, in his second go-round with Seattle after Baltimore gave up on him following a 973-yard season in 2017 then some off-field trouble.
He’s leaner than he was in 2016 when he played 11, unremarkable games for the Seahawks as their rookie fifth-round pick out of Arkansas — where he joined Herschel Walker as the only players in Southeastern Conference history to rush for 1,000 yards in three consecutive seasons. Collins said he was 215-220 as a Seahawks rookie five years ago. Carroll said Collins thought he needed to be bigger to play in the NFL.
Then he got down to 194 for his best season, with the Ravens. He says he’s at 210 now, and feels the best he has in his career.
“He’s got the great feet that he has,” Carroll said. “We all know whatever the dance thing is that he does. He’s got unbelievable moves. But his feet are remarkable.
“You see, too, that he’s an experienced player. He knows, when he gets in those situations, he finds a way to navigate to the positive. And he’s been doing it his whole life.”
Sounds like a guy with a bigger role upcoming. In as soon as two weekends.
Penny is entering the final year of his rookie contract. He hasn’t been able to stay healthy for most of his first three NFL seasons, and again in this training camp.
Based on training camp and these preseason games, Collins could be (should be?) pushing Penny for being the second running back behind Carson.
Hold-ins update
As for the Seahawks who’ve been refusing to practice, “holding in,” while wanting new contracts: Pro Bowl safety Quandre Diggs was in uniform and going through pregame drills with the defensive backs, per usual.
Nothing new on Diggs’ contract status. He is entering the final year of the deal he signed in 2018. The Seahawks inherited it when they traded for him in the middle of the 2019 season. He’s scheduled to earn $5.95 million this season.
Diggs didn’t exactly look disgruntled during the game, either. In uniform except for his helmet, he was on sidelines talking to DK Metcalf and Freddie Swain in the long timeout between the first and second quarters. Diggs said something that made Metcalf laugh so much the wide receiver, who also didn’t play, jogged away from Diggs 5 yards onto the field.
Duane Brown was on the sidelines during pregame drills, doing what he’s been doing since June: being there yet only watching. The 14th-year left tackle was talking to an assistant coach and watching his teammates warm up.
Brown, who turns 36 Monday, is entering the final season of his contract. He’s scheduled to earn $10 million this year. He told the Seahawks in the spring he wants to play beyond 2021, which was news to them.
Mike Garafolo of NFL Network was on KJR-AM radio with me Thursday and said “there has been some engagement” by Seattle’s front office in recent days in an attempt to get Brown to end his “hold in.” Garafolo told me in describing what he’s been told the Seahawks are trying to do with Brown: “Maybe you sweeten the deal (for 2021) or offer some kind of incentives for the coming season...something creative.”
This story was originally published August 28, 2021 at 9:53 PM.
