Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Here are five important position battles we will be keeping a close eye on throughout training camp and into the preseason.
The Seattle Seahawks are scheduled to begin their 2023 training camp practices about three weeks from now, on Wednesday July 26. This time of year is all about finding out which players are best-suited to start at positions with depth charts that have not yet been decided.
With that in mind, here are five important position battles we will be keeping a close eye on throughout training camp and into the preseason.
Here are six vets who are in danger of losing their starting jobs to rookies this year.
The Seattle Seahawks have a huge 2023 rookie class coming in. With 10 draft picks and 25 more undrafted free agents arriving, this roster will likely be a good bit younger than it was last year.
Here are six vets who are in danger of losing their starting jobs to rookies this year.
Which unknown players will step up in the wild-card round? Here are this week’s Secret Superstars on the defensive side of the ball.
If your team is going to win a Super Bowl, at some point along that ride, your team will have to get at least one remarkable postseason performance from a player nobody saw coming. Yes, we all expect the big names to come up big in big moments in big games, and other attendant cliches, but somewhere along the line, you will need a Secret Superstar to get the job done.
If you expected Buffalo Bills receiver Gabe Davis to go off for four touchdown catches against the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2021 divisional round, you should probably be working for a team. Because, with all due respect to Davis, I don’t think even the Bills were expecting that.
The same could be said for Houston Oilers defensive back Vernon Perry in the divisional round of the 1979 playoffs against the San Diego Chargers of Don Coryell and Dan Fouts. The undrafted rookie from Jackson State picked off four of Fouts’ passes, and blocked a field goal for good measure. As the game ended 17-14 in Houston’s favor, that block was as important as any of the picks.
You get the idea. At some point in the wild-card round of the upcoming playoffs, there will be at least one player whose name you don’t know who will pop up on the screen, and grab your attention. Here are my most likely players to do just that on the defensive side of the ball; the Secret Superstars on offense for the wild-card round can be found here.
NFL Playoffs: Secret Superstars of the wild-card round — the offense
And here’s the wild-card schedule for all who are curious; I tried to focus on repeat matchups as much as possible.
NFL sets Super Wild-Card Weekend schedule: Times, days, and networks
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He went off for 2.5 sacks against the Jets and posted the highest Pro Football Focus grade on the team this week.
The Seahawks beat the Jets yesterday, 23-6. While they’re hardly a Super Bowl contender, any win right now is a welcome development. Seattle also got positive signs of growth from a few key young players, especially outside linebacker Darrell Taylor. He went off for 2.5 sacks against the Jets and posted the highest Pro Football Focus grade on the team this week.
Here are the full individual PFF grades for every player on offense and defense from Week 17.
The Seattle Seahawks have a pulse.
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The Seattle Seahawks have a pulse. With the season on the line, Seattle dug deep and bullied the New York Jets in a 23-6 rout. The game was never even this competitive, as the Jets were lost offensively following their third possession of the game.
Seattle’s defense, which has been gashed ever since the Tampa game in Munich, finally tightened up in a considerable way. Meanwhile, the Seahawks offense rediscovered their ground attack. Stifling defense, dominant ground game, crucial takeaways… sounds like everything Pete Carroll wants in a victory.
The Seahawks have improved to 8-8 on the year with still a chance to advance to postseason football, although they will need help. But, there is a chance.
Here are three Studs, one official Dud, and for the first time, a bonus Dud.
Here are eight takeaways from the victory.
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The Seahawks got their groove back today against the Jets, taking the initiative from the opening snap and never letting up. They scored their first points just 95 seconds in and the Jets never came close to a comeback. Seattle went on to win, 23-6.
Here are eight takeaways from the victory.
It hasn’t happened.
It’s been a rough third year in the NFL for Seahawks outside linebacker Darrell Taylor. After posting 6.5 sacks and 13 quarterback hits last year, he was supposed to have a breakout season and become one of the team’s two starters on the edge opposite Uchenna Nwosu.
It hasn’t happened. Taylor has rarely made a positive impact on the field this season and he’s graded out as their second-worst defender among those players with a significant snap count. Taylor has just three sacks and four QB hits for the season. It seems he’s desperate enough to make a difference that he’s willing to charge onto the field before the whistle blows.
On Quandre Diggs’ first interception of the day against Derek Carr, you can see Taylor running onto the field from the sideline to make a block before Diggs is forced out of bounds.
After Derek Carr's first Interception, a 12th player from the Seahawks bench ran onto the field and started blocking 😂 pic.twitter.com/x4CDDSfdlI
— Sanjit T. (@Sanjit__T) November 28, 2022
It seems Taylor’s illegal entry onto the field went unnoticed by the officiating crew, but they certainly made up for it by punishing Seattle in crunch time. In the closing minutes of the fourth quarter, they reversed a fumble by Josh Jacobs and a catch by DK Metcalf. Together, those bad calls helped push the game into overtime.
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Oops!
We have no word from Seattle Seahawks linebacker Darrell Taylor on what exactly happened on this play from Sunday’s overtime loss to the Las Vegas Raiders.
But here’s what we do know: He should be happy referees and replay officials didn’t catch it at the time.
Derek Carr threw an interception to Quandre Diggs, and as some eagle-eyed folks on Twitter noted, you can see a 12th man (yes, many Seahawks 12th man jokes were made) come on the field and inexplicably start blocking.
That was Taylor! And the only explanation everyone — including Pro Football Talk’s Michael David Smith — could come up with was that he was running on the field to celebrate and realized the play was still live.
Oops!
After Derek Carr's first Interception, a 12th player from the Seahawks bench ran onto the field and started blocking 😂 pic.twitter.com/x4CDDSfdlI
— Sanjit T. (@Sanjit__T) November 28, 2022
#Seahawks player Darrell Taylor came off the sidelines during live play and started to block #Raiders players following a turnover. (@Sanjit__T)
Never seen something like this in my life.pic.twitter.com/jaTvxVeCkp
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) November 28, 2022
As Smith noted:
Obviously, that’s a penalty, but the officials didn’t notice and didn’t throw a flag. The replay official also should have noticed but didn’t — all turnover plays are supposed to be automatically reviewed, and 12 players on the field is a reviewable penalty, whether it’s called on the field or not. The Raiders could not have challenged the play because it was a turnover; the replay could only come from upstairs.
It worked out for Taylor and the Seahawks!
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Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll provided a number of injury updates heading into Week 10 when some players are expected to return.
The Seattle Seahawks are gearing up for a big trip across the pond in Week 10, slated to face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Germany on Sunday. To start the work week, coach Pete Carroll provided a number of player injury updates.
The Seahawks came out of their Week 9 win over the Cardinals with only one new injury on the books, linebacker Cullen Gillaspia will require knee surgery.
“He’s going to have to get his knee fixed,” Carroll said on Monday. “I was just with him in the training room. It’s going to be a long haul. He had some pretty good news. It wasn’t as bad as we thought initially, but he’ll make his comeback.”
Other than that, Carroll expects to see a number of players return to practice this week and mentioned three in particular.
“We need to see Joey Blount come back,” Carroll told reporters. “He should be able to make it back with the quadricep that he had that happened in practice, and Marquise Goodwin is a guy that we are looking to see if he can get back this week. Darrell Taylor, we’ll see if those guys can return.
“I don’t know yet with what’s going to happen, but those guys all have their sights set on playing and so, we’ll see how that goes.”
The Seahawks practice Tuesday and Wednesday before departing for Germany.
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Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll provided a number of player injury updates entering Week 9 ahead of the matchup against the Cardinals.
The Seattle Seahawks inked an impressive win over the New York Giants on Sunday to improve to 5-3 on the season. Coach Pete Carroll provided a number of player injury updates on Monday heading into the new work week.
Center Austin Blythe (knee): “He’s a little sore today,” Carroll told reporters. “I can’t tell what it’s going to be for the week, I don’t know.”
Wide receivers DK Metcalf (knee) and Tyler Lockett (multiple): “We will go one day at a time here, we will have to see how they do tomorrow in their workouts,” Carroll said. “We will know more on Wednesday. We will start with the walkthrough and see what happens from there.”
Linebacker Darrell Taylor (groin): “No, no update,” Carroll confirmed. “He wasn’t any worse, he just couldn’t go. He tried, he was very optimistic and hopeful, and all of that. I think he had four plays and said, ‘I can’t push off the way I need to.’ He didn’t re-injure himself.”
Safety Ryan Neal (hamstring): “He had cramps, he had both hamstrings cramped up,” Carroll said. “He went back on the field like he was going to be the hero, but he couldn’t even make it to the numbers. It was a nice try, good effort, we are proud of you, but get your butt out of there.”
The Seahawks return to practice on Wednesday to prepare to face the Cardinals next weekend in Arizona.
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