What I’m looking for tonight vs Oakland

Terrelle Pryor could feature against his old team this evening

1. Can Terrelle Pryor earn a roster spot?
Who knows whether the Seahawks are willing to keep three quarterbacks — they have a secure 2014 backup in Tarvaris Jackson. If they keep Terrelle Pryor they’d have to re-sign him as a free agent next year. If he was on a cheap three-year contract it might be a no-brainer, but he isn’t. The ugly interception last week against Chicago stuck out like a sore thumb. It’s unclear how much he’ll play tonight. Here’s why he might stick around — Seattle probably wants to groom a new backup. Jackson is 32 next year and while not terribly old, he hasn’t got Pryor’s outstanding athleticism. He also has zero trade value these days. Pryor is similar to Russell Wilson as a mobile, potentially explosive playmaker. He could have trade value in the future. He’s also a good scout-QB when preparing to face the 49ers. If he gets some playing time tonight and he doesn’t mess up — there is room to stash him on the roster.

2. What is left to decide?
Not much. O’Brien Schofield easily won his battle with Benson Mayowa. Ricardo Lockette easily beat out any potential wide receiver competition. Heath Farwell needing surgery made life easy at linebacker. Korey Toomer gets another chance to stand out, while Mike Morgan has had a good summer. Akeem Auguste and Phillip Adams might be fighting over one spot. The fringe players may simply be fighting for an opportunity elsewhere.

3. Can they keep up the momentum?
In the last two weeks the offense has been on fire. Russell Wilson might take a drive and call it a night with the rest of the starters. It’d be nice to see the backups collect the baton and make it another productive display. In the grand scheme of things these games don’t matter and whatever happens tonight is unlikely to have much impact against the Packers next week. Yet last year the Seahawks started hot in pre-season and began the regular season in a similar fashion. It won’t hurt to keep things ticking along.

4. Stay healthy
This one is obvious. No injuries tonight — to the starters and key backups. These week four games carry a sense of desperation — players know this is their last chance to create an impression. Get what you need out of your key guys and move on. It’s staggering the NFL forces teams to cut down to 75 players before this game. Why not maintain the 90-man roster for another week and cut straight to 53? You play four pre-season games and this is the one where you want a large roster.

25 Comments

  1. Jake

    Carr is going gangbusters on the LOB. For all the naysayers, Derek Carr is going to carve up AFC like Aaron Rodgers. Guy has waay too much upside to have slid out of the 1st round. Teams will regret it. Murray is a good complement for him too.

    • Turp

      I wonder how much of a David Carr bias affected his draft position.

    • MJ

      Couple Thoughts:

      RW: looks incredible. He’s always been a cerebral QB, but you can tell the synapses are firing at a higher level, in regards to reads/decision making. Could be witnessing the next evolution here.

      Turbin: Can’t help but have an underwhelming feeling every time he touches the ball. He had a great game last week that was probably more representative of great run blocking, rather than great running. His lack of “wow” combined with CM’s inconsistency should highlight the importance of Marshawn. It’s still way, way too early to say this, but it wouldn’t shock me to see another RB drafted high next year (R1-3).

      WRs/TEs: Look like it could be a big season for all of these guys. Luke Willson, in particular, looks like he can become a huge weapon in the passing game.

      DL: Depth is a major concern. I’m disappointed in what I’ve seen of Scruggs so far. Great guy, but his play has been extremely underwhelming. I think Kevin Williams and Tony McDaniel need to have great seasons and stay healthy to maintain the level the defense played at last year.

      Overall, I’m actually happy about the underwhelming sensation of this game. I think for a team that ended up on top, a dose of reality can be a great thing, heading into the regular season. GB will be a huge challenge and I like the idea of these guys having a bad taste in their mouth.

      Looking forward: I do think the defense remains great, but takes a small step back from last year (hard not to). Offensively, I think we are witnessing the birth of a potentially elite unit. I’m really excited to see how it develops over the course of the season. Looking forward to great things this year.

  2. JeffC

    Seahawks don’t look like they brought a lot of energy or effort for this one.

  3. CC

    As good as the 1st team offense was on the first drive, the rest of the team hasn’t been. Maybe this is exactly what this team needed to re-focus before the start of the season. A couple of weeks of easy wins, and then you get a team ready to play!

    Good for the Raiders – they’re punching Seattle in the mouth – and Pete will be able to use this as great reminders that on any given “Sunday” anyone can beat you – so you better get your head in the game and do your assignment.

    Second half is a chance for these back ups to get their chance to do something!

    • JeffC

      I was hoping to see a better effort from guys on the bubble. At least Jordan Hill had a nice sack. I wonder when watching these games what Greg Scruggs does. You never hear his number called except in pregame where analysts always name him as one of their players to watch. Also I think the Mayowa experiment is over. What does he do except run around as if he’s searching for an assignment.

      • CC

        I agree with you – but Scruggs probably makes the squad because we have no depth. But I won’t be surprised if they take a flyer on a DT who gets cut by someone else.

        • Rob Staton

          The depth on the DL is a concern IMO. Who is stepping up aside from O’Brien Schofield?

          • JeffC

            And has Kevin Williams even played yet? If he has, I haven’t seen anything. This dline is eerily looking like the dline from 2012 after Red got his plantar fasciitis injury. Where rb’s do simple cutbacks and find wide open field…and only one guy providing pass rush (Schofield doing the Clemons role). It didn’t help that Wagner was rusty and out of position almost every play.

            I’m hoping that it was just lackluster effort, but it is bothersome that you kept seeing defenders pound the turf with their fists after getting beaten on plays, indicating that they were putting out effort. I guess we’ll see in 7 days since Rodgers owns all those qualities that Carr was displaying. Even Sherman when he was beat on the td hit the turf with his fist. Some people have suggested that Sherman is dogging it to bait Rodgers for week 1.

            At least the offense looks on all cylinders.

            • Rob Staton

              I fear we may truly see the value of Bryant this year.

            • cha

              It’s definitely a concern on the DL. The usual preseason tropes of ‘the defense is vanilla, they’re not scheming at all’ just ring hollow when you just get outmuscled in the run game.

              I wonder though, if the offense takes another step forward to more explosiveness a la the first drive, if that will ease some of the run D concerns since a lot of teams seem to get impatient and abandon the run when down 14-0.

              • Mylegacy

                Rob and cha – I agree with both of you.

                Rob, Bryan has NOT been replaced. Clemens by Schofield and perhaps Marsh. But neither Bryant nor McDonald have been replaced. Against run first teams like SF I fear our defense will have to cheat to stop the run. This will mean those LBers won’t be able to drop back into coverage as much which will hurt the pass D. Clearly, no repeat cheers of of “best defense ever” will ring through CLink. Hopefully, there is enough talent there to keep the wolves at bay – it’s going to be a near run thing – IF -we’re lucky. there is a chance this weakness may be seriously crippling. I expect the team to be bringing in lots of BIG Dline guys in for looks after the cuts Saturday.

                Cha, the offense has clearly moved to a new level. A dominating level. Ironically, we could repeat as SB Champs – BUT – with a league leading offense and a league ave (at best) defense. Not to panic too much – the D line has two weak links against the run, but looks quite good against the pass. As Cha points out – most teams down 14 – 0 in the first Q often put their running on hold.

                One new Dline big body – which I am positive will be delivered to us by management/scouts when the cuts come Saturday, should be enough to keep us from any fears of an abyss.

                • cha

                  One of the run game issues could be this LB group hasn’t played all together this year yet. I saw at least two instances where 2 LBs shot the same gap (and picked the wrong one).

                • cha

                  One of the run game issues is could be this LB group hasn’t played all together this year yet. I saw at least two instances where 2 LBs shot the same gap (and picked the wrong one).

  4. Hay stacker509

    Does anyone else think the Pryor experiment is over and we cut him but keep Daniels?

  5. Colin

    I think the Terrelle Pryor experiment needs to end. He doesn’t possess enough redeeming qualities at QB to warrant keeping on the roster. He’s a project and at this point I don’t think he’ll ever be anything more than that. I have little faith that he can adequately run a 1st team offense with any rhythm.

    Sadly, Spencer Ware is just too damn slow to be an NFL rb. It’s a shame, I really like the kid and thought he was awesome to watch at LSU. Now that Bronson kid… he’s got some moves. He showed well tonight.

    Bryan Walters gave em hell, but he won’t be suiting up for the Seahawks anytime soon, not in games that actually mean anything.

    • JeffC

      It’s pretty damning when right before the snap, Brock is encouraging Pryor to set his feet and watch his mechanics, etc.

      Like you and Hay Stacker, I’m also done with the experiment.

      • cha

        The ‘look off the safety’ TD to Bates was pretty, but that’s just a hair above average for an NFL QB.

        What was WAY below average in my opinion is Pryor’s tendency to rifle the ball at a WR 3 yards away. Unacceptable.

        Also, I’ve never figured this out – when you’re scrambling and the defense has you racing to the sideline behind the line of scrimmage, why not throw the ball out of bounds to set the play back to the original line of scrimmage? Why continue to run out of bounds and lose a yard or two? Either you’re not aware of your surroundings or worried about your incompletion stats. Both are bad signs.

  6. redzone086

    Well for me if Pryor was signed for more years I’d keep him on the roster with TJack this year. I’m not saying I want Pryor starting just that he shows promise if coached well. I remember when we signed TJack and thinking this is his year to prove he can lead. TJack doesn’t lead comebacks. I’m not.a bigger fan of TJack being a must play player if Russell went down. With that said he is a great leader and has been a good.coach for Russell. Maybe TJack is worth keeping around for those reasons but not because of his potential. That’s where Pryor leads leaps and bounds ahead but he isn’t signed and yo wouldn’t franchise him. Possible trade bait early this year or continue to develop and make a decision on him in the offense season.

  7. CC

    Game week begins today – Pete and coaches have some decisions to make and to get ready for GB. I expect this team to play better next week and to remind everyone why the Seahawks are the defending SB champs!

    Go Hawks!

  8. David M

    On defense, it was obvious Kam, and Wagner are not back to their normal selves. Hope that can come back by 1st game but doubt it.

    Don’t forget Bruce Irvin has yet to play, he will be a Factor when the time comes.

    Only positions that concern me are the backup CBs and DL. I’m not sure we currently have a 5th CB on our roster, and think PC/JS finds someone on the waivers or cut.

    As for DL, Scruggs just hasn’t show anything. D Anthony smith hasn’t shown anything. Hill shown some stuff. But might be look at the waivers for another DL.

    Could we trade a Toomer for a DL? haven’t really watched other teams but I’m sure their is one team out there that needs a LB.

  9. AlaskaHawk

    Just checked in to express my displeasure at NFL channel program saying they would show the game at 7 pm, showing the score in the 2nd quarter, and then switching to last weeks Denver game instead. This is the second week in a row that they said they would show the Seahawks and then put on the wrong game! Arghh. Now I have to wait for them to rerun it on Sunday. I am totally frustrated.

    • JeffC

      You didn’t miss much.

    • CC

      I think they are blocking the game on the NFL network for the Seattle market.

    • AlaskaHawk

      While watching Denver reruns I realized they added Emmanual Sanders from the Steelers. He looked real good, like Percy Harvey good. That adds another dimension to their game.

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