Six a crowd for Seahawks
KIRKLAND, Wash. – There were times during the grueling, two-a-day training camp practices at Eastern Washington University when Craig Terrill was practically begging for relief.
Back then, he was one of four, sometimes only three, healthy defensive tackles on the Seattle Seahawks roster.
These days, Terrill might give just about anything to get on the field.
With the returns of Russell Davis from a foot injury and Marcus Tubbs from surgery on his Achilles tendon, the Seahawks have six healthy defensive tackles with a combined 318 games, and 157 starts, in the NFL.
Chartric Darby and Rocky Bernard are the starters, while backups Tubbs and Davis should also see plenty of time.
The question is how much playing time that leaves for guys such as Terrill, who was a key contributor to the defense last year, and veteran Chris Cooper.
“After this game we’ll get a better feel,” said Terrill, who played in all 19 games last season. “We rotated a lot last year, so we know that’s going to be a key part of our game. Everybody’s going to get some time, we’ll all play a lot, and we’ll be fresh.”
The bevy of bodies also helps in that Tubbs and Davis can be eased back into action. Tubbs, in particular, is a long way from being in playing shape. He missed all of training camp and didn’t take part in his first practice until six days ago.
All of Seattle’s defensive tackles are eager to see what kind of rotation the team has in store for them. Cooper is a likely candidate to be on the inactive list, while the other five could conceivably be part of the rotation.
“I’m not sure” how it will all play out, Tubbs said. “This is a long season, and injuries happen along the way. You don’t want them to happen, but it’s a physical game so it’s realistic. People are going to be there to step in, and we’ll go from there. … But just to have a clear-cut rotation, I can’t say what it will be.”
Starters in limbo
Linebacker Leroy Hill returned to practice Friday, working only with the scout team, but coach Mike Holmgren said it would be a “game-time decision” whether he would be available for Sunday’s game against the Lions in Detroit.
Holmgren said that he has not decided whether wide receiver Darrell Jackson, who practiced this week for the first time since undergoing off-season knee surgery, will start Sunday.
Jackson is expected to see limited action, and Holmgren said he might start the game “depending on how (Jackson) feels.”
Hill suffered a shoulder stinger in the preseason finale and aggravated the injury at Wednesday’s practice.
He did not practice Thursday and wore a cumbersome pad to protect the injury Friday.
“Right now it’s still bothering him,” Holmgren said, “but these things can go away rather quickly.”
Captains named
The player-voted captains were named. The nods went to Matt Hasselbeck and Walter Jones on offense, Lofa Tatupu and Ken Hamlin on defense, and Jean-Philippe Darche and Isaiah Kacyvenski on special teams.