Starting Seahawks rested and ready
KIRKLAND, Wash. – Marcus Tubbs sat on the back of a motorized cart and exited the field. His surgically repaired left knee was extended and his newly sprained right knee was bent.
A coach’s worst fear from the most meaningless game of the preseason was realized.
Tubbs, the Seahawks’ first-round draft choice in 2004 and an important run-stopper along the defensive line, had just returned to the field two weeks ago for the first time since microfracture surgery on his left knee last November. Now, Seattle coach Mike Holmgren thinks Tubbs’ latest injury is “rather serious.”
“It’s hard. It’s very, very hard. He worked so hard to come back,” Holmgren said late Thursday night, after Tubbs went down early in Seattle’s otherwise nondescript, 19-14 victory over Oakland that ended the preseason.
Tubbs was due for more tests Friday to determine the extent of his injury. What happened to him is what Holmgren has taken extensive measures to avoid with his key starters all summer.
The rest has the three-time defending NFC West champions more fresh than they’ve been in years entering the regular-season opener Sept. 9 against Tampa Bay.
Shaun Alexander reported to training camp at 227 pounds, the same weight he’s brought into each season since he became Seattle’s featured runner in the 2001 season. But Holmgren thinks Alexander is in the best shape of his career following a season in which he missed six games with a broken foot.
Alexander thinks he’s far more ready for this season than last.
“We didn’t have a true, normal off-season last year,” said the 2005 league MVP, who had 13 carries over the first three preseason games before not playing at all Thursday night – as was the case for 17 of 22 starters on offense and defense.
“First, we go to the Super Bowl. Then Matt (Hasselbeck), Mack (Strong) and a bunch of us go to the Pro Bowl. Then Matt and I become celebrities, going to the ESPYs, doing the Madden video game, filming Chunky Soup commercials.
“We came into last season tired.”
So this preseason, Holmgren went easy on his veterans – especially on Walter Jones. The Pro Bowl left tackle sat out almost every preseason practice and all but the first series of the exhibition opener following off-season surgery on his shoulder.
Hasselbeck played one series in the preseason opener, about 1 1/2 quarters of the third exhibition game and nothing else as Seattle minimized the chances for opponents to hit his surgically repaired non-throwing shoulder.
As the starters enjoyed coasting, reserves are sweating the final cuts that are due today.
Veteran defensive tackle Russell Davis, 32, was almost invisible during camp, although he did pressure Raiders quarterbacks on Thursday night in what may have a last chance to make the team. Tubbs’ injury could make Davis more needed.
Ben Obomanu, a seventh-round draft choice in 2006, was a star of camp and appears to have won a wide receiver spot. Defensive back C.J. Wallace, an undrafted free agent out of Washington, capped a preseason of big hits and big plays with an interception.
Holmgren, who also has tough choices on whom to keep at linebacker and fullback, said Wallace is “one of the close calls we are going to have to make.”