Seahawks’ offense bounces back and more we learned from practice

RENTON, Wash. – After the offense got off to a sluggish start during the Seattle Seahawks’ first fully padded practice Monday, coach Mike Macdonald laid down a challenge.

“Offense needs to respond tomorrow, because they didn’t start fast enough today,” he said Monday, adding that throughout the workout the offense didn’t run the ball well enough.

Tuesday was not one of Macdonald’s scheduled days to talk to the media, so it’s a guess to assume that he liked how the offense answered his call Tuesday.

By all appearances, the offense did bounce back Tuesday when the Seahawks held their second full-pads practice of training camp.

As an example, late in practice second-year running back George Holani broke a big gain down the sideline when the No. 1 offense was going against the No. 1 defense, dashing through a huge hole created by the left side of the line – tackle Charles Cross and guard Grey Zabel – and getting help from Brady Russell, lined up in the backfield.

The defense seemed so flummoxed by the play that a couple of players came over to the replay board and watched it a few times to try to figure out what happened.

The defense had its highlights as well, including interceptions by Nehemiah Pritchett and Tyler Hall off passes from Drew Lock and Jalen Milroe, respectively.

From the start, it seemed a better day for the offense, especially in the running game.

“There’s going to be days where the D-line is going to get off the ball a little bit quicker, so you have to learn from that,: Zabel said. “If we are going to hang our hat on being physical and running the ball, we have to show up every single day.”

Lesson, apparently, learned.

Which segues nicely into more of what we learned from the sixth day of Seahawks training camp:

Darnold helps offense strike early

Something else Macdonald probably liked was that the team’s offensive leader – Sam Darnold – set an early tone.

During a red-zone drill on the first 11-on-11 session of the day, Darnold hit tight end AJ Barner over the middle for a TD, threading the ball perfectly between a couple of defenders.

A few minutes later, he hooked up with Jaxon Smith-Njigba for the highlight play of the day, a deep pass down the left side. Smith-Njigba beat cornerback Josh Jobe at the line to break into the open and Darnold hit him about 30 yards downfield for the completion.

It wasn’t a perfect day for Darnold as he threw a pass later in the day over the middle to Smith-Njigba that linebacker Tyrice Knight leapt and got a hand on – just an inch or two from a pick.

In general, it was the kind of day Zabel indicated illustrated how the Seahawks can use the run to help open up the pass.

“Run the damn ball is what I’ve learned,” he said of how the offense wants to play this season. “And I think that’s what we are going to hang our hat on this year. So it starts up front. We’ve got to be able to move the line of scrimmage and protect the guy behind us who is slinging the rock pretty well right now.”

Intensity ratchets up

Tuesday’s practice was not open to the public. But quieter surroundings didn’t seem to impact the ferocity the players brought to the workout, as evidenced by a couple of brief dust-ups that were each quickly tamped down.

Guard Anthony Bradford threw down undrafted rookie end Jared Ivey during a pass-rush drill, to which Ivey took exception, hitting Bradford in the helmet as he got up.

That led to a couple of more quick pushes and the inevitable rushing in of teammates on each side to immediately soothe tempers.

A few minutes later in a team session, safety Nick Emmanwori and tight end and fellow rookie Eljah Arroyo locked up for a second or two following a play, with teammates again helping cool things down quickly. In fact, barely 10 seconds or so later, the two rookies approached each other for a quick dap, indicating all was good.

Zabel said a few such tussles are to be expected in what is a “really high-level intensity: environment.

“Sometimes you need to have some of those skirmishes to kind of ramp up the competition and kind of get the blood pressure going a little bit,” he said.

Macdonald and players say the key is that any tension doesn’t linger.

To that end, veteran defensive lineman Leonard Williams generally takes the lead in bringing together the offensive and defensive linemen after every pass-rush drill for a quick huddle that generally ends in a cheer of “trenches” on three.

“It’s important because we’re out here competing and we’re (the defense) always in a white jersey and they’re (the offense) always in a blue jersey (and) it’s easy during camp to feel like we’re two separate entities,” Williams said. “In those moments when we’re having one-on-ones it gets real fired up, competition-wise, against each other. It’s important to realize we’re all one at the end of the day and come together after competition and be like, ‘OK, we’re a unit.’ ”

Pritchett, Young have big days

Two players whose roster spots aren’t assured – Pritchett and four-year receiver Dareke Young – each had big days.

As noted, Pritchett had a pick of a Lock pass that was intended for Marquez Valdes-Scantling. On the play, Lock threw form the right hash mark down the left side, with Pritchett able to read it and race over to pick it off. Pritchett had a breakup of a Milroe pass later.

Pritchett generally works with the backup units and is likely battling for a fourth or fifth cornerback spot behind Devon Witherspoon, Riq Woolen with the likes of Jobe and Shaquill Griffin.

Young caught a TD from Lock in an early 1-on-1 matchup against cornerback Damarion Williams. He also had a nice grab from Milroe when he reached over corner Kam Alexander (on a play when Milroe stepped up to evade pressure, though some of the defense protested he’d been tagged for a sack).