Seattle Seahawks take practice to Lumen Field as Geno Smith nears return
SEATTLE -- Wide receiver Jake Bobo eyes a pass from quarterback P.J. Walker ahead of a Seattle Seahawks practice at Lumen Field on August 3, 2024. (Curtis Crabtree / FOX 13 Seattle)
SEATTLE - Mike Macdonald continues to check off new "firsts" as head coach of the Seattle Seahawks.
On Saturday, it was Macdonald's first chance to see the team he coaches work at their game day home at Lumen Field for an extended practice in front of fans.
"This is it?’’ Macdonald said with a grin as he entered the interview room at the stadium afterward. "This is what it’s like post-game? More full maybe?"
Yes, Mike, it will probably be a tad more crowded on actual game days.
Saturday's practice wasn't quite the "mock game" style that's been seen under Pete Carroll in previous seasons, though it was the most scrimmage-like setting the team has used through the first 10 days of training camp.
"Just an awesome time to get in the stadium," Macdonald said. "We won't be back until Cleveland week. Just good to go through our operation. We went live a little bit with the threes (third units) there. Get a good chance to evaluate some of the young guys and (it will) be fun to watch the tape and see where we're at."
The defense seemingly won the day on the field with only a pair of touchdowns scored by the No. 2 offense against the No. 2 defense with quarterback P.J. Walker leading the unit. Geno Smith was absent again as he missed his fourth straight practice with the team with hip and knee issues sustained in Tuesday's practice.
Macdondald said that Smith is expected back at practice within the next few days as they received optimistic reports about his status.
"I think he's good. We're still going through that process, but looks optimistic," Macdonald said. "I think there's a good chance we'll see him next week."
Sam Howell saw the snaps with the first-team offense as Walker worked with the second-team. The first-team defense kept the offense out of the end zone on all of their possessions. Jake Bobo delivered a toe-tap touchdown in front of cornerback D.J. James, and Jack Westover scored on the final play of the day on a bobbled catch.
"It was ugly, for sure. We got some work to do, but that's what going through and putting in a new offense is all about," Bobo said. "… Try to create some uncomfortable situations for us and that's what happened, so back to the drawing board.
"It tells us we're not where we need to be. We're getting there. We've seen flashes in camp – a lot of flashes to be honest with you – but something didn't click today. We'll figure out what that was and go from there."
Smith's absence could easily account for some of those offensive struggles. Smith is clearly ahead of Howell at the position, with Howell really struggling to open camp. He's been better in recent days, but Smith's handling of the offense and command has been obvious.
"It was cool to see him have an opportunity with those guys," Macdonald said. "I thought our offense looks like our offense, but excited to get Geno back too. It's just a good opportunity for Sam to be with those guys rather than running with the twos the whole time. … I'm sure if you talk to Sam, he's got things that he wants to improve on, but he's also getting the ball out, getting it to our playmakers too, so a lot of good as well."
Macdonald and the coaching staff have been using headsets at practice at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center to begin to get comfortable with their rapport on the field. That process continued at the stadium on Saturday as Macdonald is looking to fine tune the information he wants and needs, and how the communication will flow throughout the staff.
It's Macdonald's first time as a head coach, and he's working with new coaches in coordinators Ryan Grubb and Aden Durde, so there's a learning curve for the whole group.
"That was a major focus," he said. "Like I said, it was definitely one of the things we were trying to get done. And then, the next kind of big test is the preseason game down in L.A. (against the Chargers next Saturday), and then we’ll go from there and see what needed tweaking and how we’re going to move on from that. Again, it’ll be a process of the things we want to improve on and how we felt like it went."
Some other notes from the practice…
Linebacker Jerome Baker sat out the session with a hamstring injury.
"He had a little bit of a hammy so we're working through that right now I'm not sure how long it's going to be," Macdonald said.
Defensive end Dre'Mont Jones (hamstring) and linebacker Darrell Taylor (lower body) remained out, and linebacker Joshua Onujiogu missed the practice with an unspecified injury. Cornerback Michael Jackson also remained out.