During a break in action during Saturday night's preseason game at Pittsburgh, Seahawks Legend Michael Bennett conducted a quick interview with his former head coach.
And in classic Bennett fashion, he had Pete Carroll doubled over in laughter seconds into their conversation opening his line of questioning with, "Everybody at home wants to know, why did you trade me?"
With KING 5 serving as the Seahawks' new preseason television partner, the Seahawks debuted a new broadcast team that featured longtime preseason play-by-play man Curt Menefee joined by a pair of Seahawks Legends, Michael Robinson and Bennett.
As expected for someone with Michael Robinson's combination of intelligence, personality and on-air experience with the NFL Network, the former Seahawks fullback provided excellent insight and analysis throughout the broadcast. But it was Bennett's blunt humor that stole the show and made Seattle's preseason finale at Dallas—this week's game against Chicago will be broadcast nationally on ESPN—feel like must-see TV even if the final score may not have a ton of importance.
Joining Menefee and Robinson in the booth early in the second quarter, Bennett started off by pointing out, "It's different up here in the booth. It's a lot safer."
When Robinson told his former teammate that he used to get mad when he'd jump offsides, Bennett deadpanned, "It was only offsides because the referee said it was."
Bennett also pointed out the humor in the Seahawks fielding a secondary featuring famous names like Michael Jackson and Coby Bryant, then proceeded to make as many Mike Jackson puns as possible, including "I haven't seen that kind of coverage since 'Billie Jean.'"
When safety Josh Jones dropped what should have been an interception: "It's like calling bingo and not having the right number."
When Michael Robinson started a statement with "no disrespect," Bennett accurately pointed out, "When you say, 'no disrespect,' the disrespect is coming."
Bennett saved his most ruthless zinger for former teammate Tyler Lockett, following a couple of serious questions with, "What happened to your hair man? It's gone now."
But it wasn't all jokes for Bennett. He also quickly made an observation that Carroll has made in training camp, pointing out that rookie pass-rusher Boye Mafe had some similarities to Cliff Avril, who combined with Bennett to form one of the best pass-rush duos in team history. And sure enough, Mafe wasted little time in his preseason debut making a very Avril-esque play, showing good speed, hands and bend to get into the backfield before using his long right arm to reach and bat the ball away from quarterback Mason Rudolph for sack/forced fumble. Bennett's pass-rush expertise showed when discussed the nuances of a nice Alton Robinson pass-rush. He also broke down some of the nuance of playing nose tackle when discussing Poona Ford's play—though he couldn't resist taking a playful shot at centers for generally being the weakest player on the offensive line.
The Seahawks have taken the field in Pittsburgh to play their first game of the preseason vs. the Steelers.