As has been the case for much of this season, Seattle Seahawks receivers found time for a little extra "practice" while preparing for last Sunday's game against the Oakland Raiders.
While practicing at the Grove, the resort that housed the Seahawks from Thursday through gameday last week, Seattle's receivers used breaks in the action to come up with a new touchdown celebration they'd use if and when one of them got into the end zone.
A week earlier, that group broke out a "double Dutch" celebration with two receivers swinging imaginary jump rope and two jumping in the middle. Against the Raiders, the receivers took their celebration game up a notch, reenacting a scene from the 2002 movie Drumline.
"Oh, yeah, we're having a great time," Tyler Lockett said. "When J.B. (Jaron Brown) scored, we did the Drumline celebration. Drumline was a movie that was a long time ago, and I was Nick Cannon, and I believe Nick Cannon started playing on the other person's drum. So I was playing on Doug's drum. That's when the dude got mad, and Doug fake punched me, and I kind of fell out. So it's just things like that that we think of during practice to just have fun with it whenever we score."
Of course, for Seattle's receivers to have their fun in the end zone, they have to get there, and they've been doing that quite a bit lately. In last Sunday's 27-3 win over the Raiders at Wembley Stadium, Brown kicked off the scoring with a 5-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter, then David Moore scored his third touchdown in the past two games, while Tyler Lockett added his team-leading fifth touchdown. Showing how balanced Seattle's receiver group has been, none of those three players who found the end zone led the Seahawks in catches or receiving yards, with Doug Baldwin taking those honors with six catches for 91 yards. Baldwin could have had a long touchdown catch of his own, but Russell Wilson just missed hitting him with a deep ball in the third quarter.
"I think a lot of our receivers are doing a lot of great things as well," Wilson said. "So it's exciting to have the plethora of receivers that we have and the talent that we have, and the skill positions making plays across the board.
"Doug Baldwin really came alive (against the Raiders) in a big way. I think that we were able to really look for him and find ways to get him the football. He's an electric one, one of the best receivers in the National Football League. Tyler Lockett's been doing it all year. Everybody's making plays consistently, and that's the exciting thing, you know. David Moore scored a touchdown, scramble play, how he spun out and got open and all that. So his awareness is tremendous."
With the Seahawks getting back to the balanced approach Carroll prefers, there won't always be chances for everyone to get as many targets or catches as they'd like, which is why they see it as important to revel in each other's success, knowing that one receiver getting the job done reflects well on the entire position group.
"We go out there and have fun," Lockett said. "We don't care about who gets the credit. We don't care about how many yards somebody gets or how many touchdowns somebody gets. As soon as you see somebody score, we've got a touchdown celebration for it every single week. Just to be able to enjoy it. The more you enjoy it, the more you realize your plays are going to come."
Baldwin, who has been with the Seahawks since 2011, including during some run-heavy seasons during Marshawn Lynch's prime, learned from Sidney Rice the importance of getting the job done every week, even if sometimes that means showing you won on a particular play by getting open, even if the ball didn't find you.
"Really, from the beginning of time, putting wins on film during the game so we can demonstrate what we're capable week in and week out," Baldwin said. "Sidney Rice started that, and that's what I carry over into the room now. We're going to have fun, and really enjoy ourselves, because truth be told, it's hard, it's not easy. We're making sure that we just have fun, and when you have fun, everything else comes easy, and we've been having a lot of fun lately."
While Lockett and Baldwin have been productive for years, what has been particularly encouraging the last two games has been the emergence of Moore, a 2017 seventh-round pick. Moore was a standout during the preseason, but until recently hadn't made many contributions in regular-regular season games. Moore saw his playing time begin to increase in Week 4, when he had the first two catches of his career in a win over Arizona, then he had his first two touchdown catches in Week 5 before adding two more impressive catches on last Sunday for 47 yards and a touchdown. Granted it's a pretty small sample size, but Moore is averaging a whopping 17.7 yards per catch this season and has three touchdowns on just seven receptions.
"I have confidence in David Moore because he shows it every day," Wilson said. "We worked hard all off-season. He's shown it all preseason. He's shown it all season so far. He's a joy to be around. He brings great energy. He brings attitude to the game. He's fast as can be. He's strong. He can go up and get the football. You know, you saw him make the play (against the Raiders) where he spun out and kind of went off the field, and he just has a great awareness of the game. All of our receivers across the board are doing that. I think that's the difference-maker, to be as young as he is and as talented as he is, he's going to have a bright, bright future ahead of him, and I'm looking forward to that."
Moore's first catch against the Raiders, a 19-yard grab in the back of the end zone, came with a slight scare for the receiver, but it was something he could laugh about after the game. Unlike a typical NFL stadium, Wembley's field is surrounded by electronic advertising boards, which are the norm in soccer. After tapping both feet in the back of the end zone, Moore's momentum carried him right into the board and the photographers behind it. Causing him to flip over it before popping up relatively unscathed.
"It hurt a little bit," Moore said with a chuckle. "When I saw it. I was like, 'Oh shoot, just take, just take it.'… I kind of saw it last second, but didn't think it was that hard until I hit it."
Game action photos from the Seattle Seahawks' 27-3 win in London in Week 6 of the 2018 NFL season.