With their preseason opener coming up next week, the Seahawks will hold a "mock game" on Saturday, which is a regular occurrence at this stage in training camp. What is not the same this year, however, is the location. Unlike in past years under head coach Pete Carroll, this year's scrimmage won't take place at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center, but rather off site, with the team heading north to Bothell's Pop Keeney Stadium.
Not only will the off-site locale allow more fans to attend the mock game, it also gives players a chance to simulate more of a game-day experience.
"It's a big day," Carroll said. "We are going to be in Bothell… It's a great little stadium, I don't know if you guys have seen it but it's a great little stadium. It sold out, which is really good, (standing room only). It's going to be as game-like as we can make it for our situations and all that. So I want to take it off this field to get to a different locale for the guys just so there's a little bit of something. We'll be on the bus with their shoulder pads on, kind of like high school. They'll probably rock to the bus before the game, before they get out, all those normal traditions we will carry out before game time."
Asked if the team will take the high school theme to the extent of arriving in school buses, Carroll joked, "We are working on it. If we can't get it, we are going to tape these things with yellow tape is the idea if we can't get them yellow."
While the game isn't a full scrimmage, it will be closer to game-like action than a typical practice, which will help players get ready for Thursday's preseason opener against the Denver Broncos.
"This is one step closer to real football," center Justin Britt said. "We get to go out there, the coaches sit back and let us play ball. We have to go through the situations ourselves. Like I said, it's one step closer to live ball and we get to see where we are at."
The game will include celebrity coaches for each team, Seahawks director of media service operations Julie Barber, and team performance dietitian Andrea Vanderwoude.
Photos of fans attending 2019 Seahawks Training Camp, presented by Safeway on Thursday, August 2 at Renton's Virginia Mason Athletic Center.