The Seahawks will play the Los Angeles Chargers at Lumen Field Saturday night in their third and final preseason game, but while we know the time, place and opponent, what is less certain is who will actually play for the Seahawks.
The Seahawks rested almost all of their offensive starters and many of them on defense in the first two games, and while Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said after last weekend's games that starters would play some this week, he was less committal to that on Friday. Regardless of who is on the field, Carroll wants to see a better showing after Seattle lost by lopsided margins each of the past two weeks.
"I know you guys all want to know who's playing, you guys will find out when we get there how we're doing that," Carroll said. "Really the decisions that we're making are for competition and to give guys the opportunity to show everything that they can show to make this club, knowing that we're coming down to the end of it here, end of camp. So it's a really big opportunity for us, and we're looking forward to it in a number of ways. So we'll see how it goes for those guys. I'm really rooting for a lot of guys to come through and have big night and make the plays that they're capable of making and show themselves really well. This is a chance to finish the preseason on a good note, we're certainly going for that. We didn't like the first couple, so we're looking to make a better statement about where we are."
And again, it remains to be seen who all plays, but the Seahawks did welcome back several players to practice this week who had previously been out due to injury.
Among those players is safety/nickel corner Marquise Blair, who is "doing way better," after missing time with a sore knee, Carroll said. "I'm really excited that he's back and able to play and all of that. He's made a good push this week, so he feels very comfortable about it. He's a really competitive kid and he's dying to get out there."
Center Ethan Pocic, who is competing with Kyle Fuller for a starting job, is also back having missed much of camp with a hamstring injury and "had a good week," Carroll said. "It's been unfortunate because we had this big competition going on at center, and he hasn't had a chance to show yet with any number. Kyle's done really well; Ethan hasn't done anything to hurt himself other than he hasn't been able to take advantage of the opportunities in camp."
Not practicing this week is safety Quandre Diggs, and the absence is not injury related.
"I think he's making a bit of a statement now, but I have nothing for you to update," Carroll said, using the same language he used in the past when asked about Duane Brown sitting out practice. "He deserves to do that… Quandre has been great all through camp, he's had a fantastic camp and he's in great shape and he's ready to go."
As for Brown, he continues to sit out practice and Carroll said, "I have no updates for you," when asked about Seattle's starting left tackle.
