Questions, Notes,  and Injury Report  Heading Into Jaguars Game

The 2-5 Seattle Seahawks will look to snap a three-game losing streak when they host the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday afternoon  (1:05 p.m.) at Lumen Field. The (1-5) Jaguars should be the perfect tonic for a Seahawks team that is 0-3 at home.  Jacksonville rolls into town with a defense  (30th ) that is ranked one notch ahead of the Seahawks. Looking at the numbers alone Sunday’s game should be an offensive shoot-out given how the two defenses have performed so far this season.  The Seahawks have some internal housecleaning to do before they can worry about the Jaguars.

CENTER OF ATTENTION

During his Wednesday press conference, Carroll made it clear that there would be an open competition at the center position. The announcement was no surprise given how incumbent Kyle Fuller has been underperforming. While it’s true that the whole line is underperforming Carroll was clear the center position has been at the crux of the O-line’s poor performance.

“We have to be more consistently on it with the calls and stuff. We could get better there. In that sense, the competition is still open and it’s important that we get a chance to see how Ethan (Pocic) does and how Kyle (Fuller) does in response to that. It’s a very important position for Shane’s (Waldron) background, it’s been a really important position for that guy to command what’s going on and assist the quarterback. We are still working on that.”

Fuller has started all seven games at center this season virtually by default. Pocic and Fuller were set to battle it for the starting center position during training. The battle never materialized because of Pocic’s nagging knee injury that limited his training camp participation. With very limited improvement with his knee, Pocic was placed on injured reserve on September 15. After some strenuous rehab and good luck, Pocic was moved back to the active roster on October 15th. For the last two weeks, Pocic and Fuller have been battling for game reps. Sunday could see a change in the Seahawks center position.

OLD ACQUAINTANCES REUNION

One interesting note in Sunday’s game will see the reunion of Pete Carroll and two of his former offensive Coordinators in Darrel Bevell and Brian Schottenheimer.  Bevell is the Jaguars offensive coordinator and served the same role with the Hawks from 2011-2017. Schottenheimer is the Jags Passing  Game Coordinator and was the Seahawks offensive coordinator from 2018-2020. While there is little blood between the three one can bet Carroll’s former assistants would like nothing better than to beat their old coach.

When was asked about playing his former assistants Carroll took the high road.

 “Those guys know the league and from what I can tell in the breakdowns that I have been going through and evaluating that they have chosen really good stuff to build their offense and they are using their personnel well, in particular, the quarterback. Those guys have great backgrounds, and they know what they are doing. They are a very smart staff and Sanjay (Lal) as well, we expect all of those guys to put together a heck of a game plan this week.”

THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY SHAQUILL GRIFFIN

Also returning to face his former boss is former draft pick cornerback Shaquill, Griffin

Griffin bolted to the Jaguars as a free agent this off-season after spending his four seasons in the NFL with the Seahawks. The Seahawks were unwilling to match the Jaguars offer for Griffin.  Carrol was asked about Griffin this week.

 “He’s matching up with guys at times, but he’s basically playing the same style of technical football. He is on the line of scrimmage, pressing, and doing all of that. It looks like he’s off to a good start.”

(On how disappointed he was to not be able to bring Shaquill Griffin back)

“We would have loved to have been able to do that, but we weren’t able to get it done. He got a tremendous opportunity and had to go. We love Shaq and would have liked to have had him back, but it just didn’t fit.”

WILL THE SEAHAWKS HAVE A BATTLE FOR THE STARTING RUNNING BACK POSITION ?

With Chris Carson’s neck discomfort becoming more worrisome each week the Seahawk’s coaching staff is hoping a healthy competition between Rashaad Penny and Alex Collins can lead to a consistent run game.

Carson started the first four games of the season and looked to humming along gaining 232 yards on 54 carries. Carson missed the Hawk’s next game against the Rams and was placed on the injured reserve the following week. Collins has started the last three games gaining 183 yards on 51 carries. The injury-plagued Penny returned to game action last week against the Saints after missing six games with a knee injury. Penny had nine yards on six carries.

The Jaguar’s defense is ranked number 17^th in rush defense allowing 114.3 yards a game. The Seahawks rush offense is ranked no. 16  with an average of 107.7 yards per game. If the Seahawks are able to run the ball against the Jaguars, the path to victory will be relatively easy. If the O line falters and is unable to produce running lanes for Penny or Collins, the Hawks could find themselves at 2-6

UP NEXT HEAD-TO-HEAD COMPETITION AND TEAM INJURY REPORT