HARD KNOCKS

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LOL he's got 25 days he'll be starting on the 9th

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Remember the two most prominent back-up running-backs in Seahawk history, Randall Morris and Maurice Morris. They were lucky to touch the ball once in a blue moon lol.

Mo Morris had 604 Carries for 2612 yards in 7 seasons. Must have been a lot of blue moons back then.

I have no recollection of Randall but you are right about him 156 Carries in 5 seasons..

[D-train]

Price on mend but won’t play
Macdonald also said that first-round pick running back Jadarian Price won’t play as he continues to make it back from sitting out most of the past week due to lower-body soreness.

But Price was on the field Friday when the team held a walk-through, typically working with the first unit, and Macdonald hinted that a return to full practice status isn’t far away.

“Jadarian is not going to play in this game, no, but he is on the mend,” Macdonald said.

[Sibelius Hindemith]

Remember the two most prominent back-up running-backs in Seahawk history, Randall Morris and Maurice Morris. They were lucky to touch the ball once in a blue moon lol.

Mo Morris had 604 Carries for 2612 yards in 7 seasons. Must have been a lot of blue moons back then.

I have no recollection of Randall but you are right about him 156 Carries in 5 seasons..

You don't remember Randall "hard to handle" from the Chuck Knox days?

There was also Morris the cat who suited up several times but never got into a game for the Seahawks.

[Donn Beach]

LOL he's got 25 days he'll be starting on the 9th

He will be healthy, its the practicing hes missing

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[Michael K.]

Remember the two most prominent back-up running-backs in Seahawk history, Randall Morris and Maurice Morris. They were lucky to touch the ball once in a blue moon lol.

Mo Morris had 604 Carries for 2612 yards in 7 seasons. Must have been a lot of blue moons back then.

I have no recollection of Randall but you are right about him 156 Carries in 5 seasons..

Ah, Mo Morris. The guy Mike Holmgren drafted instead of Brian Westbrook. The Brian Westbrook that was literally made for the West Coast Offense. I hated Morris already because he was a fucking Duck, but that pick will forever haunt me. If we had Westbrook, we never give Alexander the second contract, and we never lose Hutch.

[trharder]

Latest episode features Bobo and Bud Clark - before disaster. Praying this isn't a trend.

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By Bob Condotta
Seattle Times staff reporter
The first of the five episodes of “Hard Knocks’’ featuring the Seahawks started with a flourish — shots of Devon Witherspoon talking about his contract (which he hadn’t done previously publicly), Nick Emmanwori chatting with Mike Macdonald about his injury, and good footage of what turned out to be the biggest fight of training camp.

It ended with Tuesday’s final episode that felt quite a bit less eventful, despite featuring scenes of roster cuts.

Maybe that’s because roster cuts aren’t quite what they used to be, as this episode made clear, with the increasing importance of the practice squad and 70-man rosters.


That’s a good place to begin with what I learned in the final episode of “Hard Knocks.’’

The “ready squad’’ is more than a slogan
The Seahawks began calling their 17-man practice squad the “ready squad’’ over the past year. The team even has made up shirts with the number 70 on them and 53 crossed off. The message is simple — every player on the roster matters equally, and every player must be ready to play at a moment’s notice.


And wouldn’t you know it? The Seahawks used almost exactly 70 players during the regular season last year — 69.

They made 34 practice squad elevations during the season when including the playoffs.

Those numbers are typical around the league.

But they reinforce why talk of a 70-man roster is so important to Macdonald and general manager John Schneider, who know better than anyone how the unpredictable nature of what happens during the season means the team always must be developing players who can step in at a moment’s notice.


In his meeting with media on Sunday, Schneider also mentioned the importance of having players in the system to call on when needed and not having to look from the outside.

The Seahawks put those words into action on Monday when all 17 players they signed to their practice squad had been with the team during training camp.

The scenes involving cut players also provided clear illustrations of how the Seahawks explain this to waived or released players, who in the moment are undoubtedly feeling at least some measure of anxiety even if the plan is to bring them back.

Any waived player could be claimed the following 24 hours before he could re-sign with the Seahawks and suddenly find himself on a new team, as happened with defensive end Jared Ivey, who was claimed by Atlanta.

“It’s a war of attrition, really,’’ Schneider says at one point in the episode, repeating a long-held NFL maxim, then adding “people are getting released, but it’s like ‘we have a plan for you.’’’

How seriously the Seahawks take all this was also made clear in a scene of Macdonald’s talk to the team on Sunday after cuts were made — a rare time when there are only 53 players in the seats while those who are released or waived have to wait until the next day to sign and return.

“It’s still everybody all the time,’’ Macdonald tells them. “All 70 guys.’’

History shows it certainly will be.

Emmanwori’s Week 1 status still seems uncertain
When Emmanwori, who had arthroscopic surgery on his ankle in July, was activated off the physically unable to perform list on Aug. 11, it seemed like the odds were pretty good he’d be available for the opener against the New England Patriots Sept. 9.

Maybe they still are.

But the scene of Emmanwori talking to Macdonald in his office — apparently early last week — could be viewed as still leaving his status for that game somewhat cloudy.

“I feel like I’m grinding every day to a point where I’m like making progress, but like can’t do back-to-back hard days,’’ Emmanwori says, adding he feels like he’s “in a weird spot” and gets a different answer every day.

While Emmanwori has been able by rule to practice since coming off the PUP list, he didn’t do any significant work in practices that were open to the media.

Practices have been closed since the team returned from its game against Tennessee on Aug. 23, leaving it unclear what he’s done since then, though he was seen in a jersey and heading out to the field and between the lines to begin early warmups for Sunday’s practice (when the team was not in full pads).


The three days off the team has this week — Monday-Wednesday — before beginning a usual game-week schedule on Thursday (with the game against the Patriots on a Wednesday to replicate the usual Monday-Sunday NFL week) might help Emmanwori’s recovery. The specter of a game now just seven days away might, too.

Final impressions
As “Hard Knocks” closed its Seahawks run, here are a few last thoughts:

— The obvious star of the whole show was Macdonald, whose ability to know when to push the pedal and let off and overall communications skills shone clearly throughout.

— A close second might have been Seattle and the VMAC itself. The shots of bald eagles flying over the field and the views of the water and the team’s lakefront access felt at times like a recruiting film to future free agents. Those who visit the VMAC who travel the NFL circuit often say there isn’t a better location for a training facility in the league, and “Hard Knocks’’ only seemed to back that up.

— There was much discussion when the league announced the Seahawks would be featured that the show might prove a distraction and/or too revealing.

The former didn’t seem the case at all. Cameras and boom mics were everywhere, but players said they got used to them quickly, and to those of us who attended most practices, the mics and cameras also seemed to just become part of the background after a while.

As for revealing too much, that always felt like an unnecessary fear since every game every team plays is available for every other team to watch from dozens of angles and to break down in the minutest of fashion. The league is careful in that regard anyway (such as the blurred names on the depth chart in Schneider’s office).

As is often said of Macdonald and his defensive scheme, it’s not so much what he does but how he deploys it on gameday, something no amount of tape watching can necessarily detail. And for anyone seeking insight into changes in the offense under new coordinator Brian Fleury, there wasn’t a whole lot.

What “Hard Knocks’’ did reveal in terms of the team’s culture, Macdonald’s manner with players — notably, how quickly he got the team to turn the page following the couple fights that were detailed in early episodes — and the way the players interact with each other all seemed to show the team in about as positive of a light as the organization could have hoped for going into this.

— It would have been nice to see a bit more of the league meetings in Atlanta and insight into the new owners, but it was likely by design that there wasn’t much. That scene did provide one more memorable quote, though, after Vinod Khosla is shown during his brief press conference saying that the task ahead “is actually pretty simple — keep the winning streak alive, get another Super Bowl.’’ Schneider, watching the press conference at the VMAC with Macdonald, turns to the coach and laughs and says “it’s pretty simple! That’s awesome.’’

Seahawks fans surely agree.