Dress Rehearsal

The Seahawks take on the Chargers tonight at 8pm in San Diego. This will be the dress rehearsal for opening night in Detroit on September 10th. Most of the starters figure to be out of the line-up or play very sparingly against Oakland. The key to the game is to get through it without anybody getting injured.

The Seahawks might play well because of the Dallas game. They just faced the 3-4, so they could be better prepared because of it, even though they struggled against Dallas. Someone might also want to tell reserve RG Ray Willis he needs to block the OLB instead of the DE, so we don't lose a QB or RB for the season.

LaDanian Tomlinson isn't going to play, and I really wish Shaun Alexander didn't either. Maurice Morris could use the reps against a good defense. Alexander doesn't need them and it seems stupid to risk getting him injured in a meaningless game. OLB Shawne Merrimen probably ended Priest Holmes career with a big hit last year, so why risk it? The offense should be able to move the ball better with Morris in there anyway because Alexander doesn't run hard in the preseason.

The second half could be exciting with the upcoming roster cutdown. The guys on the fringe of the roster will be playing as hard as they can to ensure they are not among the 14 players the Seahawks must release by Tuesday. The NFL Europe exemptions expire with this cutdown, so most of those guys should be gone, except QB Gibran Hamdan. CB Reggie Austin is probably the other NFL Europe player most likely to stick around for another week. P Gabe Lindstrom, WR C.J. Jones, CB Lance Frazier, FS Brandon Haw, and RB Jimmy Dixon could all easily be let go. The once promising WR Skyler Fulton never passed a physical or participated in training camp due to his shoulder injury. The Seahawks retain his rights, but he does not count against the roster limits.

The majority of the other cuts will most likely come from the following list of players: CB Gerard Ross, QB Travis Lulay, RB Ran Carthon, CB Kevin Hobbs, SS Oliver Celestin, LB Launce Laury, LB Evan Benjamin, OG Jason Murphy, OC Taylor Schmidt, DE John Syptak, WR Justin Surrency, and DT Alex Guerrero. WR Tony Brown, WR Taco Wallace, WR Keenan Howry, and RB Marquis Weeks are not necessarily safe either.

FS Shaunard Harts and maybe CB Jimmy Williams are probably the leading candidates to be one of the veteran players the team could release to give a chance to sign on with someone else, although the team would probably be reticent to let Harts or Williams go just yet because either could still very well make the team.