Seattle, Wa- The Seattle Seahawks will start their preseason opener against the Indianapolis Colts on Thursday night. The Seahawks are 22-10 in preseason games against opponents since Pete Carroll took over. However, the Colts have the upper hand by winning 9 out of 8 games played between the two teams.
This year the Seahawks are very young and needs to adapt without having Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas, and Kam Chancellor on the defensive end to help make big plays. As of right now the Seahawks are interested in Tedric Thompson and how he could impact the team. Thompson has shown the ability to be very instinctive on plays, very quick to break on balls, and his make-up speed will help him out if he gets tangled in a double move by a receiver. However, Carroll wants him to be more comfortable and play freely in his start on Thursday. “I want him to feel comfortable and supported,’’ Carroll said. “We believe that the guy is a really good player and we just want him to let it go and cut it loose and not hold back playing cautiously. I think he’s got a lot of plays in him which he has shown, which has given us the confidence to support him in that manner.’’
The Seahawks will have to figure out who will start at running back. Since Marshawn Lynch left Seattle, the Seahawks have struggled to find a running back that could take the pressure off of Russell Wilson, as well as establishing a run presence. Rookie Rashaad Penny, Mike Davis, C.J. Prosise, and Tre Madden will be competing for a job. Each of these players had their ups and downs in camp, but the competition is very tight. Davis and Penny have the vision to squeeze through tight spaces. They are very patient runners, while Prosise and Madden still lack patience.
Against the Colts, all of the running backs will be tested to see if they can fit into the direction of what Carroll wants. on Thursday.
The Colts come into this game with so many questions that it will take a genius to find a solution. Last season the Colts only won four games in which their QB Andrew Luck was injured for the entire season. Luck is coming back from a shoulder injury, so he might get more than a couple of series to get his rhythm back. The offensive line was horrible. They could not protect any of their quarterbacks.
However, this year will be pretty different. The Colts have a new coach (Frank Reich) and new coordinators on both sides of the ball. Reich has already stated that he wants his team to compete and he will do whatever it takes to make it happen. Coming off a shoulder injury running back Marlon Mack said he feels better and wants to help his team any way that he can. Before the injury last season, Mack looked very promising. If he could look like he did at the start of last season, the Colts have a chance to make some noise in their division
Simply put, do not look for much scoring from both of these team. Both of these teams are trying to figure out their strengths and how it could help out the team.
