The Seahawks did not start their opening preseason game well, but the second and third units were able to make a furious comeback in the second half to give Seattle a 24-17 victory. Here was some of the post-game reaction from around the blogosphere:
The first-team defense did not look particularly good. After taking over on their own 11 yard line, the Chargers marched up the field for 89 yards on 10 plays, including a 48-yard bomb from Philip Rivers to none other than Vincent Jackson (who was being marked by none other than Kelly Jennings, of course). The drive was capped by an 8-yard touchdown catch and run by Mike Tolbert to put the Chargers up 7-0.
On the offensive side, I came away pretty impressed with Charlie Whitehurst. He played large portions of the 2nd and 3rd Quarters -- five series. I realize that this is the preseason and he was facing the B-squad defense, but his general disposition and body language looked better than I remember from last season. He stood tall in the pocket, threw some good balls, and worked through his progressions on a few occasions. He scrambled 8 yards for a first down on one play and demonstrated good mobility on a few others. He wasn't perfect, but he looked good. I'll take it, preseason or not.
So what's the real lesson to take from tonight? Judge the process, not the results. Despite the limited snaps, Tarvaris Jackson has shown no real improvement from his middling Minnesota days. Despite facing a lesser defense, Charlie Whitehurst has shown some capability of being an NFL quarterback. It's only preseason, but we have just three weeks till that stops being an excuse. Show me something, Tarvaris.
- Clare Farnsworth, Seahawks Blog
Player of the Game: Thomas Clayton. There were a lot of candidates for the Seahawks, but the third-year running back scored the game-winner - on a 25-yard touchdown run with 3 minutes to play - had a game-high 62 rushing yards and also added an 11-yard run to the Chargers' 5-yard line on the TD drive that tied the score at 17.
Russell Okung wasn't even a series into his second season when things took what has become a familiar turn for the worse.
"It was non-contact," coach Pete Carroll said. "Just to hear something kind of pop in there. X-rays were negative and all that, so we'll see what happens. He's real disappointed."