Seahawks preseason report card, the early edition

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MINNEAPOLIS, MN – JANUARY 10: Earl Thomas #29 of the Seattle Seahawks and Jeremy Lane #20 celebrate after Lane broke up a pass in the fourth quarter against the Minnesota Vikings during the NFC Wild Card Playoff game at TCFBank Stadium on January 10, 2016 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images) /

Seahawks strong on the defensive side

Shaquill Griffin continues to see a lot of time on the field, and leads the Seahawks in solo tackles with seven. He’ll be on the field one way or another in every contest. Need more on Griffin? How about this quote from Russell Wilson, provided by the Seattle Times Stefanie Loh:

"He looks really good on the outside right now. He’s making plays, he’s super fast out there, he’s getting his hands to the football and knocking it out and trying to make plays on the ball and he’s doing a lot of great things. He’s really understanding the game. He is kinda one of those silent assassins. He just plays football, he does it the right way. And he has a great mentor on the other side in Richard Sherman to look up to and discuss and gain knowledge from."

Funny that the quote comes from an excellent article on the player currently leading the Seahawks in combined tackles, linebacker Kache Palacio. His only real chance to stick will be on the practice squad again. Seems wrong not to mention the man leading the team in tackles, even if he has about eight players ahead of him on the depth chart.

Rookie defensive tackle Nazair Jones has looked very quick so far. That quickness results in a tie for the team lead with six assists. Not only that, but he showed surprising overall speed in chasing down a screen pass well past the line of scrimmage. Not too bad for a player billed as a run-stopper.

Former San Francisco 49er Tramaine Brock is really pushing to make the roster, as he looked good in both the Vikings and Chiefs games. Forcing a fumble and sacking the quarterback in the same game tends to get the coaches’ attention, alright.

Special teams have been fairly special

As for the special teams players, Jon Ryan has been punting since Moses parted – dang, already used that one. Well, Ryan’s been around a long time, and should continue for the foreseeable future. The pleasant awesome and very happy surprise has been placekicker Blair Walsh. A month ago I wrote that replacing Steven Hauschka with Walsh was a good move.

"I’d say risking $1 million on Walsh bouncing back is a smarter move than betting $4 million on Hauschka doing the same…If Walsh can get back to some semblance of his pre-2016 form, the Seahawks will have replaced their kicker and at the least added considerable depth to both backfields."

So far it’s been a brilliant move. Walsh has made all 10 of his extra point attempts and eight of nine field goals. His only miss was on a 53 yarder that hit the crossbar against the Vikings. Again, the money the Seahawks saved in the move enabled them to sign some excellent players you may have heard of – you know, Eddie Lacy and Bradley McDougald. Walsh looks rock solid.

As for the return game, J.D. McKissic has looked pretty good, but every 12 will breathe easier once Tyler Lockett is back on the field.

Overall, the Seahawks have looked pretty good this preseason. Thursday’s game against the Raiders will give about twenty guys that are on the bubble their last shot at avoiding the Turk this Sunday. All I know is, there are some really difficult choices coming.

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