The Seattle Seahawks finished 10-7 last season; however, the organization was dissatisfied and made major changes. They moved on from Geno Smith, DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, and offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb -- bringing in Sam Darnold, Cooper Kupp, and Klint Kubiak.
While they are 1-0-1, the preseason is more about the results than record -- and the early results have been very positive. The final test will come this weekend as Seattle is set to have their first road game of the preseason when it faces the conference rival Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field.
The matchup figures to have little impact on the top of the roster, but, with plenty of roster spots up for grabs, there could still be major implications - particularly for rookie quarterback Jalen Milroe, who is set to play the whole game. Although Mike Macdonald has revealed that the Seahawks starters will not suit up in Week 3 of the preseason, they were available for this week's joint practices.
Seahawks leaders weigh in on joint practice fight with Packers
Thursday's practice led to punches being thrown as linebacker Ernest Jones IV and cornerback Devon Witherspoon went at it with Packers right tackle Zach Tom. Macdonald and star pass rusher Leonard Williams both shared their thoughts on the scuffle.
There were several altercations that took place at Thursday's joint practice between the Seahawks and the Packers. While Tom shared that Jones IV started the altercation by entering the Green Bay huddle to go after a player, Seattle's Pro Bowl pass rusher took exception to a different incident.
Speaking to Brady Henderson of ESPN, Williams revealed that he was not a fan of how things ended:
"I didn't appreciate in general them coming to our sideline while practice was over. We've already broke the huddle, guys are on our side, their guys are on their side, and people are coming over. It's hard with these joint practices because stuff like that always happens. You don't want it to happen but it happens. We try to avoid it as much as possible, but I didn't appreciate it."
Macdonald noted that he felt his players handled the situation well:
"It's hard to tell what happened, who said what. Look, you want your guys to defend their [teammates]. There's a line. Whether we go past the line, I don't think we did, which is good. Our guys stayed composed. But some of these things do tend to happen, and however it gets started ... hopefully it's not our guys, but people are going to react to a certain extent. I think our guys handled it pretty well."
Darnold even chimed in on the scuffle, joking that those incidents are his time to shine. While tempers flared, that is not out of the ordinary for joint practices, as teams spend hours going at one another -- and there is no risk of suspension for fighting at practice.
Tom was, however, ejected for throwing punches during the altercation. The Seahawks and Packers are set to close out the preseason this weekend. Seattle's focus will then turn to Week 1 when the divisional rival San Francisco 49ers will come to town in a key matchup.