SAN JOSE, Calif. – The Seattle Seahawks opened Super Bowl week Wednesday with their first and only padded practice of the week before the game. The Seahawks players took the practice field at San Jose State for 1 hour and 50 minutes, starting at 2:15 p.m. under a sunny and cloudless sky. It was 73-degrees.
“We had an opportunity to work at a different practice window,” head coach Mike Macdonald said after practice. “Which I thought was great with our guys’ cadence. Lot of spirit. Guys did a great job. We had a great practice.”
Safety Nick Emmanwori was limited in practice on Wednesday with an ankle injury that he suffered during practice.
The rookie safety injured his ankle while defending a pass late in practice. He walked off the field on his own shortly before 4 p.m. Several players and coaches went over to comfort him before he left.
“He had an ankle today, we brought him in to look at it, and we’ll kind of go from here and figure out what are the next steps?” Macdonald said.
Seattle practiced in pads for about an hour before taking them off for the second half of practice.
Macdonald said he reached out to coaches he’d worked with in the past to design the structure for last week and this week of practice. He said the team started installing their game plan last week.
“We’re going to be evolving. We didn’t put the whole thing in last week. We’re just gonna keep building it, stay on cadence this week and do what we need to do to feel like we get to a sweet spot by end of the week.”
Five Seahawks were limited in practice on Wednesday. Left tackle Charles Cross (foot), left tackle Josh Jones (ankle, knee), quarterback Sam Darnold (oblique), fullback Robbie Ouzts (neck) and safety Emmanwori (ankle).
Darnold has been limited in all eight practices since he injured his oblique on Jan. 15.
“Sam’s right on schedule,” Macdonald said. “So we’ve had this plan here over the last X amount of weeks, and it varies every day. And today he had a great day, so we’re right on schedule.”
Six other Seahawks players are on the injury report but practiced in full Wednesday: Tight end Eric Saubert (hamstring), receiver Jake Bobo (hand), fullback Brady Russell (hand), linebacker Ernest Jones IV (chest), safety Julian Love (shoulder), linebacker Drake Thomas (shoulder).
Three players were limited in practice for non-injury rest: linebacker DeMarcus Lawrence, receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and defensive tackle Leonard Williams.
Seattle will practice again Thursday at 2:15 p.m. local time.
–Pro Football Writers of America
