Game Preview

by: Michael Steffes

The Seahawks embark on their second pre-season game today, and their first home game of the year. The opponent is the Chicago Bears. There are some interesting story lines for this game, but really it means very little. Matt Hasselbeck will most likely not even take a snap. This leaves Julius Jones as the most prominent starter whose performance you should watch. He will get his first snaps with the first string line(minus Spencer of course). Here are some of the other things to watch for:

ONE HIT WONDERS: Several Seahawks showed up with big performances last week that seemingly came out of nowhere. This is where we see if it was a big game or a sign of things to come. Names to watch here are David Hawthorne, Howard Green, Jason Babin and Owen Schmitt.

THE FRYE-WALLACE CONUNDRUM: Charlie Frye is expected to start. He will see his most significant action as a Seahawks QB. There are less than stellar expectations for his performance out there. I am going to go the other way, I think Charlie will rise to the occasion. What I have seen of Frye I like. I think that he has been waiting for this opportunity for a long time, and will be surrounded by better weapons than he has ever had. I expect a workman like performance, enough for the Seneca Wallace for wide receiver faction to start shouting from the hill tops. To be perfectly honest, I am just not that high on the Bears defense, and Qwest field should help the offense shine. Frye seems to have picked up a bit in practice a bit as well.

CAN HE KICK IT? Coutu will be on field goals and Mare on kickoffs. The team planned this. They want to see how Mare's kickoff leg holds up outdoors and if Coutu gets siked out by any outdoor elements. I get the feeling we will have leading candidate after tomorrow.

SECONDARY TO NONE: The secondary has some atoning to do tomorrow, and lucky them, they get to face Wrecks Grossman and his band of marry goobers at WR. We may learn more about how bad the Bears are going to be than the Seahawks good, but building a little confidence isn't a bad thing.

One thing I would caution all of you not to put too much stock in the coverage units. Homgren and DeHaven basically admitted they are throwing stuff against the wall to see what sticks. The same group may not be out there twice in a row until week 1. That said, they will probably be great, only because I expect Mare to handing them a nice advantage. ~END~