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Preseason Finale
Jalen Milroe Waited Until the Last Possible Night
Jalen Milroe went 16 of 26 for 223 yards and a touchdown Friday at Arrowhead Stadium, added 33 yards on seven carries, and threw zero interceptions. Seattle still didn’t win. The Seahawks and Chiefs finished 9-9, which is a score you get in a rec league softball game, not a football stadium in Missouri.
223
Milroe’s passing yards Friday night. He had 88 total in his first two preseason games combined.
Consider where he started. Through two preseason games Milroe had 88 passing yards, no touchdowns, two interceptions, five sacks taken, and a Seattle offense that had failed to score on every single one of his nine possessions. Macdonald gave him the whole game anyway, no substitutions, no halftime hook. That is either enormous faith or a final exam, and I lean toward the second one.
He passed it. The deep balls landed, the ball came out on time, and the throws that didn’t count died on drops and penalties rather than on anything Milroe did wrong. Field Gulls came out of the broadcast saying there shouldn’t be much discussion left about whether he makes the 53. Two weeks ago that conversation was very much open.
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One good night does not make Jalen Milroe a quarterback. It makes him a guy nobody has to argue about on Sunday afternoon.
The timing is not subtle. Seattle has to be down to 53 players by 3 p.m. Sunday, and a developmental third quarterback is exactly the kind of roster spot a Super Bowl champion talks itself out of when the receiver room is banged up. Milroe just made that argument harder to have out loud.
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Special Teams
Jason Myers Kicked Five Field Goals in the Super Bowl. Now He Can’t Make One.
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This wasn’t one bad swing. Myers has now missed a kick in all three preseason games, and the earlier ones came from 45, 48 and 44 yards, distances a kicker is supposed to make while thinking about dinner. He is 35 and in the final year of his contract with no reported extension talks. There is no long-term money protecting him and nobody obvious warming up either.
What makes this strange is who we’re talking about. Seven months ago Myers made five field goals in Super Bowl LX, a Super Bowl record, after a regular season in which he hit 41 field goals and scored a league-leading 171 points.
41
Field goals Myers made last regular season on the way to a league-leading 171 points.
August kicking numbers mean nothing. I’ve been told that my whole life and I believe roughly 60 percent of it. The other 40 percent watched the ball sail right and started doing arithmetic about how many one-score games this team plays in December.
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AROUND THE COOP
Around the Coop
Trevon Diggs played his first snaps as a Seahawk and left with Seattle’s only defensive takeaway, stepping in front of an underthrown Garrett Nussmeier pass. Twelve days on the roster, one interception. The 2021 version keeps peeking out. Seahawks.com
Ninety-one players have to become 53 by 3 p.m. Sunday, with practice squads forming after waiver claims clear Monday. Thirty-eight guys spend this weekend waiting on a phone call from a building where they already know where the coffee is. Field Gulls
Macdonald finally gave up something concrete on Tory Horton, saying the receiver’s injury “isn’t a long-term thing.” After a month of him saying nothing at all, that qualifies as a press release. NBC Sports
Rookies Emmanuel Henderson Jr. and Andre Fuller both made plays in a game that was otherwise as ugly as 9-9 sounds. Henderson’s 30-yard catch is the only reason Myers got a chance to lose it at the end. Sorry, Emmanuel. Yahoo Sports
The backups kept Kansas City out of the end zone entirely, including a pair of goal-line stands. “We saw a lot of great things out of a lot of guys,” Macdonald said. Three points allowed, and the coach still sounds happier than the scoreboard. Seahawks.com
NFC WEST SCHADENFREUDE REPORT
RAMS
Los Angeles traded running back Jarquez Hunter to Miami on Thursday to bring back receiver Tutu Atwell, the same Tutu Atwell they let sign with the Dolphins in March for $1.4 million. So the Rams spent five months and one running back rediscovering a player who was already in the building. Sean McVay wished Hunter well. Somewhere a Miami scout is still laughing.
NINERS
San Francisco beat Las Vegas 18-12 and did not score a touchdown. Every point came off the foot of Eddy Piñeiro, who went 6 for 6 including three from beyond 50 and a 59-yarder. A perfect night from your kicker and zero trips to the end zone is a weird thing to celebrate. We would still trade you for it right now, no questions asked.
CARDINALS
Arizona rolled up 5.2 yards a carry, converted nine of 15 third downs, won time of possession by 15 minutes, finished eight yards shy of 500 total, and lost 42-38 at Lambeau Field. To Green Bay’s backups. You can build an offense in one summer. Apparently you cannot build a defense that tackles anybody in the same one.
SEACHICKENS TRIVIA
This two-time Super Bowl-winning head coach was hired as Seahawks president and general manager in February 1989, put himself back on the sideline as head coach in 1992, and went 14-34 over three seasons before being replaced. Who is he?
Tap to Reveal the Answer
Tom Flores. He won Super Bowls XV and XVIII with the Raiders, then came to Seattle as an executive, hired himself to coach, and never got the team above six wins before Dennis Erickson replaced him in 1995.
Got a Question? Yell It Into the Void.
The mailbag is open and the roster is about to shrink by 38 names, so this is a good weekend to send in something unhinged. Ask about the kicker. Everybody else is.
Enjoy Saturday. Sunday afternoon, 38 guys stop being Seahawks. — The Rooster