–The Seahawks have never faced quarterback Josh Rosen and head coach Pete Carroll indicated facing a rookie quarterback with limited tape creates a unique challenge game planning for an upcoming opponent.
“The challenge is how they’re going to utilize him, how they’re going to mix their stuff…” Carroll said in regard to preparing for Rosen. “We won’t know until we play. We have to go off what they’ve done but anticipate that we may have to adjust, so we’ll have to wait and see.”
Seattle will take a peek at Rosen’s preseason footage, but he only threw 29 passes in three exhibition games and offensive schemes are often far more vanilla during the month of August than in the regular season. Carroll simply said the Seahawks will play good football and adjust accordingly as the game unfolds.
–Though the Seahawks play the Cardinals twice a year, this will be the first time Carroll has coached against Steve Wilks, who replaced long-time coach Bruce Arians this offseason. Carroll sees some major schematic differences in Arizona’s defense schematically, especially in terms of personnel packages.
“It’s a different scheme, we would like at it like it’s Carolina’s defense.” Carroll said. “They play a lot of nickel using Budda (Baker) a lot and he’s been a real flashy part of their defense already. It is a different origin in the scheme.”
Not all has changed for the Cardinals, however. When asked whether or not the defense will play as aggressively as they did under previous defensive coordinator James Bettcher, Carroll stated they’d “come at you half the time” and the Seahawks will be expecting plenty of extra pressure on Sunday.
–The NFL has been under fire for controversial, game-changing roughing the passer penalties as a result of a new rule prohibiting defenders from landing “with all or most” of their body weight on opposing quarterbacks. As expected, Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner isn’t a fan of the new rule and doesn’t think the league can continue to allow the penalty to be called as it has been in recent weeks.
Referencing an ACL injury suffered by Dolphins defensive linemen William Hayes this past weekend, Wagner added, “You see a guy go down with a serious injury trying to basically do what they want in that rule, which is remove his body. But I think it’s something that’s really hard to do because that particular player is 300 pounds. How do you expect him to stop his momentum when he’s driving somebody or hitting somebody into the ground?”
Wagner emphasized that it’s becoming increasingly difficult for defenders to figure out how to legally tackle quarterbacks, but he doesn’t plan to change how he plays the game. If he gets a shot to hit Rosen on Sunday, he’s going to make a play as he always has and “see whatever the ref calls.”
BY THE NUMBERS: 42 — Years since an NFL team opened a season with three different players recording multiple interception games in the first three games. The Seahawks became the latest to achieve the rare feat with Bradley McDougald, Shaquill Griffin, and Earl Thomas each picking off two passes in a game to begin the season.
