Faced with a big problem, the Seahawks came up with a big answer.
That’s 6-foot-7, 340-pound Stacy Andrews.
“If all your players look like that it would be great,” line coach Art Valero said Wednesday. “Stacy is a good-looking kid. He’s got long arms. And he’s strong. And he’s athletic. There’s a tremendous upside to him.”
But that’s also the same Stacy Andrews who was acquired Sept. 5 in the trade with the Philadelphia Eagles and completed his fifth practice as a member of the Seahawks on Wednesday.
“Last week was a little unfair, because he got here and it was show time,” Valero said. “But he’s been here a week and things are starting to make sense.
“The biggest thing for him is, what they called an apple we call an orange. But a lot of them are the same. He just has to translate them in his own mind.”
Adjusting – and adapting – on the fly has become Valero’s life since he stepped in to replace Alex Gibbs, after the veteran line coach retired Sept. 4. Six of the Seahawks’ 10 offensive linemen are in their first season with the team, and three have been here less than three weeks – Andrews, tackle
The line that starts in Denver is expected to be – from left tackle to right – Polumbus, who started eight games for the Broncos last season and was acquired in an Aug. 31 trade with the Detroit Lions;
Offensive line play is all about continuity, and five fingers forming a fist. Until it’s not.
“Well, I could really want to do that – settle on those five guys and all that,” coach Pete Carroll said. “But right now, we’re still moving. And so I’m not looking at that like it’s a negative. I’m not looking at that like that’s a deterrent to us playing well.”
And he’s not altering or scaling back the offensive game plan, either.
“We’ll stay with the basic principles in what we’ve been doing all along,” Carroll said. “There are always protection issues depending on personnel and stuff like that. But we’re not going to have to do anything drastic at this point.”
As
Then Hasselbeck went out and posted the highest completion percentage of any passer in the league on the opening weekend. He did it by throwing the ball quickly and, when he did take a shot down the field, moving before releasing the ball. He was sacked once, despite facing a fast, aggressive 49ers defense.
“Whenever something like this happens where we lose a guy, we look at it as an opportunity for the next guy who has to step up,” Carroll said. “So Stacy has no choice. We’re going to call on him to do it and do a nice job for us.”
Just like Polumbus did in the opener.
Andrews was a fourth-round draft choice by the Cincinnati Bengals in 2004. After starting 32 games for the Bengals from 2006-08, he joined the Eagles last season. When he became expendable in Philly, the Seahawks jumped at the chance to trade for him – because of his size, and versatility, and experience.
“Two weeks ago, we didn’t have the luxury of being able to plug in a guy like Stacy,” Valero said. “We didn’t have a guy like this. But they went out and we able to make a deal and bring Stacy in here. As the chips fell, it just happens that he’s there for us not to be able skip a beat.”
But Unger will be missed. The team’s second-round draft choice last year damaged the plantar plate in the big toe on his left foot early in the game, but continued to play.
“This guy’s got a toe that’s torn up and he just kept playing,” Carroll said. “Of course it hurt him. He couldn’t push off. He couldn’t change direction and all that. So it was certainly a factor in the way he played.”
But not to the point where anyone could tell anything was that wrong because of the way he played.
“Mentally and physically, Max is a tough person,” Valero said. “He had so much invested in this team there was not a chance he would allow himself to let the other people down.”
Unger will need surgery to repair the damage and faces what Carroll called a “delicate” three-month recovery.
It’s a big problem that requires a big answer: Andrews.
With Locklear excused from practice Wednesday to deal with a family issue, 6-3, 313-pound
“Stacy looks great in the huddle,” Valero said with a chuckle. “But he’s got a great football background in the NFL. He understands the game and he understands what it is to do it outside (at tackle) and inside (at guard).”
This week, Andrews is getting a crash course in what it takes to step in – and step up – when needed.
