One thing that was different during a bye week was what the Seahawks were actually practicing. Without an opponent to gameplan for, practices were geared more towards competing against each other and toward fine-tuning any parts of their game that needs improvement.
“Guys are still getting after it,” tight end AJ Barner said. “I think it’s more competitive between the offense and defense, because we’re not preparing for a team per se. But just going up against each other, you hear Spoon (Devon Witherspoon) talking, EJ (Ernest Jones IV), D-Hall (Derick Hall) talking. We’re kind of playing them this week, so you want to compete with them.”
Veteran receiver Cooper Kupp, one of the few players on the team with significant playoff experience, likes how he saw his teammates approach the week.
“It’s been a real cool just understanding globally in this building, we’re still on a mission,” Kupp said. “We have a mission in front of us, and we’re attacking it. Even though we don’t know who that is, who is going to be put down in front of us yet, we know we’re going to handle this week with an intention, with an understanding that we’re still under construction. We’re still working towards something. The attitude and the effort for the last couple of days, the focus that was in this room out in the walkthroughs and out there on the practice field speaks about the guys that we have here. Everyone is excited about this opportunity. We’re going to take these next few days and recover and come back ready to go.”
Kupp added that the most important thing during by week practices is “the growth. You continue to grow. This isn’t a week off. It’s an opportunity to hone in to some stuff, to dive in deeper, to self-scout yourself and look at some things that you can do better as units, but also individually. How can we be better? How can you set yourself up going into next week to be a better football player and set yourself up to be able to attack that next week?”
The Seahawks won’t know until Saturday or Sunday who they will play between the Rams, Panthers, 49ers or Packers, but when they do have an opponent, they’ll get to work next week operating as if it’s just the next game on their schedule, because it is.
“We take it as any other game,” said cornerback Devon Witherspoon. “It’s just another game on the year. We didn’t come this far just to come this far, so we’re taking every game serious.”
