Could the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks really still have room to grow? The answer, based on episode 4 of Hard Knocks, is absolutely yes. And I think that’s something that can get lost on us as fans. 

Seattle just won the Super Bowl, so you forget that a team like the Seahawks can still get a lot better and still has room to improve altogether as a unit.

The main highlight of this episode was the team heading down to Nashville to take on the Tennessee Titans in joint practice on Friday, followed by the preseason game on Sunday. Hard Knocks did a great job of displaying clearly that Seattle had their work cut out for them. 

The Jake Bobo and Bud Clark injuries hit hard

The first scene of the latest Hard Knocks episode featured Seahawks wide receiver coach Frisman Jackson meeting with Bobo alone in the wide receiver room. He called Bobo his “Dennis Rodman, his Draymond Green, his pit bull”. Jackson told Bobo he had a big two weeks coming up to prove what he could do. 

Everyone knows what Bobo brings to the football team, but Jackson needed to see it on the field. That made the injury sting even more because this was a huge opportunity for Bobo to stake his claim as part of the Seattle wide receiver room again. 

An interesting wrinkle around Bobo’s injury

Right when joint practice started in Nashville, Hard Knocks captured Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald pulling veteran wide receiver Cooper Kupp aside. Macdonald told him he was keeping him out of practice and that there was no need to see him out there.  

They know what he can do on the football field, and they didn’t want to risk anything. That decision gave Bobo a lot of extra reps out there, maybe more than normal.

Now, his injury was a freak thing. That’s not something caused by getting more reps. It could have happened on any single play. But it’s something Macdonald might look back on with some regret, even though I don’t think he should.

Bud Clark’s injury highlights amazing team culture

The injury to Seahawks rookie Bud Clark was one we knew Hard Knocks would show. He knew his right ankle was broken immediately, saying it right there on the ground. He was in a lot of pain, but he seemed to be in good spirits, which was cool to see. 

It’s tough for anybody to get hurt like that, much less a second-round draft pick heading into his first NFL season. That’s got to be a killer mentally. He stayed positive throughout the episode. Who knows how he’s been handling it the past few days as reality has set in, but in real time, it was impressive to see him keep his spirits up.

The coolest part was that every single Seattle teammate came out to the cart when they were taking Clark off the field to dap him up, show support, show love. I thought it really showed the Seahawks’ great culture and the brotherly bond across that locker room.

Nashville brought the heat, and Seattle felt it

Now, the growth aspect of this episode is what really mattered. Going down to Nashville, competing in that heat and humidity, you could tell the elements were getting to the Seahawks right away. 

The Titans are used to practicing in that weather. Seattle was struggling. Montorie Foster Jr. even cramped up early in practice.

We had seen from reports last week the Seahawks were struggling early in the joint contest and it showed on Hard Knocks. The offense couldn’t move the ball and the defense was getting gashed on the ground.

There was improvement later in the day when safety Ty Okada grabbed an interception to reignite things, but the veterans on the team could feel it wasn’t the type of practice they wanted.

Regardless, Sam Darnold said to general manager John Schneider after practice, “This is why I love joint practice. This is the best thing for us. It’s the closest thing we’re gonna get to a real game.”

Darnold is obviously referring to starters who aren’t playing in preseason, but it shows that he and a lot of these veterans and coaches understand how valuable that time is competing against the Titans’ starters, best-on-best out on the field.

The actual game quite frankly showed a lot more promise than practice as Seattle’s backups fought hard in the first quarter against the Titans starters to take a 16-3 lead. Then the Titans went on a 16-0 run to win and it left a bit of a sour taste even for a meaningless preseason affair.

Macdonald understands the moment

Macdonald told the locker room after the game that he is, “convinced they are a better team than they were earlier in the week”. He’s right. Look, preseason wins and losses don’t really matter. How you grow as a football team does, and that is what propels you into the regular season. 

This episode proved that the defending champs are human and have plenty of room for growth. Even though we don’t love seeing negative reports out of joint practice against a Titans team that won three games last season, Tennessee is still an NFL team with dudes ready to compete. 

That week in Nashville provided Seattle with great work and a great opportunity to get better heading into the regular season. I truly believe they’ll look back on it as a pivotal moment early in the season as we get even closer to week 1.