After bye, healthy Seahawks hope three's a charm

After bye, healthy Seahawks hope three's a charm
By CLARE FARNSWORTH
P-I REPORTER

RENTON -- Things suddenly got a lot more familiar for Matt Hasselbeck on Monday.

When the Seahawks quarterback stepped into the huddle for the team's first practice following its bye weekend, there were wide receivers Bobby Engram and Deion Branch -- in the slot and at flanker, respectively. There too was Sean Locklear, back where he belongs at right tackle.

After playing their first three games short-handed because of injuries to key performers, the Seahawks took three giant steps toward getting healthier for Sunday's crucial matchup with the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants.

"This week is a lot easier than previous weeks," said Hasselbeck, who turned 33 during the team's bye week. "These guys I know. These are guys who have played before."

It's just that Engram has not played since cracking a bone in his right shoulder in the preseason opener, and Branch hasn't played since tearing a ligament in his left knee in the January playoff loss to the Green Bay Packers. Locklear got in for a half-dozen snaps in the pre-bye win over the St. Louis Rams, but he had been out since spraining a knee in preseason.

"I was very pleased at how we got some of the guys back," coach Mike Holmgren said. "How that sorts itself out for the game, we're still a ways away from that."

He was talking about the wide receivers, not Locklear -- who will start, with Floyd Womack remaining at right guard and Ray Willis returning to his role as the backup at both spots.

With all that said, here's a look at how those positions have changed since Engram and especially Branch last played and Locklear last started:

# Wide receiver. For too long, they were dropping at an alarming rate. First, Engram. Then, Ben Obomanu with a broken clavicle in the preseason finale. Then, Nate Burleson and Logan Payne with torn knee ligaments in the first two games.

With Burleson, Obomanu and Payne out for the season, and Engram and Branch not ready, the Seahawks launched a rent-a-hands scavenger hunt.

That's how split end Billy McMullen (signed off the street), flanker Keary Colbert (acquired in a trade with the Denver Broncos) and former first-round draft choice Koren Robinson (re-signed) got here.

Even with the returns of Engram and Branch, McMullen and Colbert will continue to see time because they've been playing -- and occasionally making plays.

"The guys who have been here -- the Billy McMullens and the Keary Colberts -- they are further along this week because they have been here a little bit longer," Hasselbeck said.

But to get the offense back on track after the team's 1-2 start, the Seahawks need Engram to be the clutch player he was in catching a franchise-record 94 passes last season. They need Branch to meet the expectations he arrived with after the club gave up a first-round draft choice to acquire him from the New England Patriots in 2006 and then gave him a six-year, $39 million contract.

Asked what needs to happen this week for him to know he's ready to return, Branch offered, "It already happened. I think the past two weeks, and the good week of practice last week on the scout team, was good for me."

If Branch plays Sunday, it will be two days shy of the eight-month anniversary of his reconstructive surgery. Is he attempting to return too soon?

"No," he said. "I think my timing's been OK."

So does Dr. James Andrews, who performed the operation.

"Dr. Andrews always told me my leg was healed before," Branch said. "It was the mental part that I had to break through. I feel like I've broken that cycle. I feel pretty good."

# Right tackle. Willis played well in Locklear's absence, providing a physical presence that helped Julius Jones run for 127 and 140 yards the past two games. But there was no doubt that Locklear would regain the starting job when he was healthy.

"They did play well, and that's part of the game -- when somebody goes down, you've got to go in and play," he said.

That's how Locklear moved into the starting lineup in 2005, after Womack went out during the preseason with a torn triceps.

"I wasn't thinking about it. I wasn't worried about it," Locklear said of the reverse happening to him.

The question that remained was what to do with Willis. The coaches could have moved him to guard, but opted to stay with Womack. The veteran has been an upgrade since stepping in for Rob Sims, who was lost for the season after tearing a pectoral muscle in the opener.

"I know I can play this game, and that's why I've been around so long. With me, it's always been a health issue," said Womack, who has missed time with an assortment of injuries in his eight-year career.

"Fortunately, they kept me in there. And that's a good thing."

FOCUS ON: MATT HASSELBECK

The Seahawks' bye week was good to -- and for -- Matt Hasselbeck. First, the quarterback turned 33 last Thursday, the final day of the team's players-only practice sessions before they had the long weekend off. "It was really nice of the NFL to give me the bye week on my birthday," Hasselbeck said Monday.

Even better, however, was spending a Sunday watching other people play football. "We love the bye week. We should have more bye weeks," he said. "Physically, it is just great. You get away and you have a chance to heal up. Mentally, it's just nice to take a load off, sit on your couch and watch other quarterbacks get hit. It's a good feeling knowing you can wake up on Monday without feeling like you were in a car accident."

But about those practices, when Hasselbeck got to get reacquainted with returning wide receivers Bobby Engram and Deion Branch while also increasing his rapport with newcomers Billy McMullen and Keary Colbert?

"Player-only practices are great," he said.




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