Seattle Seahawks

If you don’t see any photo-caption text, try refreshing the page or using a different Web browser. There is a known issue of captions not showing up for some readers using Internet Explorer. Photo galleries also may not be properly displayed on some mobile devices. Visit seattlepi.com for more Seattle news. Contact sports editor Nick Eaton at nickeaton@seattlepi.com or @njeaton.

While the Mariners have struggled, their crop of young players give them reason to be optimistic. If hitters like Jesus Montero and Dustin Ackley get on track, they can help support a young group of pitchers waiting to come up from the Minors.

In his first practice with the Seahawks – even if it was only an OTA session – Percy Harvin displayed the explosive quickness and lightning speed that prompted the team to acquire him in a trade with the Vikings.

Today marked the first Seattle Organized Team Activity of the off-season --- and the only one this week that will be open to the media. Much of the focus afterward was on the team's recent off-field issues. But the larger story from a strict on-field standpoint may be the sudden worry over its pass rush. Bruce Irvin will be out the first four games, Chris Clemons is rehabbing an ACL in the Atlanta area and Cliff Avril --- as revealed today --- is battling a plantar fascia issue. Of Irvin's suspension, here's what coach Pete Carroll said today:  “It’s going to  impact, he’s a really good football player. He had a tremendous football season. Fortunately we have guys that can step up, and really there is no way that as a team you can look at it in my mind, it calls for the next guy to step up and take full advantage of his opportunity to help the team out. And meanwhile he is hurt, he’s hurt. He’s injured. And the month that he misses is going to be a month of opportunity for somebody else. So we’ll see. We expect our guys will step in to play well. We are fortunate to have Cliff Avril here, we are fortunate to have Clem (Chris Clemons) coming back, we are fortunate to have (linebacker) Malcolm (Smith) get his chance to step up, as well. We’ll figure that out when  the time comes, but it will be like  he’s injured and he’s not there and what are you going to do about it.’’ Asked if he's worried about the depth at the spot, Carroll said: “Well, we will always be concerned, sure, and I don’t mind telling you that. But we are fortunate in that we also are working our roster in that regard, too. We have some young guys that we are excited about. But it’s going to call on Cliff Avril, first and Cliff will be back in a couple of weeks and he is in good shape to make it back. Clem’s going to make it back, we won’t know about him for a while, we will  have to figure that out when the time comes. I liked the fact that Cliff was here because it gave us a cushion for Clem. That changed a little bit for the first month of the season, for sure.’’ Carroll indicated Avril's condition won't be long-term, saying:  “It hurts. Ask him about it. The plantar fascia thing is a real uncomfortable thing, you juist have to wait it out. It’s something that you can come back from. It’s not a problem, you just have to wait it out and he’s real anxioius to go and he is doing very wellin his rehab and he runs some this week for the first time. It just takes another couple weeks.’’ The other off-field issue of the day was the news of the recent arrest of backup QB Josh Portis on suspicion for driving under the influence. Intriguingly, Portis had a solid day throwing the ball as he split reps with Brady Quinn behind Russell Wilson. And the other notable absentee was RB Marshawn Lynch, who has simply chosen not to participate for now, as is his right under the NFL guidelines as these are technically voluntary workouts. Carroll said that Lynch "may'' participate before the OTAs end June 6. "This is voluntary. That’s the rules and the guidelines are all set up to be. Clem is rehabbing and he is not here, and Marshawn is not here. We miss them. We’d like them to be here. This is a lot of fun. .. He’s in very good shape. He came in 10 days ago and he’s in very good shape. He’s working an intense program in his area and he is benefitting from it. We’d love to see everybody here.’’ In a few other notes. ... --- Tight end Anthony McCoy suffered an ankle injury of undetermined severity late in the practice. --- Also out or limited were rookie RB Christine Michael (hamstring) and CB Tharold Simon (foot). --- Asked his first  impressions of the rookies who participated, Carroll said: “That they came out of the w

Some of the Seahawks' recent off-field issues could hurt the team not only on the field  but in the pocketbook. NFL.com is reporting this afternoon that the league could fine the team for having multiple players suspended in a season for violating the league's drug, steroid or personal conduct policies. As the story states: "There are financial consequences for a team that has multiple players suspended in a season under those policies," league spokesman Greg Aiello said regarding the rule. It was not specified if Seattle has or will be fined following defensive end Bruce Irvin's suspension for violating the league's PED rules, which was announced Friday. The team could fall under the league's remittance policy since multiple players recently have been suspended for violating banned substance rules. Seattle has had six players suspended for PED violations since 2010. Cornerback Richard Sherman had his suspension last season overturned on appeal. Per rule, a team would be fined a portion of the salaries of the players that have been suspended based on an agreed-upon formula.

Following Seattle's first OTA of the season Monday afternoon, Seahawk coach Pete Carroll met the media for the first time since it was revealed that DE Bruce Irvin would be suspended for the first four games of next season for using performance enhancing drugs, and that backup QB Josh Portis had recently been arrested on suspicion of DUI. Carroll addressed the issues head-on in a rather impassioned opening statement that ran almost five minutes, saying that dealing with such matters is "a challenge for us,'' and that it is also important to let the public know that "it’s serious, it’s real serious and we need to let you know that we understand that.'' Here is a transcript of the highlights, as well as some video below: "As these stages come along at OTAs, it gets us closer to football and it brings to light how difficult it is to do what we do and to do it really well and the challenges that go along with it.  This is an exciting young football team and these guys are at a point where they have worked really hard to grow together and establish the kind of makeup on the team that gives you a chance to do good things, and coming off of last year all that is part of what’s going on. "But with that also comes the responsibility to handle it well and over the years I have seen what it takes to be consistently on top and to be on top and to stay on top and to keep winning and endure all that goes along with that. It takes a giant commitment and guys have to really be in it for the right reasons to do things right, and so a couple  of things came up today in the media that gets out about our guys, some issues that we have had --- this is a challenge, this is a challenge for us, this is a challenge for the league. "The league is doing everything they can to try to figure out how to help guys make it through these young careers that they have from teaching and instructing and also the punitive side of it, and they are doing a really good job. And they are in it for the right seasons, and we are too. We go beyond what the league does. We go well past what the guidelines ask us to do as far as working with the young guys and trying to give them the direction, trying to give them the counseling. We have people on staff here specifically to work with our individual guys, because I really see this as an individual challenge. "We try to bring each kid as far along as we possibly can to make them available for the opportunity that they have, and each one of them is a different story. Each one of them, it’s a different road that we travel. Even though we go together they all have to figure out how to do this right. And so I see this as a challenge for us to be at the cutting edge of why guys  make choices, and why guys will jeopardize their opportunities. The league understands that, we understand it. We have been working for years and years with young people and we continue to still face issues that we want to try to deal with in a different way. "So it’s a very, very important opportunity for us in a sense to try and figure it out and to help these guys so they can get what they deserve. Unfortunately you go wrong and you get popped and that’s how this thing works and I’m really disappointed that we have to deal with anything like this. But there are going to be other issues, too, and we are going to have to deal with them. "With Bruce we are going to try to help him along as best we possibly can. He has made an enormous commitment to try to do the right thing and he made a mistake. He admitted to it and he owned up to it to his teammates and he owned up to the staff and he owned up to it to everybody. He wants to do right and show that he can. We are going to see that through and see if we can’t get that done for him. "It’s no different than I would do for my own son. I would do everything I can to teach him, to prepare him, to let them understand what

Seattle has won only nine of its last 33 games in Anaheim, where the Angels will send Jerome Williams to the mound Tuesday night against Mariners right-hander Aaron Harang.

Seattle opens OTAs with off-field distractions Associated Press Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Updated 4:19 pm, Monday, May 20, 2013 (AP) — Pete Carroll and the Seattle Seahawks started organized team activities on Monday with very little talk about anything that took place on the field. Carroll gave a lengthy opening statement after Seattle's first OTA workout, addressing head on the recent off-field problems that have put some of his players in the headlines. The bad news for Seattle started last Friday when defensive end Bruce Irvin was suspended for the first four games of the 2013 season after testing positive for performance enhancing substances. Seattle's already finding itself under increased scrutiny because of last season's success and offseason moves that have left the Seahawks a popular choice to contend for a spot in the Super Bowl. Irvin became the fifth Seattle player to be suspended for using banned substances since 2011, a troubling trend. Irvin will be eligible to participate in all offseason activities and preseason practices and games, but will be suspended without pay for the opening four games at Carolina, home for San Francisco and Jacksonville and at Houston. Irvin will be eligible to return to Seattle's active roster on Sept. 30 following the Seahawks' Week 4 game against the Texans. According to a report from the Washington State Patrol, Portis was arrested on May 5 after he was pulled over for driving 80 mph in a 60 mph zone on Interstate 90.

I thought this was pretty great - Via GoSeattleSeaHawks12 (really great Seahawks YouTube Channel, by the way): The EMP Museum was having an event to recognize the history of video games. The final night was Game Nite and a few Seahawks showed up for the party. Richard Sherman, KJ Wright, Bobby Wagner, Doug Baldwin and Chris Maragos. They played each other at Madden and a lucky fan got to play Bobby Wagner. I won. It was an epic start to an epic night. Richard Sherman provides commentary for the games he doesn't. The order went Maragos vs KJ, Sherm vs Baldy, me vs Wagner, Sherm vs KJ. Sherm picked off Baldy 5 times. 3 were pick 6s - KJ beat Maragos, Sherm beat Baldy, Sherm beat KJ.

A recap of the activities at Virginia Mason Athletic Center for May 20, as the Seahawks kicked off the OTA portion of their offseason program: FOCUS ON Russell Wilson. The Seahawks’ second-year quarterback made it difficult to not watch him, and coach Pete Carroll summed up the situation when asked how much farther along Wilson […]