RENTON, Wash. — And so it begins.
After training camp, preseason and a three-day break, the Seahawks returned to the practice field at the VMAC on Monday afternoon to begin preparations for a regular-season game that figures to be as highly hyped — and fraught with magnified but also conflicting emotions — as any in team history.
In case you haven't heard, the Seahawks open their 47th regular season next Monday at Lumen Field against the Denver Broncos and Russell Wilson, a return of a legendary Seattle sports figure on par — if not topping — those of Alex Rodriguez in 2000 and Ken Griffey Jr. in 2007 and for those with longer memories, that of Lenny Wilkens in 1972, to name a few.
It'll happen on "Monday Night Football" of the opening weekend of the season, a game ESPN is thought to have aggressively pursued to debut its new broadcast team of Joe Buck, Troy Aikman and Erin Andrews, which it pilfered away from Fox this offseason hoping to make MNF again as marquee of a weekly event as any in the NFL.
Not that Seattle coach Pete Carroll on Monday seemed too enthusiastic to discuss the Wilson-return storyline that figures to dominate the week and the broadcast — and the feelings of the 69,000 or so who will be in attendance.
Asked how he'll approach the week facing a quarterback with whom he has such a long history, Carroll said, "I do have as much information as you can have. I've probably never known a player any closer than knowing Russ, his quarterbacking, and his playing and his mentality and all of that. He knows me, too. He knows us. So, we'll see what happens."
What most outside Seattle expect to happen is a triumphant return for Wilson, who was traded on March 8.
As of late Monday afternoon, VegasInsider.com listed Denver as being as much as a 6.5-point favorite.
That would be the biggest spread against the Seahawks in a home game since the fifth week of the 2018 season when the Rams were a 7-point favorite — a span of 30 home games.
The last time Seattle was as comparable of an underdog in any game came in a Monday night at San Francisco in November 2019 when the Seahawks were 6.5-point underdogs (and if you're looking for a happy omen, Seattle won that game 27-24).
The spread is illustrative of the national view that the Seahawks are going to struggle without Wilson and that Denver is going to thrive with him.
That was a topic — the idea that expectations for the Seahawks are low — Carroll seemed much happier to discuss.
"I'm really excited about this team," Carroll said. "I love the makeup. I love the way that they've come together from way back when. I love the leadership. I love the speed. I love our style in all aspects. And now we need to go out and show it and live up to that. My expectations are very high."
Reminded that even general manager John Schneider said last week that the Seahawks used to be the chased and now are the chasers, Carroll responded defiantly.
"I don't feel like that at all," Carroll said. "Man, I don't feel like any part of any of that is what's true other than the fact that's what people think. I'm not in that business, now. I'm in the business of helping these guys get ready to play and of the work that we do and all of the mentality and the culture and the environment that we're in. We've been averaging 10 wins a year for the last 20-something years (including his time at USC from 2001-09). You think I could think anything different than that? I don't. I don't see any reason my expectation should change at all. I don't care what anybody says. People have been saying stuff about teams for years. They don't know. They're just guessing at this point. And then we go and prove it."
But if Carroll may hope to try to downplay the Wilson-returning-angle this week, he is fully embracing the rest of what comes with a prime-time matchup — the first time the Seahawks have ever opened a season on "Monday Night Football."
Seattle is hosting Denver as part of the NFL's schedule rotation. Denver was last here in 2014 and depending on how the rotations work out for the 17th game might not be here again until 2030, possibly making this the only time Wilson would return with the Broncos.
That the game would be the season opener on a Monday night, though, wasn't set until May 12.
What was Carroll's reaction?
"I thought it was awesome," he said.
As Carroll noted, it's a setting in which the Seahawks have generally prospered — they are 27-12 all-time on Monday night, the best record in the NFL, and 11-4 under Carroll. Seattle, though, is just 4-4 in its past eight on MNF and 0-2 a year ago (0-1 in games with Wilson).
"I like this game, this matchup and this challenge to make sure we understand the principles and how you deal with it," Carroll said. "So, this game isn't different than any other game, but yet it's the biggest game we'll ever play (because) it's the only one we got. It is championship game time. The setting will be that, the players will feel that and sense that with all the buildup to the game, Monday night, and the whole thing. And we need to deal with it really well and handle it really well.
"That means we play like we are capable. And that's a lot harder than it seems. And we've counted on the consistency in these settings for a long time. One of the things that helps us is I think our mentality and guys know how to handle it and they'll deal with it well. We'll see, this is a great challenge. They have the same challenge we got. We've got to do it better than them."
