After the injury downings of icons Drew Brees and Ben Roethlisberger, which followed the surprise retirement of the Colts' Andrew Luck, quarterback longevity is the raging topic of the early NFL season. The casualty rate across the league is so high that two former Washington State quarterbacks, Gardner Minshew and Luke Falk, have risen to starting jobs with the Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Jets.

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For fans tee-heeing over the alleged good fortune in the Seahawks catching the Saints Sunday without QB Drew Brees almost for the first time since New Orleans was still property of France, here's some advice: Stifle yourselves.

The last time his backup, Teddy Bridgewater, met the Seahawks, he out-played Russell Wilson. His team, the Minnesota Vikings, should have won the 2016 playoff game.

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Since 2004, New Orleans all-world QB Drew Brees has missed four games, three because the Saints had clinched their playoff berth and didn't need to risk injury. In 2015, a shoulder injury kept him out of week 3.

His second injury absence will be Sunday at the Clink, when the 2-0 Seahawks at 1:25 p.m. host the 1-1 Saints led by backup QB Teddy Bridgewater, who looked close to terrible in a 27-9 loss to the Rams Sunday in Los Angeles.

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The coincidence of Pete Carroll's 68th birthday made for an easy storyline. What may prove a more noteworthy narrative in 2019 is whether a successful Seahawks season was born Sunday at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, where the young guys learned how a championship mindset works.

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If pro football were the PGA Tour, Quinton Jefferson's career to this point would be one long scramble in local qualifiers to earn the last spot in the weekly field. But Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals, it was as if he won the tournament, and discovered the next tourney is on his home course.

The Seahawks play the Steelers Sunday at Heinz Field in his hometown.

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After quarterback and linebacker, the one position unit the Seahawks were all in on for 2019 was the offensive line. But after the first game Sunday, the Seahawks might want to claw back a chip or two.

Neither in run-blocking nor pass protection did the line distinguish itself, helping account for a modest 233 yards of total offense and the biggest disappointment in the unexpectedly tight 21-20 win over the Cincinnati Bengals, 4-12 last season.

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The Seahawks Sunday had the great good fortune to be facing one of the more notorious non-finishers in the NFL. Cincinnati QB Andy Dalton has an uncanny way of starting the race in a Lamborghini and finishing in a Corvair. Which, truth to tell, is the main reason the Seahawks are not 0-1 after losing at home to a 9½-point underdog.

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If you have thrown a stick for a young Labrador retriever, then you know the exuberance of Pete Carroll in the first week of the NFL regular season. All things are possible. Joy and light abound. The world is written in exclamation points, underscores, italics and boldface.

And pleasepleaseplease throw the stick again.

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After the Seahawks over the weekend went 1-0 to start the NFL season with the acquisition of DE Jadeveon Clowney, the next personnel question arises: Who catches passes besides  Tyler Lockett?

Presumably, general manager John Schneider's first remark figures to be: Hold my beer.

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Pete Carroll isn't necessarily an impulse shopper. But I wouldn't want to be behind him in  the grocery store check-out line when he spots the candy bars, breath mints and National Enquirers.

The Seahawks coach does like his shiny objects, especially when they come with exclamation points.

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If there is such a thing as a last chance to make a good first impression, LB Ben Burr-Kervin patented the trick Thursday night at the Clink.

After an injury-hampered start to his Seahawks career, the former University of Washington All-America linebacker embraced a final chance, watering up the eyes of the Oakland Raiders as if he were tear gas.

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The good news for fans Tuesday from Seahawks camp was that DE Ziggy Ansah, the heralded free agent signee destined to fix a flaccid pass rush, made it to his first Seattle practice.

The bad news was that two more members of the 2017 draft class, WR Amara Darboh and DT Nazair Jones, won't be part of the team, meaning only three from that group are apparently certain to start in the Sept. 8 opener: CB Shaquill Griffin, FS Tedric Thompson and RB Chris Carson.

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Keeping in mind that the Los Angeles Chargers' star QB Philip Rivers had no part in the festivities, the Seahawks had themselves a revelatory romp Saturday night in Carson, CA. They appear to have confirmed a backup QB, embraced a boatload of talent at running back and are developing a defense capable of covering some of its talent deficiencies with a flashy package of blitzes.

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Aside from the usual passel of injuries that afflict every NFL team in August, the Seahawks have had a mostly quiet preseason. No holdouts, no real fights, few starting position contests or strategy shifts, and no off-field dramas or orations like those from the provocateurs of yesteryear, such as Marshawn Lynch, Richard Sherman or Michael Bennett.

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Disjointed as was the game Saturday night, the post-game delivered its own clank when Seahawks coach Pete Carroll disclosed that prized rookie WR DK Metcalf will need surgery to fix a knee problem that kept him out of the Seahawks' 25-19 exhibition loss (box) in Minneapolis. Carroll, however, said the surgery isn't major, and held out hope that Metcalf could return as soon as the Sept. 8 opener.

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When the Seahawks defense dials up a blitz for a cornerback or a safety, to say the DBs get fired up . . . it's a little like finding out Beyonce is suddenly single.

"I was definitely excited when I heard that call," said DeShawn Shead.  "Anytime we get a chance to get after the quarterback, we take it like getting a pick. We enjoy the opportunity."

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Mock, if you must, the NFL exhibition season. Go ahead and call fake football the worst full-price thing on the national sports calendar. Besides the fake football of the Pro Bowl, I mean.

The cruel rhetoric cannot shield the bright light of truth that was seen Thursday night at the Clink. I'm pleased to say I was there when Paxton Lynch rose from mud and leaves to overtake Russell Wilson as Seahawks quarterback, and stepped over the carcass of his former team to do it.

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Since the Seahawks the past season transformed from one of the NFL's worst rushing teams to its best, making for a potent offense -- over the final half of the regular season, the Seahawks averaged 30 points a game, trailing only Kansas City (34) and the Los Angeles Rams (32.6) -- the 2019 course should be obvious.

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BOTHELL -- Not that he doesn't have enough records already, but Russell Wilson accumulated an odd one Saturday afternoon -- the most effort to get to a football game at Bothell High School.

In a departure from training camp custom, that's where the Seahawks played their mock game. Wilson's route to sold-out Pop Keeney Stadium, not far from Lake Washington's north shore, went through Virginia.

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Turns out L.J. Collier's injury is one for the (medical) books.

A sprain coach Pete Carroll Thursday called "rare" will keep the first-round draft choice out indefinitely and cause the Seahawks to scrounge the marketplace for something else also rare -- a decent rush end who is unemployed.

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