Other problems should be so sweet for Seahawks

Published on September 18, 2010 by Seahawks.Com News (Feed)     

Maybe adding a 6-foot-7, 340-pound body inside will help the Seattle Seahawks get a push in the run game on Sunday against the Denver Broncos.

It certainly can’t hurt, as recent acquisition Stacy Andrews, whom the Seahawks received in a trade with Philadelphia, will get his first start in Denver.

Andrews, 29, replaces Max Unger, who went on the season-ending injured-reserve list this week with severe turf toe that will require surgery. In his seventh season, Andrews is no stranger to the starting lineup, having started 34 career games in stints with Cincinnati and the Eagles.

“He did fine,” Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll said about Andrews’ play this week. “He’s a very, very good pass protector and he’s going to help us in that regard. He’s got to just learn all the calls and stuff to do a nice job with the running game.”

The Seahawks initially brought Andrews in to compete for time at right tackle with Sean Locklear. But once Unger went down, Andrews became a veteran player who could step right in because of his experience.

“You would like to be able to keep him at tackle,” Hawks offensive line coach Art Valero said. “And that was our goal originally to bring him in there, but he does have some guard play in his background, so to move him inside isn’t foreign for him.

“If all your players looked like that, it’d be great. He’s a good-looking kid, and he’s got long arms and he’s strong. And he’s athletic and there’s a tremendous upside to him.”

Carroll said left tackle Tyler Polumbus will get his second start at left tackle. Polumbus will face the team that cut him a little over two weeks ago in Denver.

Polumbus and Andrews are part of Seattle’s juggling act up front. For the third straight season, the Seahawks made changes to the lineup on the offensive line because of injuries, affecting the team’s overall performance.

Seattle used six different starting offensive line combinations last year and five in 2008, both losing seasons for the franchise.

But in 2007, Seattle started just two different o-line combinations. Floyd “Pork Chop” Womack played for Walter Jones in the last game of the year, a meaningless 44-41 loss on the road to Atlanta.

Seattle finished 10-6 that year and lost to Green Bay in the second round of the NFC playoffs.

“It’s going to take us a while to really get together the way we want to as the changes have occurred,” Carroll said. “And it’ll continue – as I think about it – it’ll continue all the way through until Russell (Okung) returns and we get Chester (Pitts) back in there working with us.

“So this is going to be a work in progress for some time now, and hopefully we can put together a good game this weekend.”

Tags: Art Valero, Career Games, coach pete carroll, Denver Broncos, Injured Reserve, Juggling Act, Line Combinations, Offensive Line Coach, Polumbus, Pound Body, Run Game, Running Game, seahawks head, Sean Locklear, SEATTLE SEAHAWKS, Stacy Andrews, Straight Season, Turf Toe, Valero, Veteran Player