John Moffitt on the competiton at right guard and more

By Brady Henderson

The John Stockton-style short shorts that John Moffitt has been wearing during training camp suggest the Seahawks right guard is more fashion backward than fashion forward.

He can still appreciate a trendy wardrobe, though, and he drew some hearty laughter when he lead off his interview with “Brock and Danny” on Wednesday with some comments about Danny O’Neil’s duds.

Then it was on to more serious matters. Sort of.

John Moffitt is battling J.R. Sweezy to be Seattle’s starting right guard. (AP)

Friendly competition. It would be natural to assume there’s at least some animosity between Moffitt and J.R. Sweezy, who are competing with each other to be Seattle’s starting right guard.

Not so, according to Moffitt.

“I just try to go about it as professionally as possible, you know what I mean? If it was like the business, corporate world, I’d try to extort J.R. or do something like that and set him up, but it’s not, it’s honest athletics,” Moffitt said. “He’s one of my good friends on the team. He still comes over, hangs out. When we’re in, we’re just competing.”

Sweezy made an unusually quick transition from college defensive tackle and started three games at guard as a rookie last season. Moffitt made six starts and missed eight games due to elbow and knee injuries.

When asked to compare their skill sets, Moffitt said he’s more advanced in terms of technique but conceded that Sweezy has the advantage athletically.

Wilson loosening up. Teammates have jokingly referred to quarterback Russell Wilson as “The President” because of his professional manner. “The Robot” is another of Wilson’s nicknames, a reference to the precision with which he operates and his sometimes mechanical responses to questions from media members. Moffitt agreed that Wilson is showing a lighter side as he enters his second season.

“He’s loosening up, which is good, and then joking around and stuff like that,” Moffitt said.

The latest edition of “The Real Rob Report” offers a less filtered look at Wilson’s interactions with his teammates. In one scene, he’s showing off his impeccably organized locker while laughing with Michael Robinson and Jermaine Kearse.

“I think last year he was so businesslike and everything like that, he had to get it done and everything, and I think now he’s still on that course but he has gotten a year [under his belt], he’s been around us and that whole thing,” Moffitt said.

Breaking opponents’ will. Quit is a four-letter word in sports in general and football in particular, which is more of a test of will than most other athletic competitions. That makes it notable what Moffitt said when asked if he’s noticed times when the Seahawks have broken a team’s will.

“I think even early on last year, the Cowboys game, I thought we broke down their D-line. I thought it happened a bunch of times throughout the season,” Moffitt said before referencing a pair of late-season blowout wins over two divisional opponents. “Arizona – geez – Arizona last time we played them. I didn’t play [against the 49ers in Week 16] but I watched San Fran, I saw them just quit towards the end of the year, that last game.”

Moffitt said that’s a product of offensive-line coach Tom Cable’s blocking scheme and its tendency to wear down opponents.

“That is Tom Cable’s system, and when you stick to that and you try to run the ball like we run it, it’s gonna happen because defending that, for defensive lines, it’s just tough football to play a full game of, a full four quarters,” he said.