Wyman: Why Seahawks’ joint practices were so valuable

Under new head coach Mike Macdonald, the Seattle Seahawks shook things up this week and traveled to Nashville for a pair of joint practices with the Tennessee Titans on Wednesday and Thursday ahead of the teams’ preseason matchup on Saturday.

What Wyman saw at Seahawks’ first joint practice with Titans

Other NFL teams have regularly taken part in joint practices over the years, but this was a rarity for the Seahawks. The last time they participated in a joint practice was 1991, when they hosted the Atlanta Falcons for a scrimmage in Portland.

Seahawks color commentator and former NFL linebacker Dave Wyman was on hand for both of the joint practices in Nashville and came away very impressed. In fact, he thinks the two practices may have been even more valuable than a preseason game.

“I’ll bet if you ask the coaches, they say that this is better, because you can control it,” Wyman said Thursday on Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob. “You can go to the other coach and say, ‘Hey, do you mind if we extend this period?’ … Once a game starts, it takes off and goes its own direction. And these are an opportunity to work on specific things. It could not be a better, more useful tool for Mike Macdonald.”

Wyman said the collaborative nature of joint practices creates an ideal setting to work on a wide variety of situations.

“They get such good work done,” Wyman said. “The coaches get together and they’re like, ‘Hey, we want to help each other out.’ (The Seahawks) are not playing the Titans this year. You don’t really care about that. You’re kind of collaborating on like, ‘I’d like to get this done. What about this? What about that?’

“All these situations that come up (in a game), you can practice,” he added. “And then they can pause it. … You can go, ‘Hey, can we do this over? Can we do that?’ It’s really been very useful. I think it’s a brilliant move by the Seahawks to come down here and have these kinds of practices.”

Wyman also said that after facing the same teammates over and over again in training camp, there’s a benefit to squaring off against players from another team.

“You get kind of used to going against a guy that you’ve faced dozens of times – practice after practice after practice,” Wyman said. “Like taking on guards, for example, I knew what (former Seahawks guards) Bryan Millard and Edwin Bailey were going to do, because we’d gone against each other for three weeks.

“And now all of a sudden, you get somebody new that shows you a little bit of a different technique. So it’s really valuable in that way.”

More on the Seattle Seahawks

• How Seahawks’ Riq Woolen separates himself from other big CBs
• Why insider ‘cannot wait’ to see Geno Smith in Ryan Grubb’s scheme
• Can Seahawks’ Kenneth Walker III be a top-five RB?
• Why Seahawks rookie Byron Murphy II already has insiders raving
• Insider: Seattle Seahawks have an unheralded DB who could break out

Follow @CameronVanTil