Oakland Preview
Sep 2, 2009, 8:37 AM | Updated: Apr 4, 2011, 7:51 pm
by Brock Huard
Mike Teel, welcome to Max Unger’s world. I expect Teel to play aplenty Thursday night and it wouldn’t surprise me if he starts and plays most of this game. This will be a big game for the former Rutger’s QB for a couple of reasons:
1. Teel is not just competing with Jeff Rowe for the final QB spot but also against anybody who may become available after final cuts around the league.
2. I believe Greg Knapp wants to get Seneca on the field in some capacity this season and he’d feel much better if Teel handled this game like a pro.
3. Lastly, there are 4 WR’s on this team who desperately want the 5th, and possibly final, WR spot for 2009. Expect those guys to treat this game like their Super Bowl and I am sure Teel wants to do his part to see his teammates shine.
There are of course many other storylines outside the 3rd QB job, and they also center around intense competition for a final roster spot. Outside of WR, the DL position is incredibly muddied. I believe the locks are Kerney, Mebane, Cole, Redding, Bryant, Tapp, Terrill and Jackson. What about Nick Reed and Baraka Atkins? Michael Bennett has flashed from the 3 technique as well. Can Bennett and Reed possibly slip through waivers and onto the Hawks practice squad? Will Atkins, who has played his best football as a Hawk in this camp, be the odd man out? I believe he will, mostly because his limitations in special teams and because Nick Reed is a technician whose skill set far outweighs his physical limitations.
Regardless of the outcome Thursday, Tim Ruskell and his staff will have a very difficult job Friday putting this puzzle together. Walter Jones and Marcus Trufant don’t help matters, nor does Chris Spencer and his torn thigh. There are a number of players on this roster who will be cut and will land elsewhere, I am sure of that. But from the kicker, to the 5th WR, to the 8th DL, there are key contributors who will anxiously be waiting for that phone “not to ring†Friday and Saturday in hopes their contributions will still be here in Seattle.
