Seahawks’ Darrell Bevell on Graham: ‘We want Jimmy involved in our offense’

RENTON – Only one catch on two targets wasn’t the way Seahawks tight end Jimmy Graham wanted to finish Sunday’s loss to Green Bay.

It isn’t what offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell had in mind, either.

Reiterating what coach Pete Carroll said earlier in the week, Bevell made it clear when he met with the media on Wednesday that Graham’s lack of impact against Green Bay wasn’t a product of the play-calling.

Video: Darrell Bevell says no ‘big changes’ for Seahawks offense

“There’s a lot of things that go into it,” Bevell said. “There’s plays where he’s targeted, there’s plays where he’s the primary target and the ball goes elsewhere, guys do different things in coverage, the quarterback looks a different way, protection breaks down and can’t hang on to it long enough. So there’s so many things. I’m not just going to sit here and point out one thing. Is there an emphasis to try to get Jimmy the ball? We want Jimmy involved in our offense. There’s no question about it. We want him to make catches. We know that he’ll do great things for us.”

Asked what Graham could be doing differently or better to help matters, Bevell said: “He doesn’t have to change anything.”

For all the hand-wringing over Graham’s usage or lack thereof, it was really only an issue against Green Bay. After all, he made six catches for 51 yards and a touchdown in Seattle’s opener, which Bevell pointed out. But it has nonetheless become a national story, with some reports stating that Graham is frustrated with his role so far in Seattle’s offense. Bevell acknowledged that Graham is frustrated, but not for that reason.

“I think he’s frustrated that we’re 0-2,” Bevell said, “not frustrated that he’s not getting the ball. I have a great relationship with him. I have a great relationship with all the wideouts. I want to communicate with them. I want to talk to them. I want to know how they’re feeling. I talk to them all the time about, ‘Hey, let’s communicate. If you see something that’s working out there or see that you’ve set something up, let’s talk about it.’ So there’s open lines of communication, and the same with Jimmy. We talked about it today. He just wants to win. He’s an ultimate competitor. If you say frustrated, he’s frustrated we’re 0-2, not that he only had one catch. Does he want to be involved in it? Sure he does. He wants to be involved because if he’s making plays, we’re being successful. The same can be said for a lot of other guys.”

Graham’s integration into the Seahawks’ offense is still a work in progress, as is his chemistry with quarterback Russell Wilson. Bevell acknowledged that one area where that can improve is with Wilson trusting that Graham can use his 6-foot-7 frame to snag passes in tight windows even when he doesn’t appear to be completely open.

“For sure,” Bevell said. “We’ve seen a lot of opportunities to do that in practice, and he’s taken some of those opportunities. Sometimes you just have to feel it out, you have to learn. I talk to him all the time about throwing some of those balls in practice to kind of feel it out – what is he, where can you throw the ball, what kind of throws can you make to him, what kind of catches can he make.”

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