Seahawks camp day 8: DK Metcalf, Tre Brown go at it; Sam Howell’s day; multiple injuries

The Seahawks are seeing what life is like without Geno Smith — far sooner than they expected and wanted to.

Sam Howell was the starting quarterback in practice for the second consecutive day at Seattle’s training camp Thursday. The 23-year-old Washington Commanders quarterback last season ran the first-team offense while Smith, 33, awaited imaging tests on his injured knee and hip scheduled for Thursday night.

Howell threw consecutive touchdown passes to DK Metcalf. Those were expertly placed passes in a red-zone, 11-on-11 scrimmage.

On Howell’s first score to Metcalf, he threw the ball over 5-foot-10 cornerback Tre Brown along the right sideline of the end zone, to where only the 6-4 Metcalf could catch it. He tapped the ball to himself over Brown’s helmet.

On the next play Howell threw a dart away from the trailing Brown onto Metcalf’s chest as the big receiver ran across the back of the end zone.

The QB has looked sharper this week than he was while throwing erratically the first four practices of camp. But the practice Thursday didn’t end as well for Howell, who also had his receivers drop passes throughout the day.

Tre Brown’s big plays

Brown got redemption to end the day, at Howell’s and Metcalf’s expense.

Brown jumped a short, in route by Metcalf on a ball Howell threw inside in an apparent miscommunication with Metcalf. Brown returned that for a touchdown, then punted the ball out of the end zone to celebrate.

Metcalf came over to Howell after the play to talk to him.

Brown was the left cornerback and Devon Witherspoon was inside as the nickel back. The practice began as most of this week has gone, with Witherspoon outside at left cornerback and Artie Burns at nickel.

On the next series, top pass rusher Uchenna Nwosu crashed in on Howell off the edge and knocked the ball free from the quarterback for a lost fumble.

And on the final play of the practice, a two-point conversion try, Brown jumped to bat away Howell’s throw to Metcalf on a fade route past the goal line along the left sideline. Brown defiantly unsnapped his chin strap, yanked off his helmet and preened in front of his roaring defensive teammates.

“It was great to see him make a play at the end,” coach Mike Macdonald said of Brown. “It was tied, so I asked the guys if they wanted to do a two-point play for the win — and they unanimously all said yes.

“So, we threw the fade ball, and he made a great play.”

Macdonald sounded pleased with Howell’s day playing for Smith. Wednesday was technically the first day replacing the injured Smith, but it was a walk-through practice in T-shirts.

“He’s great. Guy stepped in, did a great job,” Macdonald said of Howell in practice Thursday. “Operated the offense, moved the ball. Got it out sometimes, took a couple sacks. But there’s a big third-down pressure day sort of thing, so the guys they saw a pretty good gamut of stuff.

“Good to see him in and out of the protections and operations and stuff. Looked good, you know. We’ll see on tape and see what we want to go fix moving forward.”

Wide receivers drop, give ‘em 10

Metcalf from Howell, Cody White from third quarterback P.J. Walker and other wide receivers dropped passes throughout practice.

After Macdonald called the team together to conclude practice then released the players from the midfield huddle, the receivers formed a circle on the field. Then they dropped to the prone position and did a couple of sets of 10 push-ups while still in full pads.

The fans about 30 yards away massing along the sideline for post-practice autographs chanted “One! Two! Three!...” counting out the players’ repetitions.

Injury report

The injuries are starting to pile up eight practices into training camp.

While Smith has been out the last two days, so has his center. Starter Olu Oluwatimi has missed the last two practices with a triceps injury. Macdonald said the team expects Oluwatimi back on the field working Friday, likely snapping to Howell. Smith is likely to miss at least another practice.

Dre’mont Jones missed his fifth consecutive practice since he injured his hamstring Friday colliding with a teammate in the middle of the field away from the ball during a scrimmage. Macdonald has said it’s a minor injury.

“No update from Dre’Mont Jones,” the head coach said Thursday. “Still all positive, but no update.”

Fellow defensive end Mike Morris returned to practice. He missed two days with an elbow issue.

Cornerback Mike Jackson missed practice for the first time in camp.

“Just nicked up right now. I think he had a couple tests done,” Macdonald said. “Not sure on the timetable.”

Edge-rushing linebacker Darrell Taylor missed practice with what Macdonald described vaguely, NHL style as “a lower-body” injury.

“Working through some stuff,” Macdonald said of Taylor.

NFL officials visit

NFL game officials made their annual visit to training camp, as they do in mini-crews to each of the 32 teams in the league each August.

The officiating crew led by referee and 25-year veteran Carl Cheffers met with the media before practice then Seahawks players and coaches in a team meeting following practice. They explained this season’s new rules and points of emphasis.

The biggest ones: the new kickoff rule putting the kicking and receiving teams in the receiving end of the field only 5 yards apart, and the new penalty for a hip-throw tackle the league is trying to get out of the game.

Macdonald had the Seahawks do sequences to practice the crew as much as themselves, such as a pass completion down the field by the offense then the field-goal unit rushing onto the field to the line of scrimmage to get a kick off before the game clock expired.

Macdonald also had Cheffers and his crew explain to the players using film review the penalties they called during the practice Thursday.

“It’s great, just to work with those guys,” Macdonald said. “And you saw us try to get to a bunch of situations where we work together on things and see how they see plays. We’ll go watch some penalties here in the team meeting and get their two cents on it, on why they called what they called. Y

“Yeah, it’s just great to see them, catch up. We’ll talk about the kickoff rule. They’ll watch the reps (from practice), they’ll give us feedback on what they see. So it’s great to have them in town.”