Seahawks’ Williams thinking of his former teammate Tagovailoa

When Tua Tagovailoa crumbled to the ground and rolled over, his hands seized into a fencing posture, again, the Seahawk who best knows him shuddered.

“I mean, it was awful,” Connor Williams said at his locker this week, before he and his Seahawks (2-0) practiced to play his former Miami Dolphins (1-1) Sunday at Lumen Field (1:05 p.m., channel 7).

Williams was Tagovailoa’s center the last two seasons in Miami. He’s seen up close what he saw on television from 3,300 miles away last week: The Dolphins’ quarterback sustaining the third confirmed concussion of his five-year NFL career.

At the end of a scramble run in a game against Buffalo, Tagovailoa dived head-first. His head awkwardly struck the abdomen of Bills safety Damar Hamlin.

Tagovailoa laid on the ground for several minutes after the hit but was able to walk off the field on his own.

The Dolphins put him on injured reserve this week. The first game he will miss is Sunday in Seattle.

Williams enters this game against his former team thinking of his former quarterback he snapped to in 2022 and ‘23, plus of Tagovailoa’s wife and their young children.

“Definitely with his history…I mean, just prayers out for him, his family, you know?” Williams said.

“Just wishing the best for him. And just, prayers for him and the best decision. I mean, he will make the best decision for him and his family, and whatever he feels is best moving forward.”

Skylar Thompson starts vs. Seahawks

Tagovailoa on injured reserve means the Seahawks will be facing Dolphins backup Skylar Thompson on Sunday.

This will be the fourth start of the 27-year-old Thompson’s three-year career. Miami drafted him in the seventh round in 2022 out of Kansas State. Those NFL starts include a playoff game for the Dolphins at Buffalo Jan. 15, 2023. Thompson was 18 for 45 passing with a touchdown, two interceptions and four sacks in Miami’s 34-31 loss in the wild-card round two seasons ago.

Williams was Thompson’s center that day.

“He’s a great player,” Williams said. “I mean, he obviously did great at K-State, and the times he did step in (for Tagovailoa in Miami) he held the team well.”

Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said his team’s study of the nine NFL games Thompson has played and his three previous starts shows he holds the ball longer than Tagovailoa does before throwing it.

Last season Tagovailoa averaged 2.36 seconds before his throws. That was the fastest time in the league. Thompson has averaged 3.04 seconds in his nine games played.

For context, the longest time to throw on average in the NFL this season is 3.11, by Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts. So Thompson has taken almost as long as any regular starting quarterback in the league to throw.

“He’s willing to keep the ball a little bit longer than Tua. Tua was playing really fast and the ball comes out pretty quickly on time, on target,” Macdonald said. “(Thompson has) the same ability to do those things, but I’d say the ability also if you add the extended play to that element, that’s something that you have to take into account probably more so than with Tua.”

That means Seattle’s best players, their cornerbacks Devon Witherspoon and Riq Woolen, presumably will have to cover Hill and Waddle longer with Thompson throwing to them Sunday than if Tagovailoa was.

Then again, the Dolphins will have studied the Seahawks having the best passer-pressure rate in the league through two games. So perhaps Miami coach Mike McDaniel will have Thompson throwing more quickly than he has yet in an NFL game.

As for the zooming offense McDaniel, the former offensive coordinator with the San Francisco 49ers, has in Miami, it’s fast no matter who is at quarterback.

Tyreek Hill is regarded as one of the two fastest players in the league. Fellow Dolphins wide receiver Jaylen Waddle has been clocked at 21.8 mph running in an NFL game. Raheem Mostert, currently injured, is perhaps the league’s fastest running back.

The Seahawks’ challenge on defense Sunday is to keep up with the Dolphins, particularly in the “cheat” motion they do just before the snap: short lateral moves to get Hill and Waddle in more advantageous positions on defenders.

“Mike’s obviously got a special mind,” Williams said, “and he has a knack for (play calling). He brought San Fran to Miami, but with his own, special twist on it. He’s always got a little special (package to) dial up, and everything.”

McDaniel uses his Dolphins’ speed and cheat motion to attack the edges of defenses.

Seattle’s edges are hurting.

Uchenna Nwosu remains out with a sprained knee he got in the final preseason game Aug. 24. Opposite starting outside linebacker Boye Mafe, the team’s sack leader with two through two games, practiced Thursday for the first time since he injured his knee late in the New England game last weekend.

Derick Hall, recently acquired Trevis Gipson and converted defensive end Dre’Mont Jones are playing more at outside linebacker for Seattle through two games.

Connor Williams in Seattle’s offense

Williams signed with Seattle as a free agent last month. Miami let him go after he tore his anterior cruciate ligament last December in what became his final game for the Dolphins.

Thursday was one month to the day of his first Seahawks practice. He’s still learning the entire playbook of Seattle offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb. He’s still learning his teammates. He knows Tagovailoa better than he knows his current quarterback, Geno Smith.

Yet he’s been starting since the first snap of the opening game, Sept. 8 against Denver.

On the second play, Williams got beaten up the middle. Smith got hit and threw an interception. The Broncos got a field goal and lead minutes into the season.

Macdonald said Williams improved greatly from that debut to last weekend, Seattle’s 23-20 overtime win at New England.

“I thought he played well for what we asked him to do and how fast he ramped up,” Macdonald said. “If you ask him, he’s probably frustrated a little bit about how he played the first game. I thought it was pretty dang good. And then I thought you saw a big jump into the second game.

“So if we can stay on that trend, we’ll be cooking.”

Williams, 27, knows this season is a work on progress. For him, and for the entire offensive line that’s struggled in Seattle’s first two games.

“I mean, it’s been about a month (since I got here), and it’s a long season,” Williams said. “So I’d say we’re in the early phases of it.

“But it’s just head down and one day at a time. And just continue to get better and improving week by week.”