Earl Thomas ended the hold so as not to lose the Seahawks' game controls

Earl Thomas was clear.

Also clear on why he returned to the Seahawks to play in their first game in Denver, that is, he wrote online last week about "disrespect" when he just stopped at the end.

"My agent and I talked about it," said Thomas after his interception in Seattle's 27-24 loss to the Broncos, his first game of the final year of his $ 40 million deal. holdout looking for a new rich contract four days ago.

"We realized that I had a lot of money at stake, and I could not just throw it away.

"So, basically, I decided to come back. I'm glad I did.

There is nothing new to be part of this Seahawks team. Nothing to direct.

That was pretty much what his holdout was about. Each match check for Thomas this season is worth $ 500,000, 1/17 of his $ 8.5 million salary in 2018. As long as he would hold on, he would not be getting $ 500,000 a week.

It was going to accumulate quickly.

In June, he declared that he would not return until the Seahawks granted him an extension to the top of the NFL market – Eric Berry, his classmate of 2010, won $ 13 million a year with $ 40 million guaranteed. year of Kansas City – or traded it.

Neither has arrived. Yet he is there.

He was asked Sunday in the Mile High Stadium dressing room if he could put that behind him and play his contract with the free agency in March. Can he put aside the lack of respect he feels without a doubt?

"I will try to do my best," replied Thomas. "I will try to progress. I have a good team behind me.

Do you still want to stay in Seattle, be here?

"They want me, yes," Thomas said.

He said of his contractual situation "during the game, I do not think about it. I'm having fun with B-Mac (the locker neighbor and new security partner Bradley McDougald, Kam Chancellor's replacement this season) and the guys. So, yes, I do not think about it during the game.

"When I'm constantly asked about it, yes, so it goes through my head."

Thomas said his Seahawks teammates "were happy to come back with open arms" on Wednesday when he reported them and joined them for the first time since the 2017 season finale on December 31st.

"It was a smooth process," he said. "Coaches have welcomed me with open arms. It was a learning curve when trying to pick up all the new things. "

That's his eight different beginners in defense and the new plans of Ken Norton Jr., who replaced Kris Richard, Seattle's defensive coordinator, over the past eight months.

In total, Thomas said he enjoyed his return match on Sunday. Unofficially, he played 62 of the 72 Seattle defensive pressures. Coach Pete Carroll said it was more than he would like Thomas to play for the first time. Tedric Thompson replaced Thomas for the start of two discs, once in the first half and once in the fourth quarter. Denver scored the tie for the first time and the winner was eliminated for the second time.

Thomas's defense value showed that Norton restarted it in the fourth quarter when the Broncos quickly reached the Seahawks' 36-yard line. Thomas could not stop a 15-yard foul on Dion Jordan after a reception in Denver. This allowed the Broncos to join the Seattle 4. Case Keenum threw a touchdown pass to the next game, winning points in the final score of 27-24.

Thomas had an interception that set Seattle's first score, Russell Wilson's pass to tight end Will Dissly. McDougald had two other interceptions of Keenum.

Seattle won the turnover battle, but lost the game, which is indicative of the weakness of his game for much of Sunday.

Still, Thomas enjoyed his return match.

"I had a good time there, dude," Thomas said. "We have not had so many turnovers in a while."

DISSLY & # 39; S HEAD START

Playing in front of a dozen members of his family from his hometown of Bozeman, Mt. – They rented a suite at Mile High Stadium for the occasion – Disly dominated his first game in the NFL.

And in a way that it is not supposed.

The former winger of the University of Washington was reputed to be the best hope of blocking his position in this preliminary class. On Sunday, in less than two quarters of his first NFL game, Disssly set a Seahawks record for receiving yards by a player in his first match: 105

Dissly's 66-yard reception in the first period was the longest reception of a Seahawk rookie from Darrell Jackson (71 yards) on Dec. 3, 2000 in Atlanta. No end-of-season rookies from Seattle had a catch-up 66 yards or more before the Dissly offense on Sunday.

DICKSON'S S WOWS AGAIN

Sunday showed once again why the Seahawks traded and gave Denver a seventh-round pick to pick Michael Dickson in the fifth round this spring.

The Australian football player for 10 years in his home country was beaten six times for an average of 59 yards, with four of those punts inside the 20-yard Broncos. This average was one meter from the team record for a man-made match he replaced last month, Jon Ryan.

Dickson blew a punt 69 yards out of bounds in the third quarter. Yes, a 69-yard net. The latter beat Denver to his own six-yard line after a hat-trick at the Seattle attack to start the second half.

Last year, the leader of the World Pool Championship was Houston – at 45.9 yards.

"Oh my God, what a kick, man! What a kick," said coach Pete Carroll. "I do not know what his numbers are like, but he's a fantastic part of our team and we're starting to warm up with him, he's really something.

"I mean, the punts were magnificent. But not only the distance between platforms, but also the placement of platforms.

DAVIS A HEALTHY SCRATCH

The Seahawks had two inactive last season starters for the first game of the 2018 season.

Linebacker Pro Bowl K.J. Wright was out of Sunday's first game in Denver, 13 days after his knee arthroscopy. Outstanding rookie Shaquem Griffin started for him in a NFL opening game for the fifth round pick this spring.

Griffin started a few feet from his twin brother Shaquill Griffin, Seattle's left-corner-half.

New right guard D.J. Fluker's thigh injury he had in the last preseason game last week made him inactive. J.R. Sweezy, who returned to the Seahawks on August 1 after two years of absence in Tampa Bay, was to leave for Fluker at the right guard. Sweezy missed four weeks of August after a sprained ankle that he had on his first day of training after signing a new deal with Seattle.

In the second quarter with the Seahawks at 14-10, Sweezy had a brutal foul to fit on a block he did not have to do. Behind a pass on the screen, Chris Carson took 44 yards. Instead of first place at the Denver 31-yard line, Seattle had the first and 20 at his own 15 line and played a few games later.

The two offensive line players of the Seahawks in Denver were the hitter George Fant and Joey Hunt. Hunt is a center by title, but the Seahawks did it last month for cases like Sunday.

Mike Davis did not dress Sunday as a healthy inactive. He is one of six Seahawks running back in their first 53-man squad of the season before putting J.D. McKissic on the injured list with a broken foot. Davis was the starter at the end of last season, after Carson broke his leg on October 1.

Carson, back in good health, was in the lead on Sunday. But he wore only seven times, for 51 yards. Second back, Rashaad Penny, the first-round pick, had seven carries for eight yards.

So, maybe they would not have used Davis a lot, anyway. New coordinator Brian Schottenheimer called 39 passes, 14 innings. Wilson had two assists for 5 yards while being sacked six times.

Seattle's other defeats on Sunday include rookie defensive tackle Poona Ford, goaltender Shalom Luani (acquired in an Oakland exchange last week), defensive tackle Nazair Jones and goaltender Jordan Simmons. The Seahawks added Simmons to the desertion of the Raiders last week.

ADDITIONAL POINT

McDougald left in a series of two in strong safety, replaced by the 2017 Delano Hill project pick. "Yes, he had a problem, "said Carroll. "It was a little flamboyant in his patellar tendon or something like that. He had tendinitis or something like that.