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- Mar 20, 2019
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Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll heaped praise upon third-year linebacker Shaquem Griffin for his performance against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday and said he’s earned a chance to do more moving forward.
He got a chance to play and he did great this week,” Carroll said of Griffin’s showing.
Griffin was a practice squad call-up for Sunday’s game against the Cowboys due to injuries to linebackers and defensive ends for Seattle. In his first game of the season, Griffin played 17 defensive snaps and was on the field for a good portion of the Cowboys’ final drive as they attempted to tie the game at the end of regulation. He spent the first half of the drive pass rushing and got a hit on quarterback Dak Prescott. Then after Dallas crossed midfield, the Seahawks started rushing only three with Griffin being an extra underneath defender. He broke up passes to Ezekiel Elliott and Cedrick Wilson in that role.
“He was hauling butt all over the field,” Carroll said. “We played him in a unique situation that he really handled well. He did a nice job rushing the passer and his other (opportunities) that he had, so I’m looking forward to him to continue to contribute. I was really fired up about his play.”
He was officially credited with one quarterback hit and one pass breakup as a penalty negated the throw to Elliott. Griffin didn’t make the roster out of training camp partly due to Seattle drafting Jordyn Brooks in the first round. But with Brooks going out Sunday with a knee injury and Bruce Irvin landing on injured reserve due to a torn ACL, Griffin was brought up temporarily for depth.
However, Carroll said Griffin will be back up again this week against the Miami Dolphins. He reverted to the practice squad on Monday and was one of two players Seattle protected from the unit on Tuesday. Carroll didn’t specify whether he’d be fully added to the 53-man roster this week or be a practice squad promotion again but he’ll be up one way or another.
“Griff has not let up for a second and so when the opportunity was available, he jumped at it and did a great job and thrilled about that for him,” Carroll said. “He looks really good. And he was running all over the place, all over the field. … Now with a couple opportunities due to injuries and stuff like that, Griff is ready to go and jumped up and I’m really excited to see him play again this weekend.
“He earned it.”